West Yorkshire

[xoxoxoBruce]

It is estimated that 484,143 British horses, mules, camels and oxen died in WW I, not to mention the dogs, carrier pigeons and other animals.

[Sundae]

You shot my Speckled Jim!
No mention of elephants though...

There was a swordfighting showpiece on floor 2, but after about 10 (glorious, well spent) minutes, I decided I should try to snag a good seat in the tiltyard.

OMG. The place was already crammed with people! Luckily, being on my own, and gorgeous, and moving like I was on castors like Priscilla Presley in Mars Attacks, I got a seat at the front. Turns out this is not actually the best place to sit. All the action is bifurcared by the safety rail. Grrr. I learned my lesson for the next show! But after all, having to duck or crane is not that much of a hardship.

The jester on stilts entertained us. Right up until he asked for a child to come and help him out. Lucky me! I was sat right in front of said child. Little cow kicked my cheese and beetroot chutney baguette (packed at home and nutured until I was hungry) onto the floor as she clambered past. She didm't even notice, and I doubt her parents did either, being busy watching her special moment. But I had to take quite a few deep breaths.

Anyway.

Knights and horses start coming in.
Forgive me if Im wrong heraldic fans - I think this is Burgundy.

[Sundae]

There were three "teams". Poland, England and Burgundy. I quite liked that Burgundy was so specific (it's a region of France, not considered a country - at least these days).
And they had the most beautiful horses... Phwoar.

[Sundae]

England and Poland I believe.
Each knight had an outrider, to harry the opposition and stop them from gaining a hit on them in the melee, where two hits equalled a point.

They hit eachother with ash sticks, not maces, but even with (or because of!) their armour it had to feel like a right old wallop.

The outriders' horses also acted as substitutes. Over the course of two tournaments there were a number of changes. Not because a horse was ever injured, just to keep them hale and hearty.

[Sundae]

Kyle (may be spelled differently), our Lady of the Lists for the day.
She did almost no riding, but from her seat I'd say she's pretty darned competent in the saddle.

[Sundae]

I didn't get any photos of the melee I could use.
They just ended up looking so... still.
But it was great to watch, three fully armoured knights and three outriders. Whacking eachother with sticks and getting in the way respectively.

There was also a show of horsemanship, on two very different horses. Not just the colour, although that helped.
The white one showed defensive moves, the dark brown one attacking moves. Except when he laid down on the ground on command.

The rider is Poldark's stunt double for horse scenes.

[limey]

What a fantastic account of a fantastic day!


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[Sundae]

Having a nice kip, as detailed above.
And the outside of the yard.

[Sundae]

Despite (bad child) Arwen's best attempts I did still have some food with me.
So I went in search of what the museum website calls the Picnic Area. I assumed it would be outside. No, it was a collection of primary coloured plastic seating, inside, with no view AND NO BIN.

My only moan about the day.

So I shrugged that one off and went to sit outside in the sunshine. I was determined to be early for the finale, even though it meant missing the Grand Parade. It was the right choice; the parade came right past the queue anyway. I was there 45 minutes before the start, and I was still behind about fifty people. But then most of them were families - if you have paid to watch the show, you will expect to sit together, and you will want the right seats for the ankle-biters.

I sat in row three this time. I could have found a seat in row two, but why bother if the location is good? I was smack bang in the middle and sat next to a lovely granny who watched my bag while I went to the loo.

I tried again and again to get a photo of the actual point of collision. Never managed it, so I did give up. It was a marvellous sight; splintered lances, an unhorsed rider and all that and everything.

[Sundae]

Knight fever, night fever...

[Sundae]

England won in the first session (which was strange, but gratifying) but the later session totalled the scores over the whole Bank Holiday weekend (Good Friday to Easter Monday).
I wanted England to win for patriotic reasons, but I would have roared like a tiger if Burgundy had won, for pervy reasons.
Poland won. Ah well, it must have been deserved.

So just the meet and greet to go.
And I milked it big time. There were people there getting signatures from the knights - apparently thay are internationally known. And kiddies stroking the horses. Me, I talked to the people holding the horses, and behaved like a resposible horse owner (never have been, never will be, but I asked Carruthers for advice).

Magical.
The humans seemed gratified to be noticed, the horses liked the neck pats and ear rubs and the real stars were more than happy to talk when they saw I was teh serious, not just a silly middle aged woman.

[Sundae]

I am a silly middle aged woman of course.
But not without charm (or connivence)
This won me a good long chat with the MC. Lovely chap actually, and not even a frustrated actor, just someone who loves horses and showing off.

He looks like Michael Sheen.

[Sundae]

And then I came home and passed out.
No, pretty much that's what happened.

I've been sleeping so badly recently, and I've had such an action packed weekend (for me, I'm sure it's laughably spare to many other people) that I thought I would rest my eyes for just a minute and woke up in the wee small hours fully dressed in all my finery!

But gosh, what a wonderful day.
Thanks, Limey - the compliment is due to Leeds Armouries. They put on a marvellous show. Well, more than one.

[Carruthers]

Thanks for a great write up, Cherry.

I especially like the pictures of the horses.

[limey]

I have had the opportunity to lift both a lance and a helmet (fnarr, fnarr, yes, Mr Limey does know, he was there!) at the Royal Navel College in Greenwich. They're deuced heavy. Manoeuvring the lance at full tilt (and I use the word advisedly) must give a chap splendid biceps (etc.). What a great thing to have seen! Very exciting, no wonder you passed out! X


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