Joust in Bristol, England 26-27 July 2003

Yes, I was going to the Joust! Had been totally looking forward to it already! And even though it rained, my dress got soaked and transport was a nightmare, I met a lot of great people and had a fab time. :o)

Looks like a big medieval camping, but most of these tents were stalls.

And the first person I met was this joker, he looked fab and somehow got all these ping pong balls out of his mouth... Really hilarious!

As soon as I entered the festival, I was in a different time...

I hurried to the stage to catch the last few songs of the Mediaeval Babes as they performed in the rain. Well, they were covered...

A different view of the field with Berkely Castle in the background.

These witches kindly offered me an apple, but then happily posed when I just wanted a picture.

And there was some medieval music...

Some guys practicing sword fighting for the big attack later on.

In the medieval village a lot of people were doing things the old ways. Like here...

This guy made shoes out of leather by hand. And mugs too, one hell of a hard job!

So I decided to find a dry spot and went up to visit Berkely Castle. I had taken my shoes off as they were soaked anyway and it didn't really matter whether I was wearing them or not. The castle was up the hill, w a lot of mud...

One of the last photos of this Saturday, I was completely soaked, just like this knight with his horse...

But I was back on Sunday when I finally had the chance to see the Mediaeval Baebes clearly without all the umbrellas blocking the view...

Then I got up to the Castle and saw this really nice tree. Yes, I have a thing for photographing trees. By the time I got to the castle I was all muddy and completely drenched. But the Castle was really nice and afterwards I saw another performance by the Mediaeval Baebes before I went back to Bristol to dry up.

These ppl had a jewelry stand and were really nice. They even recognized me as being the "drenched girl" from the day before. Well, I guess it was quite hard to miss... hahaha... In case you read this: Hello, Greetings and thanx for all the info!!

There, doesn't that look a lot better in the sun? Ok, without the rain I mean...

Everyone had really made an effort and it really felt like the Middle Ages! :o)

Then, after missing two and one being cancelled, I finally got to see the actual jousting itself! :o)  The knights rode out one by one. I'm sorry to say I don't actually remember their individual names, all I remember is that one of them was Sir Henry and another one was Sir Ulrich. Dunno which one's which though... Oops...

Unfortunately, the knight on the left hand side had to drop out later as his horse was injured...

One of the knights in close-up

And action!

This was the poorest knight, who was also the public favorite. In the end it was him who won the Jousting.

And then the sword-fighting began. Very rough sport I must say, but fab to watch!

As I was looking for my knight in shining armour, I found this one, He was very, very shiny...

After the same poor knight had won the fighting as well as he was the only one still on horseback, all the knights appeared one last time to receive their cheers and applause.

This one was less shiny, but @ least he "rescued" me in a very knightly way... :o) Ah, my fantasy came true @ last...

Then all the knights gathered to re-enact the attack on Berkely Castle...

There was a play going on here. If I would have had the time, I would have stayed to watch, but my cab was waiting so I had to go. It looked very interesting though...

It looked very violent. Well, from the tiny bit I could see...

And one (and the only actually) photo of Bristol as I was on the way to the bus to the airport to fly back to Dublin. Don't ask me where this is, I just know it's near the bus station... And that was it, the end of a fab Medieval Weekend... Looking forward to next year!

The flags on the way out. Yes, the same ones as on the way in, but still very nice. So I was leaving, such a shame I couldn't stay longer...

On the way out I spotted this knight again, dry this time... ;o)

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