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Weekend Update II (6-Aug, 2005)

Sorry to keep you waiting. The weather has been beautiful here this week, so there hasn't been much time spent inside blogging.

Anyway, last Saturday we decided to check out Sherwood Forest. We figured we would just go up and hike around the Forest and maybe see where Robin Hood hung out. When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that it was the last weekend of the Robin Hood Festival. While this didn't sound all that appealing (all I could picture was thousands of children wielding bow and arrow sets), we decided to brave the crowd and join the festivities. While there were several bows to be found, the festival was fun.

We went on a "hawk walk" in the Forest, where we learned about the sport of falconry. For those who don't know, falconry is hunting game with birds of prey. During the walk we saw a demonstration by Loci. To the right you can see our guide Chris as Loci comes back from the hunt to land on his arm.

Below is a picture of Loci (in the back left) on his perch and his brother, aptly named "Loci's Brother." In the back on the right you can see an African Barn Own (its the white one).

Chris is a professional Falconer, who takes people on hunts. Yankee Girl and I are thinking about going on a hunt. If she can bare the cold, we may go on a hunt in Prague.












Next we went to the jousting arena, to witness our first jousting match. To the right is a picture of the Sheriff of Nottingham preparing for the joust against Robin Hood (pictured below). Believe it or not, Robin Hood and his merry men won the jousting contest.


















After the joust we headed to the Major Oak. The Major Oak is a huge oak tree in the heart of Sherwood Forest. It is rumored to be the place where Robin hid out. The trunk is 33 ft. in circumference, and the tree is somewhere between 800 and 1000 years old. As you can see from the pictures, it can no longer support it's own weight. It is held up by a series of supports and tension wires.

Definitely a cool thing to see.

posted by Yankee @ 4:17 AM