Leksand Medieval Fair 2019

Over the weekend I was off to the Medieval Fair in Leksand. Just like last year I got to borrow a tent so that I could sleep over. Unlike last year when it was a heatwave the weather was really bad for two of the days and the nights were freezing. Friday and Sunday had great weather though.

I had watched the weather forecast and had to to come up with things to simply survive the weekend. I had planned to wear just my 1520's outfit, but I packed all my outfits to make sure that I had as much clothes as possible, I also packed the cape and fur collar from my Enfys Nest costume, basically I packed everything that I could think of that was made of wool and fur.

I arrived on Thursday afternoon, Monika and Niklas had arrived on Wednesday and set up the camp. They have a really nice and big tent, with a heater, so even if the weather was wet and rainy we had a cozy evening in their tent. Their tent basically served as our living room for the whole weekend.

Twirlng in my Enfys cape when it was only drizzling

Even if the evening was cozy, when I went to bed in my tent it was cold, really cold. Officially the temperature dropped to 2 C, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it touch down on freezing. I had brought as many wool blankets as possible, I tried to wrap myself in all my clothes, but I just couldn't be warm enough to sleep. This was something that happened all nights, even if it wasn't as cold as that first night. I ended up sleeping in my full viking outfit, including my Skjöldehamn hood, but I am exhausted after three nights of just a couple of hours sleep.

Anyway, Friday was windy but sunny and warmer. Mattias, Ann-Sofie and Tom arrived so we had a nice camp. I went around to do some shopping in the fair, mostly picking up stuff like linen and silk thread, but I was really happy to find a medieval style cooking knife. I also attended the medieval fashion show, and was asked to be part of it to represent the early 16th century, since the people doing it stop in the 15th century. I took part in all the remaining fashion shows over the weekend.

On Friday I cooked my chicken in almond milk with grapes, now with some added wine into the sauce. I made the camp version where I use pre-grilled chicken instead of handling raw chicken.

Relaxing in our camp. ladies are sewing the men are just sitting there.

Chicken in almond milk, cooked on the fire.

Saturday was rainy, but not as bad as Thursday. The rain mostly varied between light rain and a drizzle, with some heavier showers. We made sure to start a fire in the morning and kept it going throughout the day, since we realized it would be hard to light it again in the rain. For lunch we made traditional pea soup, which was warm and nice when it was wet and cold outside.

Pea soup with pork

It's convenient with a fair near the town centre, it gives some fun photos of time travellers as well

In th evening we made so much food, a delicious elk stew made from meat that Ann-Sofie had brought. We also had a nice evening with some neighbours that we invited in when we realized we had too much food. They were really grateful since they didn't feel like trying to get a fire going after a full rainy day.

Monika had prepared a really nice kitchen bench where you could prepare all the food, here I am preparing baked apples for dessert.

Sunday was a perfect early summers day. I even got a chance to finally see the tourney, after only hearing the dialogue from it for two years. It was nice to go back though and I'm really looking forward to sleeping a full night in a warm bed.