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Thursday is market day in Hay-on-Wye so we decided to head off to explore this picturesque village that lies on the Welsh side of the Welsh/English Border in the County of Powys. The market is very traditional and is held every Thursday in the Memorial Square, the Butter Market and around the Town Clock, from 8am to mid-afternoon. Hay-on-Wye is also well known for its second-hand book trade so we spent an enjoyable couple of hours browsing through the market stalls and the multitude of book stores.
From Hay-on-Wye the plan was to drive over Hay Bluff and Lord Hereford's Knob and then along the Honddu Valley to Llanthony Priory. We programmed the SatNav for Llanthony and headed off up a single track road with hedgerows on either side. We had hardly left town when we were confronted by a sign that said the road to Llanthony was closed and diverting us onto a track to the left when we had planned to go right???
Since we were on a single track road there wasn't much choice, but to follow the diversion. Turning around was out of the question and we had gone too far to back out!! So,
we drove for miles (and miles and miles) on single track roads, hemmed in by hedgerows. Never mind enjoying the Welsh countryside - we were on the English side of the border and all we could see was hedgerows!! We meandered our way through the next valley to the east, alongside the River Monnow, finally encountering signs of civilisation at Longtown where we decided to stop for a late pub lunch!!
After lunch we continued through Clodock and Oldcastle where we crossed back over the border into Wales. OK, the road to Llanthony take two!! We were now on the other end of the road that was closed - heading north towards Llanthony instead of south. Finally, hours after we had initially set out, we arrived in Llanthony to explore the priory ruins.
Llanthony Priory was one of the earliest houses of Augustinian canons to be founded in Britain, and is one of only a handful in Wales. The priory was established in the 12th century and enjoyed mixed fortunes from that time until the Dissolution in the 16th century when it was sold for £160 pound and fell into disrepair. Today the site is an eclectic mixture
of priory church ruins and a house, hotel, parish church and farm buildings.
With the road back to Hay-on-Wye now reopened (it is only closed between 9.00am and 3.00pm daily for resurfacing works!) we continued north, with the SatNav set to take us back to Brecon. It turned out that it was not such a bad thing that we drove over the Black Mountains in this direction as the views from the top were stupendous!! We took photos, but they hardly do justice to the grandeur of the views from the ridge top.
All in all, another beautiful day in sunny south Wales!! The weather is treating us very, very well indeed. Wales has quite a reputation for unreliable weather so we weren't expecting so much blue sky and sunshine during our week in Wales. It's certainly not hot, but fine and sunny, rather than cold and wet, is a good thing
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Chris Kiss
non-member comment
Hello from home
Hi there, Just a quick hello, there is really nothing new happening to tell you about. I am enjoying the armchair travel and the photos - all those photography courses do pay off! Chris