Having read in the National Geographic that the drive from Hay to Abergavenny was a “castle-dotted route” that “brims with vistas” it sounded too good to be true. However, there are two possible routes and no clues were given to help us pick the right one.
Given that one route was an A road we decided that probably wasn’t it so elected to go along the other, along the Gospel Pass. I say “pass” but that was a bit of a misnomer as pass was one thing that it was very difficult to do it being so narrow. Fortunately we met very little along the 20 miles of road that takes you from the bleak, sheep strewn, hill tops to verdant low lands.
We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures including a longer stop at Llanthony Priory which was an incredibly peaceful place. There you could hear nothing but the birds and the breeze. A great contrast to what I can hear now writing this at home with the usual Sunday night M4 drone in the background.
On a business trip a few months ago I went through Caerleon and I thought how pretty it was so, given that we were passing so close to it, we decided to make it the final stop of the day. This proved more difficult than expected due to many roads being closed for the Velothon Wales. In the end we decided just to dump the car and walk into the town.
There were a few townsfolk stood road side waiting for the cyclists (they had no where else to go as the town was cut off due to the road closures) but the centre was deathly quiet. We walked to the amphitheatre and round the walls before heading back out. I stood and waited for the race to come past (you can see some pictures here) while Helen made her way back to the car.
All-in-all we have had a great weekend and will definitely be going back to Hay again in future.
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