Days 12+13 Family Break in Hay-on-Wye
For the bank holiday weekend I enjoyed a short break from hiking and a chance to spend some time with my mum Gayle, partner Sophie and daughter Isabelle who joined me for a lovely weekend in a cottage in Glasbury, a couple of miles from Hay-on-Wye.
On Thursday evening they arrived exhausted after a 9 hour drive in bad traffic and I met them in Hay-on-Wye, exhausted after a 16 mile walk. We went straight out for something to eat and ended up having a delicious Indian meal at a restaurant called Red Indigo restaurant before driving to Glasbury, checking into our cottage and going for an early night.
On Friday morning we went back into Hay to explore. After breakfasting (appropriately) at Shepherd’s, we had a look around the town. It’s a smart, pretty little village, self- proclaimed bookshop capital of the world and packed with great little independent shops selling antiques, gifts and oddities. Plus there's a whopping great castle right in the centre. We spent a pleasant few hours perusing the shops and taking in the town.
That afternoon we went for a walk around a series of footpaths close to our cottage in Haol-y-Gaer near Glasbury. The owner pointed us in the right direction and told us to “follow the dingle” - I was pleased at finding that the local word for a small wooded valley that I’d read about in a hundred year old book was still in use.
Our path led through fields in lush green countryside and through a dairy farm and was the first time 7-year old Isabelle had ever encountered such delights as seeing cows being milked and climbing over an overgrown stile. She took to both naturally! It was a lovely walk and chance to show my wee family how beautiful this corner of the world that I’ve walked all around for the past couple of weeks is. Very happy memories were made!
That evening we had a very good meal in Kilvert’s pub in Hay before going back to spend an evening playing cards in the cottage.
On Saturday we went on a day trip to Llangors Lake or Llyn Syfaddan in Welsh, half an hour’s drive near Brecon. We had intended to go boating but the weather remained resolutely against us so we had a short walk and went to the Crannog Centre, a reconstructed crannog sadly not a patch on the now-burnt down Crannog Centre in Loch Tay but nonetheless worth a visit. Next to it is the remains of the only crannog in England or Wales, a late addition at only ~1000 years old, allegedly built by a local king. A crannog in case you’re wondering is an ancient wooden dwelling built on stilts in a lake, found all over Scotland and Ireland, but only this single one has been found in Wales and none in England. If, on your travels in Scotland you see small round islands near the shore of lochs they are likely the remains of crannogs which when collapsed often grew into natural looking islands with trees etc.
Llangors is a particularly unspoiled lake which remains mostly undeveloped and surrounded by private farmland so is hard to access apart from at a few spots such as the one we were at. It’s not a large body of water, so surprising to learn that it’s the largest natural lake in South Wales.
After a much needed afternoon nap we ventured into Hay once again where we went shopping then had a meal at The Granary, a high-end cafe with healthy, homemade food.
That evening my mum went to bed early, as did Isabelle, leaving Sophie and I to a enjoy a wild night out in the village of Glasbury! A small village spanning either side of the Wye, it grew up as a crossing point over the river, joining the two historic counties of Radnorshire and Brecknockshire.
We decided to pub crawl around Glasbury, which consisted of having two drinks, one at The Harp Inn, a welcoming locals’ pub on the Radnorshire side, and one at Foyles, an upmarket gastropub on the Brecknockshire side. In a mad coincidence, it transpired that the barman at Foyles’ brother is the barman at The Bailey, our local pub at the end of our street in Edinburgh!
On the way home we came across the last remaining revellers from Glasbury village’s jubilee street party and were invited to join them, cue an impromptu couple of hours getting to know the locals. It turns out the official jubilee party was nearby and this was the breakaway party consisting of the contingent of locals who wanted to have more fun and louder music than their neighbours. We had a good laugh with them and were sad to leave but it was getting dark andvwere glad we left when we did as the 2 mile walk back to the cottage was bewildering enough in the half-light. A jubilant end to a joyous jubilee weekend, and a lovely time spent with my loved ones. Tomorrow they return home and I resume my walk.