Day 3

Finally get away at 9.00AM later than I would have liked.
Breakfast fresh coffee, choice of six cereal, fruit salad, and toast with English Marmite. Boy is that different from the Australian one, runny like honey needing to be rolled on the knife. Not bad if you like that sort of thing!
Today we’re heading or Brecon Beacon via Hay on Wye.
That’s about 200 miles. It takes all day some of it at 75 miles an hour on the M road and some at about 30 miles an hour on the B roads. The M roads are dual highway and everyone travels faster than the speed limit. The B roads are one car wide and bordered by hedgerows that preclude viewing the country. Meet a car coming the other direction one of you backs up until there is a lay-by for passing.
Bypass Bath, been there done that in 2004. Over fly Bristol, using the M roads, cross the Severn over the suspension bridge and on Tintern Abbey. A Cistercian abbey now in ruins. What an impressive structure that is, huge vaulted ceiling with huge columns, finely carved with the usual religious icons etc. It was bloody cold though. Cutting wind. Then onto the Wye Valley, that snakes in and out of Wales and England and finally on to Hay on Wye the second hand book capital of the world, or so they say. The first castle I have seen set up as a book shop, I might add.
Abergavenny next another quant English town with cobblestone streets, cars parked all over the place and people politely waiting until there was space to pass.
We fly the Australian flag from our car window so if we make monumental blunders, like up a one way street, as we did, girl wide eyed signalling us to stop, they will take pity on us and just shake their heads.
Abergavenny leads us to the Black Mountains good moor like walking country, lots of fluffy sheep and some very narrow roads. Had to back up 100 yards to let a van get past, very close hedgerows that scratch the shit out of the car as you squeeze past. All good fun. From the vast horizon you then dip into narrower roads that disappear into tunnels of trees. You expect a Hobbit to leap out at you.
We’re rather late into Brecon at this stage. No accommodation booked and the info centre not that helpful. Brecon is the base for the Welsh Infantry and the Ghurkha regiments.
Call one YHA. No answer call another get recording. Rather frazzled by ths stage. Finally get onto one out of town 4 miles or so.
It’s down a narrow lane beside a bubbling brook in the middle of the Brecon Beacons National Park. There are 14 people there. One lone woman, 12 school cadets and their instructors and us..
Good dinner provided by the caretaker, if rather plain and we listened into the cadets debriefing. They are in a six day leadership course that involves a bit of bushwalking, some canoeing and some mountaineering with problem solving along the way.
A couple of red, rather nice cab-sav merlot from Seth Efrica and collapse onto bed. Woke with fever and sore throat and aches and pains and the ubiquitous full bladder. That bloody woman behind me on the plane couging all the time is my guess.