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UNITED
KINGDOM TRAVELS, JULY AND AUGUST 2002
GYRRWCH YN OFALUS TO YOU TOO! That evening we decided to go in to the town, Hay on Wye, for dinner. Our B&B was just a mile out of town. As we approached the town we saw a sign, “Gelli Gandryll”. What?! We thought we were going to Hay on Wye. Then we saw a sign that said, “ARAFWCH MAWR!”, and next a sign that said, “GYRRWCH YN OFALUS!” 
It was then that we realized we were in a foreign country—Wales!
Hay on Wye is just inside the state border. The signs actually said
Hay on Wye, Reduce Speed, and Please Drive Carefully. Everything is
written in the local language. It is just like being in northern Spain,
the Basque country, where traffic signs and other public information is
written in the Basque language, which is all c and x. The language
of Wales has lots of LL, F,W,G,C,H and Y. Hay on Wye is world renowned for its used bookstores. It is 
a tiny town, but there are 38 bookstores in the town. We visited
the one that claims to be the biggest in the world, and I bought a used copy
of Peter Rabbit. We had a great sleep that night, in our nice big bed. It is so quiet and peaceful out in the country. The only sound was the gentle baa of sheep in the meadow. 
The next day was sunny and warm, so Don worked out a nice bike route in the Golden Valley. We rode out into England again, and went past Westbrook Manor. We stopped and talked to the resident and Don took a picture. This house has a beautiful view out the back. 
Then we climbed up a steep hill to find out about “Arthur’s Stone”.
It turns out that this has nothing to do with King Arthur. It is actually
a prehistoric rock tomb. It is estimated to be 3-4 thousand years
old. The construction of this structure is remarkable, because huge
slabs of stone have been used for the roof. How could they possibly
been lifted up on top of the side stones?We thought we would be going downhill from the prehistoric 
site, and we did for a bit, but then we had a verrrrrry steeeeep hill
climb up. When we got to the top we found out it is a 25% grade!
That is about the steepest we have been on. But, we made it and continued
on another beautiful, quiet, green country ride. We made a loop going
up the hills on the north side of the valley and then down and across the
valley and up the hills on the south side of the valley. Then over
the saddle on a little back road which took us right back to Hawkswood Farm . Mrs. Morrisey was very accommodating about letting us take our shower and check out late. Then we were off to Llandrindod Wells and the Halliday family. |
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