Pandy to Hay On Wye 14 miles.
Lainy woke me up 7.45 in the morning with the familiar sound of the little pocket rocket (gas burner) boiling water for coffee. The weather didn't look that bad although it was very overcast and it had been raining overnight so the tent was again wet. We had a quick shower and waited for the taxi to transfer our large ruckies to Hay on Wye. We were looking forward to todays walk as we were off over the Black Mountains.
The only place to get food for the day was the local garage just up the road so off we went. On the way we came accross a pub called the Skirrid Mountain Inn. A very impressive building believed to be Wales oldest Inn, here in North Wales we have the oldest pub. As we were outside taking Photos the caretaker came out and invited us in. What a fabulous place. It's said that Judge Jeffreys hung more than 180 people in the stair well, the noose is still hanging there but obviously not the original. The caretaker said the Inn now makes more money by renting the building out to various ghost tours and investigators. Guests have reported seeing strange apparitions in their rooms and one lady reported a lady trying to drown her in the bath!!! We must have been in the Skirrid for just over an hour taking pictures but it was well worth it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skirrid_Mountain_Inn. We were by now running late and the weather took a turn for the worse.......nothing we hadn't faced before. We made a start over the fields and railway tracks and started up hill to the Black Mountains, the rain was pouring down now. We checked the route in the guide book and noticed a warning stating not to attempt the Black Mountains if it was raining, misty and cold.......it was all three but we decided to carry on just incase there was a break in the weather but as we neared the top it just got worse. Realising neither of us possesed the skills to navigate off the mountain using only maps and a compass in the heavy fog and having heard all the horror stories of people found dead up there in bad weather we had no choice but to abandon this leg of the trek.....we were gutted but left with no other choice but to find the nearest path down off the mountain and continue to Hay On Wye via the road which was without doubt the longest way round.
We walked in the rain for miles, passed a village called Cloddock which was very pretty even in the rain. It had a river running through it and an old Mill, Lainy was so tired she refused to get off the bridge where she was sat lol. I went off to take some photos deciding to give her a rest. Under protest Lainy and I gathered our stuff and continued on to Longtown another 2 miles down the road. As we turned the corner into the village there was a pub......bonus....we had a well deserved rest and a pint of lager. We got talking to the Landlord who told us that Hay on Wye was another 11 miles away by road but his friend could give us a lift if we paid him £30!!! This was not an option so we decided to carry on, on foot.
We persevered for another 3 miles and having walked up and then back down the mountain and walked the long way round on the road, which is harder and further anyway we decided we'd hitch but we were doomed as hardly any cars came and when we reached the end of the road it was closed. We took refuge in a bus shelter type building (it wasn't a bus shelter as no buses travelled this route) we were both soaking wet, absolutely knackered and close to tears by this point. We decided to phone the camp site and get the owner to some how arrange to come and get us, we had done the millage just taken a different route. We found the guys number then realised that both our phones had no reception. By now we were rapidly losing the will to live and both questioning what the hell we were doing here, this was by far the low point of the whole trek and we knew it.
We stopped a tractor to ask if there was any local taxis but there wasn't as we were in the middle of nowhere and so we decided to go back to the only farm house we had seen to see if we could use their landline to phone the campsite in Hay on Wye.
We trudged up to the
http://www.blackmountainsfarmrestaurant.co.uk/ Dripping wet and exhausted we knocked on the door, a lovely lady called Pauline answered and looked us up and down.....I said "I hope you have a sense of humour" she smiled and asked us how she could help. I explained that we needed to use her land line to phone the campsite etc and she replied "your just in time, I'm off to Hay on Wye now with a womans group (WI kind of thing), jump in the car and I'll give you a lift" we were so relieved, what an Angel. I turned to look at Lainy who was standing leaning on her sticks wimpering "I think I'm going to cry, no really I'm going to cry" then she burst into tears bless her. I wanted to cry myself but was far too busy taking the mick out of her hehe. I knew exactly how she felt though.
We arrived in Hay on Wye to find once again the campsite was flooded so we had to book into a B and B called the Bellmont. It was very basic but the owner Francis was lovely and it beat camping hands down. Francis wanted us to take off our muddy boots at the door which was not good, we told her our feet were probably stinking but she wasn't bothered. We had a bath and headed off into the town to get something to eat.
Hay on Wye is a lovely picturesque town with an abundance of old streets and buildings. We headed to the local British Legion just up the road from the B and B. We had a laugh in there with the locals and they reccomended a pub up the road for food called the Blue Ball, it was a bit posh in here for us and so we asked where the locals local was. We were directed to The Rose and Crown but were also told the locals don't really like strangers in here but they calm down if you take an interest in the pictures on the walls and the history of the building. So we made a bee line for it, on walking in I made a bee line for the bar and Lainy walked round looking at the pictures on the walls, they were right and soon we were stood at the bar with the landlord Paul engrossed in conversation it was a great pub. Both Paul and his wife Lin were from Essex and and both were truly nice people. We got sponsor money from one one woman at the bar and when we were leaving some time later half cut at 12.30am both Paul and Lin gave us donations too fair play to them.
We headed back to the B and B for a good nights sleep with pillows........aahhh bliss.