So, if you read that taking a drive through Gospel Pass to Hay on Wye is one of the most scenic drives in Wales, wouldn’t you want to go? That’s what we thought too. OMG! I guess the author of that article has a different idea of scenic drive than we do.
This is what Wikipedia says the view from Gospel Pass should look like.
This is what we saw.
It’s not terrible but it’s not what we expected. But what we really didn’t expect was the road to get there. The UK identifies their roads with letters….M (as in M4) is for motorway or our freeways. ‘A’ (A465) roads are at least two lanes but could be 4 lane divided roads. ‘B’ (B4069) road are country road but should be wide enough for cars to pass each other. The key word is “should”. In our experience, that isn’t always the case. Then there are roads without any letters or numbers which are maybe 1 1/2 lanes wide. Mind you the speed limit on these are still 60mph, but only the truly insane (or suicidal) would drive that fast because you never know when you’ll be face-to-face with another vehicle.
Then there is the road we took to Gospel Pass. It was barely a lane wide and unpaved. I think maybe Gracie (our GPS) led us astray. This road was supposed to take us all the way to Hay on Wye but it narrowed down to virtually nothing so I can’t believe we were on the right road. According to Wikipedia, Gospel Pass is the highest road in Wales. Well, we did climb a lot but…
Turning around was an adventure in itself. I could only move about 8 inches in each direction so it took quite a few tries before I was finally able to go back the way we came. In the meantime, Peter is having a stoke in the passenger seat thinking we were stuck there forever. Here’s a video we took just after we turned around. The road looks much wider than it actually is. At least I didn’t have to remember what side of the road to drive on, I just stayed in the middle.
After going back the way we came, it took another 45 minutes to get to Hay on Wye. It’s a cute little town know for it’s book stores. Our first stop was the Hay Castle which was built in Norman times but now it’s a center for the arts. The lift was broken so we didn’t get off the ground floor.
We wandered around town for a while before having a bite to eat at a local pub.
Peter had a BLT and I tried the meat pie. I was expecting something along the lines of the pie I had in London, but this was quite different. I wasn’t impressed when it came as it looked mushy, but it actually tasted very good.
Once we finished lunch, we headed back south to White Castle Vineyards for a tour and tasting. It’s fairly new, established in 2008. The owner, Rob, took us on a tour of the vineyard explaining about the types of grapes he grows.
The tour was very nice but incredibly hot, the mid-90s yet again. Luckily, the tour was followed up by a tasting. I only took a sip of each of the 4 wines as I still had to drive home.
Luckily we were only 15 minutes from home and for the first time all day, I didn’t take any wrong turns so the drive back was uneventful. We’re here for one more day but the weather is going to turn…cloudy with a high in the low 20s (upper 60s; low 70s) and a possibility of rain. The cooler weather will be a nice respite from the 90 degree temps we’ve had over the last week.
That was quite the driving adventure!!! I am sure you both were a nervous wreck….but you made it!
I was actually fine. Peter was a bit of a wreck. He’s always afraid someone is going to come flying around the curve and crash into us. We had a couple of close calls but since no one is driving the crazy 60mph speed limit there’s always time to stop. We get to do it again today. It will be fun!