Hay-On-Wye Weekend May 2014

The weekend of May 16th-19th saw us go on another long weekend camping trip, this time down on the border of England & Wales to a little place called Hay-on-Wye. We stayed on a small quiet campsite just outside Hay in a place called Clifford, a very small country hamlet with a spattering of cottages, very very nice & quiet. We were there celebrating our 28th Wedding Anniversary and what a great relaxing weekend it was. The Friday saw us set off mid morning for a good leisurely drive down to a place in Rhayader in mid Wales where they feed the Red Kites at Gigin Farm This was a first for us as I had wanted to see this for a few years and a great spectacle it was as well as a few hundred Red Kites came in from all directions for a feast. they were joined by many Crows, Ravens, a couple of Hen Harriers and a fox! Well worth the short detour and a great way to spend a good couple of hours as there is a short walk round the farmland and a cafe and other things to do. We then had a good quiet drive to Clifford, our home for the next three nights :-)

View down to Rhayader

Red Kites circling above

Feeding Time

Female fox joining in

Two Hen Harriers and a few Crows enjoying the banquet

Home for the weekend

A good relaxing evening with a BBQ and a few beers around the camp fire made for a great relaxing end to the day.
The Saturday was our Anniversary and we decided to take it easy in the warm sunny weather and have a wonder into Hay for a look round. Now this little town is famous for its bookshops, lots of them and it also has quite a few festivals on throughout the year and can get really busy. Fortunately for us, this weekend was very quiet so we had a good look round before making our way back to camp along part of the Wye Valley Way long distance path The part we were on took us through quite a few fileds, along country lanes, footpaths and through an old golf course. A good relaxing few hours walk in good warm sunny weather and yet another BBQ and a few beers to finish off the day. Perfect :-)

Now in our 29th year :-)

Country Lane into Hay-On-Wye

First of many bookshops

Hay-On-Wye

Hay-On-Wye Castle

Bookshops from the Castle

River Wye

On the Wye Valley Way

Through fields

Cheers :-)

A favourite camping tipple :-)

Glowing :-)

On the Sunday, I had sort of planned on going for a big walk in the Black Mountains, which is part of the Brecon Beacons National Park but on the Saturday while walking along the river we decided to have a lazy Sunday afternoon in a canoe! We had talked about it in the week leading upto the weekend as something to think about and as with quite a lot of our weekends out, we don't really have too much of a big plan in place, just sort of make it up as we go along which adds to the fun. So after another relaxing long breakfast, we made our way into Hay again where we had booked an afternoon canoeing trip  along the River Wye with Paddles and Peddles. A relaxing 6 mile trip along the tranquil river, stopping off a couple of times and finishing with a refreshing beer before being driven back to the starting point. Another first for us as the only other time we had been in a paddle boat of sorts was on a couple of boating lake's. Great day :-)

Aye Aye Captain

Time for a rest

Titanic

A nice refreshing pint at the end

A great way to spend a relaxing weekend which turned out to be the warmest weekend of the year so far and a great way to celebrate our anniversary :-)