MIKE AND JESS' TRAVEL DIARY
England and Wales Trip
Day 11 - May 15 2019
Within the county of Herefordshire are numerous smaller towns or cities, many are situated along the river Wye. Mike and I decided we would visit the ones that seemed most interesting to us which were: Hereford, Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, and Hay-on-Wye. Our plan was: for the next two days we would wander around a couple of the towns each day. We started with a delicious breakfast at Rocket Cafe in Hereford. Full and happy, we set out to Ledbury, only a 30 minute drive away.
As we drove in and pulled into the first car park, we grew slightly concerned and just a few steps into city center, it was clear.
Turns out these towns (Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, Hay-on-Wye) are very popular among tour companies that cater to a certain… demographic. And therefore so do the towns they visit. Unless we were in the market for a floral shawl or wicker basket, we didn’t have much to do in Ledbury. So, we had a coffee on the sidewalk, did some people watching, and left about 30 minutes after arriving. Crossing our fingers, we drove off to Hay-on-Wye.
We still decided to try out this town because it was known to have more bookshops per capita than any town in the UK and Mike collects old books. Story was the same here, but at least we could do some shopping. He found a $4,000 4-book set of Don Quixote… then a huge version for only $400, which actually tempted him for a bit, but he left empty handed and only 3.5 hours after heading out, we returned. You can’t win them all! The towns were very cute, just not for us. At this age, at least.
Back in Hereford, we hit a couple pubs, The Barrels (formerly called The Lamb Hotel) was our favorite with a big crowd in the back beer garden. We hung out there for numerous beers, decided on Indian again for dinner, and took it back to the house. The food was much better than the other day’s. All is well that end well.
