After my previous days exertions it was time to take a more chilled out approach to the mountains. With this in mind I set off to the small town of Hay-on-Wye, I had heard that it’s USP was its large number of bookshops. Now as you’ve probably gathered I LOVE mountains but I can’t be up mountains all the time so if I’m not up a mountain I’m very partial to either reading about mountains or people up mountains or planning adventures to mountains. Enter Hay-on-Wye; it was quite literally the best book based town I have ever been to. There were a plethora of shops to browse in with large travel sections and I procured myself some amazing finds that have already planted seeds for many adventures over the coming months.

Handily Hay-on-Wye is also close to some pretty spectacular countryside dotted with some mini-mountains just ripe for a stroll up. My objective was Hay Bluff, selected as the best place to get a great view back out over perhaps Britain’s most unfortunately named mountain – Lord Hereford’s Knob (a source of unrivalled amusement when I went on a school trip to the same area in year 9) and the rest of the Brecons.  Armed with some directions from a very delightful volunteer in the tourist information centre I set off up the road, she was quite right when she said that the Bluff would be hard to miss and I could see plenty of paths to choose from wending their way up to its summit.

I selected a gentle incline away from the crowds heading straight up to the summit and savored the steady climb up to the summit plateau, I sat on a sunny rock far removed from the hardy folk who’d nipped straight up the most obvious track inspecting the distant trig point before wandering over and having a look myself.

The view was stunning, looking along The Black Mountains with views back to where I had been the day before in the heart of the Brecons accompanied by at least 50 shades of green.

Get out there gang!

Zoe