Weather was off and on damp till about lunchtime. The route took us thorough a nearby part of Wales, where we gave Aimée and Steve a quick lesson in (what little we knew of) Welsh pronunciation. For example, ‘dd’ is pronounced ‘th’ (think Gwynedd Paltrow) and ‘ll’ is pronounced ‘thl’ (as in the towns of Llanelli or Llangollen—you sound them out!). Or combine the two sounds in nearby Llanfynydd? That’s about as far as we can go; we have no idea how to pronounce a W with a circumflex on top of it! Who knows, it might even be a vowel!
Chick here for a good chuckle regarding mistranslation into Welsh.
We enjoyed an excellent meal at The Grapes pub on the road near Shrewsbury. (Same name as the town in Massachusetts, except this one is pronounced ‘Shroesbry’ and that one is pronounced ‘Shroosberry.’) Steve had the full carvery assortment of meat and veg, while the rest of us were satisfied with our generous and tasty sandwiches. Local brews accompanied the meal. We didn’t have time to get into the town itself, but we can report from a previous trip that it’s well worth a visit.
Ivy Cottage where we’re staying for the next week is on Church Lane in Ledbury, an historic market town. We had to drive through town a couple of times to get our bearings and figure out where it was located. Ledbury is a long town, and the High Street was crowded and very busy on a Saturday afternoon. We left the car in a carpark at the fringe of town and located the cottage with the aid of a map and some good intuition. It is on a narrow path that leads from High Street up to the church, directly across from the Prince of Wales pub. The door was locked, so we popped in to the pub to see if they could help. Help they did—walked around behind the bar, took the key off a hook on the wall, and presented it to us.
The view from our sitting room - the half-timbered Prince of Wales pub is about ten feet across the cobbled lane - Ledbury
It’s a attractive and tiny little cottage, over 400 years old. It was once a brewery and later a pub. Nicely updated appliances, TV, lots of videotapes (including the full series of Fawlty Towers!) Bedroom with large bed, bedroom with smaller bed, bedroom with twin beds, two (relatively) modern bathrooms (except for the horribly loud pump associated with the upstairs bathroom that is said to annoy the next door neighbors). Three floors. We agreed on a 50:50 tradeoff for use of the large bed. Lots of low, ancient, black beams popping out in all directions inside the old building. It’s called character. There are a few places where Steve has to duck, but the rest of us fit just fine.
We chose Ledbury as our headquarters for the next week due to its convenient location, its quiet surroundings, and its historic character. It’s off the beaten track but not far from a number of places that were high on our list to visit. We knew that after a week of moving every couple of days we’d be ready to settle down and concentrate on day trips to interesting locations.
We stopped into a bakery before closing time to buy some of that great English bread, and into a Spar grocery to buy other provisions. Tasty home cooked meal in our cottage, accompanied by a bottle of wine left for us by the owner. All the food tasted incredibly fresh and delicious.
Our tiny sitting room - sofa, window bench, and gas fireplace. Video tapes and books of poetry. - Ledbury
It was a challenge to try to get the gas fireplace going, ultimately unsuccessful. We'll check with the owner tomorrow. We also figure that two bath towels is a bit on the light side for four people for a week.
We’re not sure when we’ll be able to publish this. Can’t find any acceptable WiFi signals floating around, and the one Internet café that we found is closed on Sunday. There is supposed to be ’net access at the library, but we have yet to locate where that is. Tomorrow.
Saturday - October 11
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