Hidden Gems - Part 2

We continued our journey home on Friday by driving slowly up the narrow lanes to Llanthony Abbey.  There's a small hotel in the ruins and we stopped for a coffee before exploring the site..

The ruins are completely free to wander around.  There were some wonderful opportunities for photography and I wished that we weren't quite so rushed. 

There's a small church facing the ruins of the Abbey.  We were amazed to read that it had been built over a 6th Century Monastic Cell of St David - the Patron Saint of Wales!

The whole building was incredibly simple but there was loads of atmosphere..

We then continued up the really narrow lanes onto the Gospel Pass.  This is the top of the Pass, looking back toward Llanthony.  The skies were incredible - it felt like you could reach out and touch the clouds....!

This was the view over Hay-on-Wye and the Borders as we started to drive down the other side of the Pass.  It's really difficult to capture the size of the view with one little picture.  We could practically see to the Welsh coast in one direction, while we could see the top of the Malverns in the other.  Fabulous...

Back to school today... GRRRRR.!