Costa Rica revisited


It's almost 10 years to the day that I joined a charity cycle ride round Costa Rica in aid of Mencap - November 2000 saw 64 intrepid cyclists leave Heathrow airport bound for a small Central American country that has no military services and puts all of its taxes into education and health!  It was in the bar of Terminal 3 that I first met John, Darren, Mitch and Richard and our friendship began - 10 years on and we still remain friends and occasionally meet up and relive our Costa Rica experiences, camping in the rain forest under the dripping canopy and dropping off to sleep to the sound of the Howler monkeys and the rustling of the jumping pit viper.  This years rendezvous was last weekend so we swapped Costa Rica for Hay on Wye and the camping for some comfy beds in the Harp Inn in Glasbury!  John, Darren and Mitch run a design company in Nottingham called Purple Circle and Richard is a banker or that's what I thought he said he did!



So the weekend was taken up with healthy activity rather than with culinary delights although we did manage to take in some hostelries that served food and drink. After the great Welsh breakfast on Saturday morning, I was still tasting the black pudding belches well into the afternoon.  The cycling started with a 7 mile climb up some very steep hills - it should have been shorter but I misread the map so hence the extra few miles!  Undeterred and with the whole day ahead of us, our route of some 50k was to take in some stunning scenery, quiet village pubs and the literary town of Hay on Wye.  Hay is noted for its book shops, of which there are many, and also for the fact that Bill Clinton (the cigar smoking ex US president) once described Hay as "His sort of town!".  I digreess - after 2 hours of climbing and one puncture,  we had reached our first pub in Painscastle - it was just about opening time so it was lager all round although I did protest and asked for a small schooner of sweet sherry



How many designers does it take to fix a puncture?



Onwards but not quite so upwards, we continued to the Royal Oak in Gladestry, a small village nestling beneath Offa's Dyke.  The pub was packed with ramblers but we did eventually manage to find a table and tucked into our pints of foaming local ale and wonderfully fresh, home made sandwiches we felt just like the Famous Five on one of their super adventures, all chums together!  A short but steep climb out of the village and we were heading for home and the good news was that it was downhill!  Speeds of up to 37 MPH were recorded by some members of the party on our descent back onto the valley floor and as we crossed the river Wye over the toll bridge, another stop for sustenance brought us to a very quaint and quirky tea room right on the banks of the river.  I don't think we endeared ourselves to the proprieter, who bore an uncanny resemblence to Lurch, by not indulging in some of his home made scones or Bara Brith.  Bara Brith literally translates as speckled bread and is a Welsh fruitcake - Lurch's pronunciation of Bara Brith sounded as if he was speaking Swahili with a Brummy accent. 

The end was in sight - well nearly - we stopped in Hay on Wye but were too thirsty to browse the bookshops so headed for the first pub that was showing the football results -  a disappointing decision as the  and pub turned out to be the worst in Wales!  However, we did find a very nice one called Kilverts where we supped and even returned later that evening to feast on sausages, beef and ale pie and chips!

Shall we stay or shall we go?

We did mange to get back to the Harp Inn in Glasbury for a night cap with mein host, Graham, a retired teacher from Leicestershire.  With all that fresh air and exercise it was not long before the Famous five were sawing logs. 

So Costa Rica had been revisited - the size of the hills at times seemed similar but the searing heat and the torrential rain were missing and so were the friends of Dorothy - well, you can't have everything I suppose.   My backside still needed great dollops of Sudacrem applied but that's another story!

Who is the ginger guy?

 Next year, can we go somewhere flat please?