Following a swift but filling continental breakfast (during which Fraser took the wrapping off his mystery book to reveal some vintage Kurt Vonnegut), we left Longworth Hall in Hereford (a Grade B listed country house turned B&B) and set off in the direction of the border-straddling town of Hay-on-Wye, which proudly claims its status as Britain's first Book Town. We had arrived slightly early for our first shop and so had time to explore, which resulted in a trip into an interesting looking crystal and fossil shop and a wander through the Thursday street market having received a recommendation of somewhere to buy a packed lunch.
Of course, our actual destination in the town was Gay on Wye, a charming shop tucked down one of the town's many winding streets of bookstores. A healthy selection of books were on offer, as well as maps offering a Hay on Wye bookshop trail which may be the subject of a future adventure. Despite buying spontaneous salad, pork pies, and teeth (fossils not children's), we left Hay-on-Wye congratulating ourselves heartily for sticking to our one book limit. Though we suspect the one hour parking limit, rather than any sudden great increase in self-control, is what stopped us from going feral and raiding the many other bookshops lining the town.
Bookseller Song Pick - (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher - Jackie Wilson
Leaving Hay behind us, we rolled through the Brecon Beacons and experienced a few steep and twisty roads on our way towards the capital, with a brief pit stop in Brecon, and definitely no snickering as we passed through the village of ‘Three Cocks’. Our first stop in Cardiff was Shelf Life, a small, radical outlet stocking books and zines. We were pleasantly surprised to see wall art depicting our planned final stop in Edinburgh, and after a good chat with the lovely bookseller we moved on, having been provided with fresh from the printer bookmarks to go with our growing collection.
Bookseller Song Pick - It's Art - The Bug Club
Cardiff City Centre beckoned, where happily parking was much easier to find than previous big cities. A short walk through the St David’s shopping centre took us to the Royal Arcade, and The Queer Emporium. This was a delightfully stocked repository of not just books but queer accessories and apparel, as well as coffee, which at this point Fraser sorely needed. Alicia ordered a bisexualitea, which included a bit of theatre in the form of colour changing magic.
Bookseller Song Pick - COZY - Beyoncé
Sadly, any brownie points we racked up for our restraint in Hay-on-Wye swiftly evaporated when, upon exiting The Queer Emporium, Fraser unwisely pointed out a tea shop. 20 minutes later and with her bank account severely unimpressed, Alicia finally allowed herself and her bag of teas to be dragged away. Fraser's smugness at winning the self control battle of the day was premature however; on the way back to the car he spied an indie coffee shop and, after he'd finished flirting with the barista, was able to join the unnecessary purchases party with a bag of coffee beans.
Having eaten our lovely salads inside a shopping centre due to threatening showers, the sun came out just as we were leaving Cardiff and making our exit from Wales in the direction of Bristol. Nestled down in the Harbour area next to the Bristol Harbour Railway (where surprisingly Alicia spent more time photographing trains than Fraser did), Bookhaus had an impressive selection of, among others, books in translation, allowing Alicia to snag a book to tick Venezuela off her reading spreadsheet. Fraser was considerably less high brow, grabbing the Chuck Tingle book he’d been eyeing for several stops.
Bookseller Song Pick - Sadness Is A Gift - Adrianne Lenker
Country roads with high hedges and twistiness shaped the rest of our journey to our overnight stop of Glastonbury, where a very tasty and reasonable 3-course dinner was had at a traditional Italian trattoria. Dinner entertainment was provided by a disagreement between waiters over the exact size of side plates to offer with garlic bread.
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