EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

The hamlet of LLANTHONY is little more than a small cluster of houses, an inn and a few outlying farms around the wide open ruins of Llanthony Priory - a grander setting, and certainly a quieter one, than Tintern, though the buildings are far more modest in scale. It was founded in around 1100 by the Norman knight William de Lacy, who, it is said, was so captivated by the spiritual beauty of the site that he renounced worldly living and founded a hermitage, attracting like-minded recluses and forming Wales' first Augustinian priory. The roofless church, with its pointed transitional arches and squat tower, was constructed in the latter half of the twelfth century and retains a real sense of spirituality and peace. There are two good places to stay : the Abbey Hotel (tel 01873/890487; £50-60; Nov-March weekends only), fashioned out of part of the tumbledown priory, was built in the eighteenth century as a hunting lodge; along the road is the Half Moon Inn (tel 01873/890611; £40-50), serving superb beer and good-value meals.

From Llanthony, the road slowly climbs four miles alongside the narrowing Honddu River to the isolated hamlet of CAPEL-Y-FFIN , from where it's a further mile to the YHA hostel (tel 01873/890650, ; under £40; Feb-Nov), which also has pony trekking and camping . The road then weaves a tortuous route up over Gospel Pass and onto the howling, windy moor of Hay Bluff , on the glorious roof of the Black Mountains, before descending five miles to Hay-on-Wye.