In yesterday's blog post I mentioned the church bells ringing all night and our concern they would keep us awake. They didn't. We should have learned from Switzerland where exactly the same thing happened.

We had a nice breakfast in the Inn restaurant. Linda overheard the people at the next table talking about an abandoned handbag and realised it was hers; she had left it on her chair at dinner last night and hadn't even noticed it was missing. With her passport and wallet in it, she was grateful to have it back.

Today we were heading to Wales to stay in Lavernock with Shirl and Dave and Liz and Mat. Because we both had sore throats we decided to do RAT tests as a precaution. Linda tested negative but I tested positive for Covid (or Corona as they still call it in continental Europe). My reaction to the test result included words like "Bwlch" and "Cwtch".

I started getting symptoms a day before Linda so she may still test positive in the future. We know exactly how I caught it but won't share that for privacy reasons. This is my second dose of Covid and it is very different from last time. Then I was completely wiped out for a week, this time I just have a hoarse throat and occasional bouts of coughing. My energy is mostly unaffected.

We clearly couldn't stay with the others, as we had planned to do for the next three nights, so we needed to book other accommodation. The best option would be a separate chalet in the same holiday park in Lavernock but multiple phone calls went unanswered. We decided to start driving and have another go at lunch time.

Two hours drive from Brailes was the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye, known for one important thing - it has more secondhand bookshops than anywhere else in the world. It also has a castle with a cafe with tables on the balcony, perfect for when you need lunch but don't want to infect random strangers.

The castle yards also had an "Honesty Bookshop" where I could browse in the open air.

There were several of these dotted around the town. While I looked around town, Linda followed the sound of trombone and guitar and enjoyed a concert by the local buskers.

We were still unable to get hold of Lavernock Holiday Park so we found a local AirBnB instead. Cwtch (pronounced roughly "kush") Cottage is a converted stable way off the beaten track near the river Usk outside the town of Bwlch (pronunciation completely unknown).

Cwtch is actually one of the very few Welsh words I know. As the decorative plaque in the cottage says "Everyone cuddles, but only the Welsh can Cwtch".

We've had a very quiet evening. After several weeks of full-on activity, this was not a bad thing.