AN ABERGELE sign offering a two minute quicker route for Welsh speakers has been causing a stir as far afield as Washington DC.

A typo on one of the town’s 33 ‘Walk Your Town’ signs has been shared more than 19,000 times on Social media as the Journal went to press.

Originally posted to the Facebook group Arwyddion Cymraeg Gwael - ‘Poor Welsh Signs’- the sign, which is believed to be on St George’s Road, offers a route which is estimated to take six minutes in Welsh, but eight minutes in the English Translation.

Shared by Cardiff based estate agent CPS Homes, the post – which read “One of the many benefits of speaking Welsh is that you can walk faster than non-Welsh speakers” - has no gone on to attract attention of groups all over the world, including the Washington DC Welsh Facebook group.

A spokesperson for CPS Homes said: “I just thought people would like it and it might go a small way to easing the January blues I’m sure we’re all suffering from. It seems I was right.”

The sign in question is part of a volunteer led, six-month trial began in May providing scannable quick response (QR) scannable codes to provide walking routes to users’ smartphones as part of Abergele Town Council’s (ATC) Abergele Place Plan.

However, rather than organisers and volunteers of Walk Your Town being embarrassed by the humorous typo, they have taken the increased exposure to their scheme as a badge of pride.

Cllr Charlie McCoubrey, said: “I helped put up some of the signs – not that particular one – and I have to say this kind of error is very much covered by what we are doing.

“A permanent sign costs £2000, so at £500 for all 33 and organised almost entirely by volunteers, we can afford to make some mistakes.

“I was quite surprised the picture made it half way across the world, but it’s almost all very good natured and I think people realise it’s an honest mistake. It’s all essentially just promotion for what we’re actually doing in Abergele.”

The scans from the most used of the 33 temporary signs are currently being used to determine where more expensive and permanent signage could be placed.

A spokesperson for ATC said: “Community volunteers installed 33 signs and overall the project has received positive feedback. One sign has been picked up as having a typo with the amount of minutes that it will take to walk to the Town Centre on social media.

"All comments have been light hearted and if anyone wants to walk to the Town Centre to test the theory before a replacement sign is installed next week, they may need to walk quick.

“The Mayor of Abergele Cllr Mike Bird has commented that he has enjoyed reading the humorous comments and glad to see Abergele on the map.”