Archive for 2019
The hunt for Twrch Trwyth
The other day I walked down to Mumbles to get my hair cut (a no. 8 shave all over, in case you’re interested). In my normal barber’s there was one customer in the only chair, and four others waiting. The cutting pace there is slow, so I moved down to another, newish shop I’d never […]
Sebon glan, sebon budr
Daeth newyddion da o Lyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru‘r wythnos yma: bod y Llyfrgell wedi prynu un o’r ddau fersiwn gwreiddiol o’r llun dyfrlliw enwog Salem gan Sydney Curnow Vosper, cyn arwerthiant yng Nghaerdydd. Mae’n hollol briodol bod llun a ddisgrifir yn aml fel ‘eicon’ o gelf Gymreig yn cael cartref parhaol mewn sefydliad diwylliannol cenedlaethol. Fel […]
Edgar Degas does some more ironing
A while ago I drew attention to the pictures Edgar Degas made of women ironing. I tried to show how this unusual theme brought out the best in him as a painter. This week, in Avignon, I came across another fine example that I hadn’t seen before. It’s on display in the Musée Angladon. This […]
Werner Herzog’s pilgrimage to Paris
Many think Werner Herzog our greatest living film-maker. His major fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s will always find new viewers. Aguirre, Wrath of God, a study in conspiracy, tyranny and madness, has a claim to be one of the most powerful ever made. Once you’ve seen it the first time, with its dense […]
After Offa: Mercian Hymns
We weren’t just following his Dyke on foot. We were also tracking its maker, Offa, king of the Mercians. Or so it was said. We’ve no contemporary evidence that Offa was the one responsible. The first person to make the claim was Asser, a Welsh monk from St Davids (his original name may have been […]
Offa’s Dyke Path, day 15: Bodfari to Prestatyn
No kindness from the Path in the first section of today’s walk (we’re now reduced to three walkers). From the road, opposite a disused pub, the fingerpost points straight up a steep hill, before we’ve a chance to wake up the limbs. As the guidebook puts it, the Clwydian hills have not yet done with […]
Offa’s Dyke Path, day 14: Clwyd Gate to Bodfari
This was the day we were not looking forward to. For a while the weather forecast was adamant: heavy rain in the morning, lighter rain for the rest of the day. But the heavy rain cleared early, and it was just spitting when I went out into the streets of Ruthin in search of a […]
Offa’s Dyke Path, day 13: Castell Dinas Brân to Clwyd Gate
Our host takes the four of us in his car to the start of the path that leads to Castell Dinas Brân, and we add to our day’s total of miles by climbing the steep hill to the Welsh castle. Scattered and stark stone remnants are all that survive of the fortified court of the […]
Offa’s Dyke Path, day 12: Trefonen to Castell Dinas Brân
Today was due to be rain-free, and it is. This fact alone lends us a lightness of spirit that lasts all day, another long one. We’re joined by our guestwalker and friend A., fit after his holiday in the Italian mountains. A taxi returns us from Oswestry to Trefonen. We’re immediately unable to find the […]
Offa’s Dyke Path, day 11: Buttington to Trefonen
At nearly seventeen miles this is going to be our longest day, so C, M and I set out early from Buttington Bridge. It’s already raining steadily. The path takes us along the towpath of the Montgomery Canal, no longer navigable and the preserve of great sheets of algae rather than narrow boats. We pass […]
