St Illtud’s Walk, day 7: Resolfen to Afan Argoed
Another nine-mile walk over hills between valleys, this time Cwm Nedd and Cwm Afan. It’s too complex and time-consuming today to take buses, our favoured means of transport, so C and I are reduced to the two-car trick, leaving one at our destination, the Afan Argoed Visitor Centre, and taking the other, via Pontrhydyfen and […]
Cornelius Varley again
I’ve been revisiting the miraculous drawings made by Cornelius Varley when he spent time in Dolgellau in the summer of 1803. The end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century was an age of wonder for watercolour painting in Britain, but I think it’s a shame that Varley’s name isn’t celebrated as widely […]
On shoelaces
We like to think that, even if our politics and economics show few signs of movement towards improvement, we live in an age of continuous technological refinement. Digital inventors now deliver tools like artificial intelligence that dazzle us, jaded though we are by constant stream of wonders. But back in the analogue world some of […]
The silent election
Has there ever been a general election studded with so many good jokes? From the very start, when Rishi Sunak destroyed his blue suit while standing in the pouring rain to announce the election, to the news that the even more hapless ex-MP Craig Williams had used his insider knowledge to place a £100 bet […]
Tro ar fyd: ‘Trothwy’, gan Iwan Rhys
Un o’r llyfrau ar restr fer Llyfr y Flwyddyn eleni yw cyfrol fach anarferol gan Iwan Rhys, sy’n dwyn y teitl Trothwy. Wn i ddim a fydd ganddo obaith o gipio’r brif wobr. Os yw’r beirniaid yn chwilio am gyffro ac antur, efallai ddim. Ond yn ei ffordd dawel, gywrain mae Trothwy yn gadael argraff […]
Build, build, build
It began with an act of destruction, the demolishing of an existing house. Then came the tractors, carting trailer-loads of earth away. Hundreds of loads, over many weeks, if not months. The result: a very large hole in the ground. Next, the concrete. Huge trucks, loaded with long pipes, started arriving. Workers assembled the pipes […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 11: Meifod to Welshpool
The negatives: rain has fallen overnight; the morning’s cloudy and windy, and it feels colder than ever; our boots are still damp inside. The positives: Eleri has fed us well over two days, to counter the hunger caused by long walking; we’re back in the fine village of Meifod; there are not too many miles […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 10: Pont Llogel to Meifod
Eleri delivers us by car back from Meifod to Pont Llogel, for us to make the journey in the other direction, much more slowly, and by a different route. There’s a change in the weather today: it’s cooler, rain’s spotting in the strong breeze, and we spend a lot of time through the day pulling […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 9: Llangadfan to Pont Llogel
We’ve had a comfortable time in the Cann Office Hotel, but it’s time to set off again, without the sun this morning, and move north from Llangadfan. We turn down a lane next to Pontgadfan, the chapel converted by Eleri Mills that I saw yesterday. By chance Eleri passes us in her car on the […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 8: Llanbrynmair to Llangadfan
Since Wales is hilly, and since its villages are very seldom sited on hilltops, it follows that walks away from them tend to begin with a long climb. This morning is no exception. After breakfast in the village shop – our host Mr M. runs a shop and café as well as a B&B – […]
