Year: 2019
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Offa’s Dyke Path, day 10: Cwm to Buttington
We start out early, with a spring in our step: no rain’s forecast, the wind’s slackened, and the day’s climbing is limited. After a short walk along lanes we rejoin the Dyke, and follow it, still tall and well-ditched, downhill and northwards, through trees. The tree roots need constant watching, to avoid a fall. On…
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Offa’s Dyke Path, day 9: Knighton to Cwm
Four months have passed and we’re back in Knighton. In another seven days we’ll have finished a project started six and a half years ago to walk round the edges of Wales. This time, C. and I are joined by M., who walked the southern half of Offa’s Dyke 39 years ago, but has never…
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Hanesion coll
Yn ôl adroddiad yn Golwg yr wythnos ddiwethaf, mae ymchwilydd yn honni fod haneswyr wedi llwyr anghofio am un o ddiwydiannau mawr Cymru, mwyngloddio am blwm ac arian yn y Canolbarth. Ac mae’n ymddangos bod Ioan Lord hefyd yn cyhuddo prifysgolion yng Nghymru o beidio â rhoi cyfle i fyfyrwyr astudio hanes diwydiannol y wlad…
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Poets and rebels at Llyn Llech Owain
At the ‘six ways’ junction in Gorslas, at the head of the Gwendraeth Fawr, I’ve driven past the sign to Llyn Llech Owain hundreds of times without ever taking up its invitation – to follow the minor road up the hill, past the church and chapel, to the lake and the country park that surrounds…
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The memory of Sir Thomas Picton
One of the many noxious elements making up the miasma of Brexiter thinking is exceptionalism. The idea that Britain is naturally superior to other countries, and that it is strong enough to stand alone against every foe, has deep roots – much deeper than the Battle of Britain, so often trundled out by politicians. If…
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Richard Wilson on Cadair Idris
Last week I made my annual pilgrimage to Cadair Idris, which my father-in-law introduced me to as the best mountain walk in Wales, sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. As usual I started from Minffordd. After reaching Llyn Cau I circled clockwise round Craig Cau, Pen-y-gadair and Mynydd Moel. Early cloud lifted from…
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Cymru fydd: ysbryd newydd ar droed?
Yn ôl arolwg barn a gyhoeddwyd ddydd Llun diwethaf mae mwyafrif o bobl yr Alban bellach yn cefnogi ail refferendwm ar annibyniaeth i’w gwlad. Prin fod y newyddion hyn yn syndod. Ers sbel mae’r nifer sydd o blaid torri’n rhydd o San Steffan yn cynyddu’n raddol, a’r gred gyffredinol oedd bod ‘etholiad’ Boris Johnson yn…
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What happens when a politician lies?
A few years ago, the answer to that question would have been obvious. If the lie came to light, and was serious enough, he or she would have been in grave trouble – and might even have had to resign. Today the answer would be – precisely nothing. This is so common that almost nobody…
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William Blake on the moon
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin may have reached the surface of the moon fifty years ago this week. But William Blake beat them to it, by 176 years. What’s more, he had no use for the sophisticated technologies of the Apollo 11 mission. All he needed was a long ladder. It’s easy for us, in…
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Swansea automatic
I first came across the name Rhys Trimble last month while wandering down a narrow lane from the castle to the main street in Denbigh. At the bottom of Lôn Brombil (Broomhill Lane) a poem by him, ‘Moliant i Ddinbych’, is painted on the wall of a building. It begins ‘Boreon Dafydd; o ael bryn…