travel
St Illtud’s Walk, day 4: Penlle’r Castell to Pontardawe
No buses go anywhere near Penlle’r Castell, so C and I are lucky this morning to catch a lift by car. It’s a bright autumn day, with good visibility and little threat of rain. We’re back on the high moor in the middle of windmill land, and the path takes us through another turbine colony, […]
Wandering in Meirionnydd
In 1939, just before the outbreak of war, a woman called Hope Hewett published a book about her journeys alone on foot around Merioneth. She has a genial and charming authorial voice, recounting her travels in the company of Jack, her faithful terrier, as they criss-cross their way across the county. Today Hope and her […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 3: Pontarddulais to Penlle’r Castell
The excellent X13 bus runs all the way from Swansea to Llandeilo, but today C. and I take it just as far as Pontarddulais. We aim to climb Graig Fawr and explore the hills beyond, as far as Penlle’r Castell, and maybe beyond. The Met Office promises a cloudy but rainless day; it’s warm enough, […]
A black hole in green transport?
An anecdote is a dangerous base for an argument, I know, but today that’s not going to stop me from a grouse about public transport. Yesterday I needed to get from Mumbles to Cardiff Bay. These days I try to keep the car in the drive, unless there’s no reasonable alternative, and I didn’t think […]
Yn y Gororau
Nid yw’n bosib i Mike Parker ysgrifennu llyfr sych a difywyd, a dyw ei lyfr diweddaraf ar y ffin rhwng Cymru a Lloegr, All the wide borders, ddim yn eithriad. Mae i’r gyfrol strwythur diddorol. Tair rhan sydd ynddi, sy’n gyfatebol i’r tri phrif afon yn ardaloedd y ffin, Afon Dyfrdwy, Afon Hafren ac Afon […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 6: Dylife to Machynlleth
The three of us are delivered back by car from Pennant to Y Star in Dylife – coming this way you can appreciate the scale of the lead waste tips – and we wait for M-A and her family to arrive from Trefenter. Our host tells us that the worst part of this final day […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 5: Llanidloes to Dylife
It’s early on Saturday morning. Friday night has exhausted the inhabitants and the streets of Llanidloes are quiet as the four of us set out across the town. The Red Lion in Long Bridge Street is clearly a royalist stronghold, parading its union flags and coronation kitsch. On the other side of the street the […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 4: Abbey Cwmhir to Llanidloes
From Abbey Cwmhir we’ve three days of long walking. Today, on paper, is the longest, at over fifteen miles. In addition, the temperature is forecast to be higher; already the sun is shining and we’re down to T-shirts almost from the start. Our luggage is ready to be transported to our next stop. Yesterday we […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 3: Llanbadarn Fynydd to Abbey Cwmhir
Over breakfast in The Lion at Llanbister we chat with Mr T, whose farming family go back many generations in the area. He seems to share many of the conservative views for which Radnorshire people are known. We hear about many of the things he’s against: electric cars, the Welsh Government, climate change protestors, rewilding […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 2: Short Ditch to Llanbadarn Fynydd
Another grey morning, with an easterly wind, but again we’re promised sun and heat later. Sharon appears at the Red Lion to take us back to Short Ditch, where we left off yesterday, along some narrow and winding lanes. She tells us she’s Knighton born and bred. She’s not had a holiday for over ten […]
