travel
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 […]
Glyndŵr’s Way, day 1: Knighton to Short Ditch
It’s a grey and cool June morning in Knighton as C1, C2 and I set off on six days of walking Glyndŵr’s Way, as far as Machynlleth. We’ve all done some practice walks, but this promises to be a challenge. The hills of Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire are frequent and the miles many. We’re not used […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 2: Furnace to Pontarddulais
A week later, and I’m back at Furnace, this time with a companion, C. It promises to be sunny all day, with a slight breeze to offset the heat. We’ve walked up from the bus station, past the small villas of Llanelli’s Victorian middle classes and the spawling Stradey Park Hotel, where, according to the […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 1: Pen-bre to Furnace
It’s a local enough path, but I’ve never walked it before. St Illtud’s Walk, invented by Colin Davies of Llanelli Ramblers in 1994, joins two country parks, Pen-bre and Margam, passing through three counties and some very varied terrain. As practice for tackling Glyndŵr’s Way next month, it’s my ideal preparation, offering good distances and […]
Llythyr o Iwerddon
Fel y weriniaeth agosaf i Gymru, Iwerddon yw’r hafan amlwg rhag y panto brenhinol, a dihangfa dros dro o’r wlad lle ‘does dim byd yn gweithio dim mwy’. Nod arall inni oedd cael teithio’n araf ac ysgafn, gan groesi’r môr ar y fferi o Abergwaun heb gar, ac wedyn mynd o le i le ar […]
Two walk New York
I’ve been reading Teju Cole’s celebrated novel of 2011, Open city, set mainly in central New York. It’s an unusual piece of writing. The book captures the experience of Julius, a young Nigerian-American (Cole himself being one) who’s in training to be a psychiatrist, as he wanders about in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan […]
A Dada excursion
One of the pleasures of researching the history of the simple human act of walking is that, just like a good walk, it takes you in unexpected directions. Recently, while considering the prehistory of walking as an artistic activity, I came across a Dada event, held in Paris just over a century ago, that stands […]
