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Among the eleven ‘Welsh sonnets’ of Gerard Manley Hopkins are counted some of the outstanding poems written in English in the nineteenth century. They include ‘God’s grandeur’, ‘Pied beauty’ and ‘The windhover’. Hopkins came to live in St Beuno’s College…
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Who would live in Wales?
This week the Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett (RhLC from now on) wrote an article sparked by the campaign by Vaughan Gething, the minister for the Welsh economy, to persuade young people born or raised in Wales not to emigrate.…
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John Clare and the snipe
Slow radio at its best achieves what no amount of ‘fast radio’, with its assumption of the attention span of a hoverfly, can achieve: thought connections that stay in the mind long after the programme has ended. Paul Farley’s recent…
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Ar ben pella’r byd
Dyma’r ffordd o’i chyrraedd. Edrychwch am droad i’r dde wrth ichi deithio tua’r gorllewin ar y ffordd i ben pella’r penrhyn. Mae’n hawdd ei golli. Cadwch eich llygaid ar agor am fryn coediog gyferbyn ar y chwith. Wedi troi, mae’r…
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The ageing of Henri Rouart
Henri Rouart was one of Edgar Degas’ oldest and most loyal friends. They went to same school in Paris, Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and served in the artillery together during the Franco-Prussian War (Degas was an indifferent soldier). Rouart became an engineer…
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Wye Valley Walk, day 7: Monnington-on-Wye to Hay-on-Wye
Before breakfast we meet the Couple from Chepstow properly for the first time, and have a chance to share our parallel experiences of the Walk. S. and J., it turns out, live in Tunbridge Wells and are keen ramblers. They’re…
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Wye Valley Walk, day 6: Hereford to Monnington-on-Wye
It’s a still, bright Sunday morning. We walk from our B&B through the quiet streets of Hereford, calling at our favourite lunch provider, Greggs, and make for the Cathedral to visit an attraction we missed yesterday, the statue in the…
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Wye Valley Walk, day 5: Fownhope to Hereford
Today our friends at Celtic Trails, who organised our trip, have taken pity on us and given us a half day off: there’s just between six and seven miles of easy walking ahead. For the first time we’re reduced to…
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Wye Valley Walk, day 4: Ross-on Wye to Fownhope
Another fine day, that starts with cloud and opens up later to sun and breeze. No shops or pubs on today’s route, so we buy our vegan sausage rolls in Greggs and make our way down to the river, alongside…
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Wye Valley Walk, day 3: Symonds Yat to Ross-on Wye
I’m awake before 4:30 this morning, after a nightmare in which I’m on the run from armed police and have to hide in the branches of a tree. The meaning’s obscure, but the presence of trees is easy enough to…