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The morning’s chilly and overcast, and at first a low mist flows downstream, blocking the view of Llandogo. We march briskly along the riverside drive to Bigsweir Bridge, where G and A are waiting for us. The iron bridge makes…
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Offa’s Dyke Path, day 2: Chepstow to Bigsweir
After breakfast we wait for three more guestwalkers, J, G and A. It’s unusual to have as many as six in the group, and there can be drawbacks – losing members by accident on the way, for example – but…
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Offa’s Dyke Path, day 1: Sedbury Cliffs to Chepstow
A couple of ancient carriages, probably scheduled to be replaced by Transport for Wales in the year 2030, rattle their way into Chepstow Station. One of the few adverts inside is for a useful sounding firm called Simple Cremations. As…
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Offa a’r Cymry
Offa, brenin Mercia, a fu farw yn y flwyddyn 796, yw’r unig frenin Eingl-sacsonaidd y mae ei enw yn rhan o fyd ieithyddol Cymru. A hynny am un rheswm yn unig, oherwydd ei gysylltiad â ‘Chlawdd Offa’. Gan ein bod…
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Steel mountain
For an early May walk the three of us are back here in Port Talbot, a town much in the news lately. First things first: coffee and serious cakes in a popular café, Selections, as fuel for a steep ascent. …
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How to be an MP
The news of Paul Flynn’s death in February 2019 met with widespread dismay. Surveys tells us regularly that MPs rank lower in public estimation than almost any other group in society, with the exception of bankers, but here was an…
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The Londonification of Cardiff
It’s a commonplace that the UK has the least well-balanced economy in Western Europe. While London and its region, dominated by financial and allied services, continue to grow and thrive, the rest of the country is bogged in post-industrial depression,…
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Three paintings in Vienna
In the Leopold Museum in Vienna, a long wall is covered with small panels that show photographs and short lives of dozens of cultural figures who were active in the city at the start of the twentieth century: Freud, Mahler,…
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Walking with windmills
The Heart of Wales line train leaves me at the station in Ammanford. It’s still, sunny, and warm, the second day of summer time, with an extra hour of daylight walking. My plan is to cross Mynydd y Betws and…
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Up the Ely river
Where we start happens to be in south Cardiff, but could be anywhere in the world in 2019. Apartments are stacked in Duplo’d piles, each block with a ‘concierge’ and a primary colour. Sheds, with metal roofs shaped in shallow…