Tag: Cadair Idris
George Bowring: murdered by Welsh magic
The Victorian writer R.D. Blackmore, if he’s remembered at all today, is known for his three-volume novel Lorna Doone. It’s an adventure story, set on Exmoor in the seventeenth century, about the feuding and violent Doone clan and the love between the narrator, John Ridd, and the eponymous Lorna. The book sold badly on its […]
Owen Glynne Jones on Cader Idris
Owen Glynne Jones, everyone agreed, was the outstanding rock climber of his age. Born in London in 1867 of Welsh-speaking parents and educated in science and engineering, he made his name by pioneering new routes in the English Lake District, and from 1891 he became internationally famous for his climbs in the Alps. A natural […]
Ar y Ffordd Ddu
Nôl yn Nolgellau am ddeuddydd o gerdded ar Gader Idris. Ond mae ’na broblem. Er bod diwedd mis Mai, ar gyfartaledd, yn un o’r cyfnodau sychaf yn y flwyddyn, dyw hi ddim yn dilyn na fydd hi’n bwrw glaw o gwbl. Ac eleni, wrth gwrs, yw Blwyddyn y Glaw, a dyma ni yn nesáu at […]
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 […]
Welsh paintings: gwallter’s top 10
Paintings, not painters, you’ll notice. And the artists are all safely dead (this avoids treading on the toes of the living). Third, I wouldn’t claim that these are the best ten paintings. They’re just works that have given me special pleasure and contemplation. Many aren’t very well known. But see what you think about my […]
Be welwch chi o gopa Cader?
Llynedd, am y tro cyntaf ers blynyddoedd, methais i ddringo i gopa Cadair Idris. Sa i’n gwbod pam. Covid a’i ofidiau, siŵr o fod, neu absenoldeb meddwl, neu ohirio oherwydd pwysau eraill. Ond, o edrych yn ôl, dwi’n teimlo rhyw fwlch bach yn fy mywyd, rhyw rwyg yn yr edafedd o lwybro rheolaidd ar y […]
Tennyson in Llanberis
Alfred Tennyson was born in Lincolnshire, and lived there throughout the first part of his life. The portrait of him that always comes to mind is the photo Julia Margaret Cameron took of him in 1865, which shows him as prematurely aged, with thinning, straggly hair, untidy beard and lined face (Tennyson said it made […]
Cwm Amarch
There are places in Wales – places no one would call remote – that few people, even those living here, have visited, or even knew existed. Cwm Amarch, it would be safe to say, is one of them. I got to Minffordd early enough – before ten o’clock. Normally, on a Monday in mid-September, you’d […]
Cornelius Varley in Wales
Among the many artists who came to draw and paint in Wales around the turn of the eighteenth century, Cornelius Varley is yet to receive just attention. The pictures he made in Wales are fresh, delicate and strong, the work of a young man with great visual intelligence who reacted with instinctive wonder and clarity […]
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 […]