Tag: walking
Snowdonia Slate Walk, day 4: Beddgelert to Tanygrisiau
I’ve not slept well in Beddgelert. The reason, I think, is that our B&B is beside Afon Glaslyn, and I’m not used to sleeping with the constant noise of running water. Today we’re going to be following the river downstream towards Nantmor, before turning to Croesor and beyond. Yesterday’s heavy rain has begun to turn […]
Snowdonia Slate Trail, day 1: Bethesda to Llanberis
I’ve had my eye on Llwybr Llechi Eryri, the Snowdonia Slate Trail, ever since it opened in 2017, and especially since two seasoned long-distance walkers, Eirlys Thomas and Lucy O’Donnell, told me in 2021 that it was one of the best long treks they’d ever tried. So the three of us, C1, C2 and I, […]
Deep in Carmarthenshire
If you’re in love with green – I mean chlorophyll-saturated green, the lightest and deepest greens that nature can offer – there are fewer better places to find it than north-west Carmarthenshire. To wander through the fields and woods on the hills either side of the Tywi valley and its tributaries is to soak your […]
Beacons Way, day 8: Carreg Cennen to Bethlehem
The taxi arrives at the White Hart on the dot, and we set off from Llandeilo, on another fine morning, through Ffairfach and Trap to the farm car park at Castell Carreg Cennen. I thank Mr Teilo Taxis for his essential help, and he leaves for home and a day of painting his house, unless […]
Beacons Way, day 7: Llanddeusant to Carreg Cennen
The day’s started well: I’m travelling on one of my favourite railways, the Heart of Wales Line. The two-carriage train is dawdling and rattling its way towards Llangadog. The trick is to choose a seat on the left, and catch views of the coastal mudflats and Gower across the water. At Llanelli the train reverses, […]
Beacons Way, day 6: Craig y Nos to Llanddeusant
After a comfortable night in the Penycae Inn I opt for the full breakfast, on the theory that yesterday’s fatigue was caused by lack of calories, and make an early start in the spring sunshine. Before the climbing starts there’s an hour-long ‘overture’ of flat walking. I cross the Tawe and retrace my steps along […]
Beacons Way, day 5: Storey Arms to Craig y Nos
Another cloudless day, another trip on the TrawsCymru T6 bus from Swansea to Brecon, followed after a break by the T4 to Storey Arms. This time I’m on the other side of the A470 from Pen y Fan. I’ve always wanted to explore the unfashionable west slopes above Storey Arms, and now’s my chance. My […]
Beacons Way, day 4: Llangynidr to Storey Arms
In the Coach and Horses I’m awake early. The day’s bright again, and after a modest breakfast, I’m outside and walking before eight o’clock. I find the lock on the canal, cross on a small wooden bridge and start the journey westward, through trees and then a series of fields, past two farms, Llwyn-yr eos, […]
Beacons Way, day 3: Crickhowell to Llangynidr
It takes two bus journeys from home to reach today’s starting point, Crickhowell. The T6 winds its way via Cwm Nedd, Cwm Dulais and the Usk valley to Brecon, and there I swap to the smaller X45 bus that speeds along to Crickhowell. There are just a few fellow passengers, including a group of workers […]
Is there a history of walking?
It’s a question that wouldn’t have been asked, let alone answered, before Rebecca Solnit’s pioneering book Wanderlust, published in 2000. Solnit is a writer probably best known for her books on women – she was the first to formulate the idea of ‘mansplaining’ – but her range of reference is startlingly wide, and her work […]