Wales Inspiration
16th October 2014
North Wales 16th Oct
The last four days have been spent in the high and rocky mountains of North Wales. This is a land that comprises of a concentration of steep sided mountains, mist covered buttresses and small jewel like lakes. A land of legend and myth and one that has had a strong influence in many things I do and continue to be interested in.
It is also a place, though I have been many times, I last visited long ago. The result of this new reacquaintance has meant the area was both immediately familiar but also new. The clarity of my memory faded by time. Land points, names, routes up mountains, the summits were all known to me, but also new. I was renewing, relearning and reintroducing myself to this most magical corners of the UK.
My first day was a very simple walk up Moel Siabod. On my first visit to this mountain, over 25 years ago, I originally pronounced the name as it is written in English. I also, those many years ago, discovered (to my ever lasting embarrassment) that it is actually pronounced 'Mol Shabod'.
The names and my lack of Welsh language has often created a barrier, which is probably psychological rather than real, to ever try to say the names out loud (or at least with some apologetic caveat....."or how ever it's meant to be pronounced").
Added to my language deficiency I recall my first walk over this rock strewn mountain as it included a dramatic looking accident. Having stopped to have lunch, I found a bare piece of rock to traverse. However, one foot slipped off, cantilevering my head forward onto the hard, rough rock. Thwack went my forehead, followed by a steady flow of blood down my face. It was not too bad a knock, so I carried on to the summit, then back down. However, the blood, mixed with mist, meant my face was now streaked in a gory red smear of blood, reminiscent of a scene from the film Cary. Fortunately, the recent visit was accident free.
The second day in the area was on the iconic mountain Tryfan. This is an amazing 3000 ft lump of rock that sits in the Ogwen valley like a brooding dinosaur. Tryfan's spine is a serrated, rocky ridge that thrusts, arc-like, above the valley floor and is a ridge that conceals an amazing number of scrambles and climbs. Today was to be some easier grade one and two scrambles, connected together to reach the summit cairns (two pillars of rock known as Adam and Eve).
The ascent was great fun and at times pushed me both mentally and physically. On both counts I have to be philosophical as I know I easily traversed this mountain many years ago, when I was younger, fitter and more agile. The effects of age means my physical ability is lessened, which therefore impacts on my mental ability to cope with challenges caused by height and rocky sections. However, I was happy and it was good to test myself as the bar is higher than I thought.
North Wales is full of myth and legend and it was in this corner of the UK I first encountered the connection of legend to land. The legend that caught my imagination was that of King Arthur, where he is meant to reside, asleep, with his Knights, in a cave on the sides of Snowden. Further, down the valley, towards Beddgerlert village, Merlin saw the vision of the red and white dragons fighting (the English and the Welsh). There are many other sites in North Wales and beyond linked to this legend and this concentration caught my imagination, especially as I had come across many other places in the UK with similar connections. What if I could create a route that linked all these sites/locations together? A walk in the footsteps of the legend of King Arthur?
It was over 1700 miles and 3 months later that I eventually realised this ambition. The walk started in Tintagel (Cornwall) and finished at Carlisle. It took in the North Cornish Coast, Dartmoor, Bodmin, Exmoor, Quantocks, Somerset Levels, Cheddar, Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean, Brecon Beacons, Caermathenshire, Pembroke, Priscilli Mountains, Cader Idris, Llyn Peninsula, Anglesy, Snowden National Park, Clwydian Hills, Cheshire Plain, Peak District, Pennines, Dales and Lake District National Parks. There was many places the route could have gone, but time forced me to limit my journey. I could have included more of Cornwall, further sections east of Somerset, parts of Hadrians Wall, penetrated Scotland linking both SW and NE areas and even Brittanŷ. This might be another project, realised at another time, however, what I did all started in my mind after my first experience in North Wales, all those many years ago and is an area that continues to inspire and generate awe.
The last four days have been spent in the high and rocky mountains of North Wales. This is a land that comprises of a concentration of steep sided mountains, mist covered buttresses and small jewel like lakes. A land of legend and myth and one that has had a strong influence in many things I do and continue to be interested in.
It is also a place, though I have been many times, I last visited long ago. The result of this new reacquaintance has meant the area was both immediately familiar but also new. The clarity of my memory faded by time. Land points, names, routes up mountains, the summits were all known to me, but also new. I was renewing, relearning and reintroducing myself to this most magical corners of the UK.
My first day was a very simple walk up Moel Siabod. On my first visit to this mountain, over 25 years ago, I originally pronounced the name as it is written in English. I also, those many years ago, discovered (to my ever lasting embarrassment) that it is actually pronounced 'Mol Shabod'.
The names and my lack of Welsh language has often created a barrier, which is probably psychological rather than real, to ever try to say the names out loud (or at least with some apologetic caveat....."or how ever it's meant to be pronounced").
Added to my language deficiency I recall my first walk over this rock strewn mountain as it included a dramatic looking accident. Having stopped to have lunch, I found a bare piece of rock to traverse. However, one foot slipped off, cantilevering my head forward onto the hard, rough rock. Thwack went my forehead, followed by a steady flow of blood down my face. It was not too bad a knock, so I carried on to the summit, then back down. However, the blood, mixed with mist, meant my face was now streaked in a gory red smear of blood, reminiscent of a scene from the film Cary. Fortunately, the recent visit was accident free.
The second day in the area was on the iconic mountain Tryfan. This is an amazing 3000 ft lump of rock that sits in the Ogwen valley like a brooding dinosaur. Tryfan's spine is a serrated, rocky ridge that thrusts, arc-like, above the valley floor and is a ridge that conceals an amazing number of scrambles and climbs. Today was to be some easier grade one and two scrambles, connected together to reach the summit cairns (two pillars of rock known as Adam and Eve).
The ascent was great fun and at times pushed me both mentally and physically. On both counts I have to be philosophical as I know I easily traversed this mountain many years ago, when I was younger, fitter and more agile. The effects of age means my physical ability is lessened, which therefore impacts on my mental ability to cope with challenges caused by height and rocky sections. However, I was happy and it was good to test myself as the bar is higher than I thought.
North Wales is full of myth and legend and it was in this corner of the UK I first encountered the connection of legend to land. The legend that caught my imagination was that of King Arthur, where he is meant to reside, asleep, with his Knights, in a cave on the sides of Snowden. Further, down the valley, towards Beddgerlert village, Merlin saw the vision of the red and white dragons fighting (the English and the Welsh). There are many other sites in North Wales and beyond linked to this legend and this concentration caught my imagination, especially as I had come across many other places in the UK with similar connections. What if I could create a route that linked all these sites/locations together? A walk in the footsteps of the legend of King Arthur?
It was over 1700 miles and 3 months later that I eventually realised this ambition. The walk started in Tintagel (Cornwall) and finished at Carlisle. It took in the North Cornish Coast, Dartmoor, Bodmin, Exmoor, Quantocks, Somerset Levels, Cheddar, Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean, Brecon Beacons, Caermathenshire, Pembroke, Priscilli Mountains, Cader Idris, Llyn Peninsula, Anglesy, Snowden National Park, Clwydian Hills, Cheshire Plain, Peak District, Pennines, Dales and Lake District National Parks. There was many places the route could have gone, but time forced me to limit my journey. I could have included more of Cornwall, further sections east of Somerset, parts of Hadrians Wall, penetrated Scotland linking both SW and NE areas and even Brittanŷ. This might be another project, realised at another time, however, what I did all started in my mind after my first experience in North Wales, all those many years ago and is an area that continues to inspire and generate awe.