The March of Time

Charlie ConnellyHello there, historical walking person. Most likely you've arrived here for two reasons. One, you're a church organist looking for the chords to Jerusalem, or two, you've been persuaded and cajoled by my book And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years of British and Irish History to find out more about the routes I took.

Alas I can't help much with the former, unless you want the ukulele chords, but if it's the latter then, goshdarn and dagnabbit, you're in the right place.

You'll find details of all the routes I took and most of the places I stayed (the ones I can remember), as well as the OS maps you'll need to make the same journeys. If they're not here by the time you read this, then fear not, they're imminent.

If you're not here because of the book and you're not a church organist, you might well be interested in buying it to see what the fuss is all about. You can do that here. It's a great read, you're all in it, and I suffered selflessly so you don't have to. But you can, and it's something this site hopes to facilitate.

Pip pip for now.

Charlie

Wednesday 28 January 2009

On the Trail of Owain Glyndwr, 1403


Machynlleth - Llanidloes - Rhayader - Llanyrtwd Wells - Llandovery - Llandeilo - Carmarthen - Laugharne

OS Landranger maps: 135, 136, 147, 146, 159

Agan, winter probably wasn't the best time to be tramping around the mountains and valleys of mid and south Wales. I found this a difficult walk, not least because for most of it it never, ever stopped raining. There is definitely something about Welsh rain. Somehow it's wetter than anywhere else.

Anyway, I began in Machynlleth, a really pleasant wee town where I stayed in the Wynnstay Arms before heading off to Llanidloes, a day durng which I got hopelessly lost and had to rely on a stroke of luck in the form of a passing school bus to prevent me spending the night on the side of a mountain in a storm without a tent.

In Llanidloes I stayed in the Red Lion Hotel, before moving on to Rhayader where I can't remember the name of the guesthouse in which I stayed. Again it was dark, raining and the place was, as I recall, swathed in scaffolding. Newbridge-on-Wye was my next stop, and the frankly magnificent New Inn, where I had one of the most enjoyable stopovers of the whole book.

In Llanwyrtd Wells I stayed at the famous, historic and decidedly quirky Neuadd Arms,before moving on to the hugely friendly The Drovers bed and breakfast on the main square in Llandovery.

I can't for the life of me remember where I stayd in Llandeilo, but in Carmarthen I spent a couple of nights in the Drovers Arms before moving on to what is one of my favourite towns in Britain, Laugharne. The Boat House Inn is the former Corporation Arms, one of the regular haunts of Laugharne's most famous resident Dylan Thomas. Thomas's former home at the Boat House is now a museum.

So, a long, challenging but ultimately rewarding walk this one, which took about ten days to cover the 200 or so miles.
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