NUMINOUS LANDSCAPE

studio updates, musings, and inspiration

Exploring the Borderlands

Into The Black Mountains - April, May, June

4th June 2023

 

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The best part of a year on from my initial writing about forays into this area, here is the second installment. Although not spending as much time there as I would ideally like, I can know the personal significance of the places by the way its living presence persists in the mind and senses after each visit.

 

If you would like to familiarise yourself with the maps, or hear about walks from earlier in the year (including a selection of poetry by R.S.Thomas) please visit part 1, which can be found here.

April

 

A murky day, which feels like it belongs to no season. I select my most usual route from the train station at Abergavenny, through the town and up onto the hill towards Sugar Loaf, rising through the ancient woods. Continuing along and then descending the eastern shoulder of that hill, I walk the lane in a valley to the North of the Loaf (above) - The Vale of Grwyney - heading west, where I pick up a track that takes me to Llanbedr. This strikes me as an excellent village on first impression, as I am greeted by a beautiful old church, small cottages, in great proximity to a cosy looking pub. A magical setting, with Table Mountain just to the North.

Moving south, following the course of a small river, I reach Llangenny, from where I turn East, up, up, up, back onto the western shoulder of Sugar Loaf this time. On a less hazy day the views towards the central part of the Brecon Beacons would be stunning (above).

 

 

May

 

Depopulation Of The Hills

 

Leave it, leave it - the hole under the door

Was a mouth through which the rough wind spoke

Ever more sharply; the dank hand

Of Age was busy on the walls

Scrawling in blurred characters

Messages of hate and fear.

 

Leave it, leave it - the cold rain began

At summer end - there is no road

Over the bog, and winter comes

With mud above the axletree.

 

Leave it, leave it - the rain dripped

Day and night from the patched roof

Sagging beneath its load of sky.

 

Did the earth help them, time befriend

These last survivors? Did the spring grass

Heal winter's ravages? The grass

Wrecked them in its draughty tides,

Grew from the chimney-stack like smoke,

Burned its way through the weak timbers.

That was nature's jest, the sides

Of the old hulk cracked, but not with mirth.

 

R.S.Thomas

An absolutely stunning spring day. Again I set out from Abergavenny station towards Sugar Loaf. Aiming for Llanthony Priory, and once beyond the first hill I take a small road which leads me North, deeper into the Back Mountains. The day is sunny, still, warm, a dream. I encountered a very small church with graveyard, which brought to mind how localised the people of these hills would have been. Even the nearest village or town a considerable journey. Now, by contrast, a 'remote working wilderness haven' is here. I feel conflicted about it. My head tells me it is a local land owner, farmer perhaps, urgently needing to 'diversify' to make ends meet. Or, simply taking a well-intentioned entrepreneurial stance, and why not, perhaps it is a great and needed thing for those who utilise it. But my heart, or in other words 'the howl of Nature', tells me that there is the presence of loss somewhere here too.

 

"..space for you to work, study, create and be inspired. And to connect with nature and with everything that matters to you....modern and fully-equipped with all the bits and pieces you’d expect from a 21st century office, and with the added benefits of the great outdoors."

 

As someone who was not needing those things, my experience of the place was the other way around, an unwelcome interruption to my relating with the predominantly 'more-than-human' surroundings.

 

I may sound curmudgeonly, like R.S.Thomas himself on occasion, but I am more curious about it than disdainful. I think what I am picking up on is not so much about this place, which might well be a good version of what it is providing, but a noticeable feature of modern life (a 'force', an attitude, a way of being?) that claims to own, and then offers (sells) back what is, or was, previously more readily available to all. Nature is packaged as the 'great outdoors', no longer 100% proof, but instead diluted to 'added benefit' strength. To me there are some destructive qualities about it, although in this instance fairly subtle. Perhaps the subtlety is a sign itself of how pervasive and insidious the commercialisation of 'nature' has become. What springs to mind is something Peter Kingsley describes well; that we can be pulled away from what our hearts intuit by the insistence we rationalise according to our conditioning — to become a 'lawyer in a shabby raincoat', as he aptly puts it. I'll write something more about this soon.

Onwards, past a farm with which time and the elements have had their way, gradually climbing onto one of the long, finger-like ridges of the range, bright and verdant greens all around. I rest for some time by a 'pile of stones' near one of the higher points (Bal-Mawr), and survey the scene. The descent eastwards towards Llanthony is very steep. Upon arrival at this fascinating site I acquire an ale, and linger in the shade of the spectacular abbey ruins. This is a commercial enterprise I can happily abide. I wonder, surely those who lived here in monastic isolation 900 years ago were also seeking a space in which to 'work, study, create, be inspired, connect with nature and all that was important' to them?

This place offers solace, it feels kind, and sheltering. When ready, I climb onto the Hatterall ridge, where views across the green fields of Herefordshire (England) are equally vivid. I always feel drawn to explore more of that county, which is today bathed in such clear, sharp light, it is difficult to believe that such beauty is possible. Eventually I make my way back to the bus stop near Pandy.

(See below for link to a recent BBC program showing this area).

June

 

An utterly glorious sun filled day. Resplendent greens are out in full force. Onto the Sugar Loaf hill as usual, and then heading East to Llanvinhangel Crucorney.

Skirrid Fawr comes into view, but I won't be ascending it today. My route takes me around the eastern flank, which is the other side of the hill in the photo above.

Leaving the village and rising steeply, there are views that feel endless. The rest of the Black Mountains in the west, Herefordshire to the north (above), and Monmouthshire towards the Wye Valley eastwards (below).

The Bright Field

 

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

the treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

 

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

 

R.S.Thomas

Inspirations

Iolo's Borderlands - BBC iPlayer

 

I highly recommend this series, consisting of four episodes currently available to view on iPlayer. Episode 1 gives an excellent overview of my regular haunts. Beginning where I live in Newport, the RSPB wetlands which in a former life was an industrial site. I can see the wind turbines and pylons from my house. Moving on to the Wye Valley, where I often ramble beside sections of the river between Chepstow and Symonds Yat. In connection with this newsletter, the highlight is a segment where Iolo travels between Pandy and Llanthony, on the Offa's Dyke path as I described above, and previously. There are some tremendous (albeit rather brief) aerial shots of the Hatterall ridge.

Thank you for reading. See you next time.

You are welcome to share this newsletter on social media, or privately.

 

I am always pleased to hear from those who have an interest in what I do, or for whom the related themes resonate. You can reply to this newsletter directly, or use the 'contact' form on the website.

 

Previous Numinous Landscape communications can be found here.

 

For information on the Psychotherapy work I offer, please see this page.

 

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