I looked at the weather forecast, changed into quick-dry trousers, and set off to the starting point of the guided walk about celebrated Welsh book Un Nos Olau Leuad. We would gather rather high up in the village, and I assumed we would walk down from there. The evening would end in a pub near me.
It was only raining mildly. I figured that I was the first one! You could either go straight to the beginning, or hitch a ride with the local electrical van, and I had chosen to walk. I figured the van would first wait for stragglers, and be a bit later. And soon another slightly bedraggled lady ended up at the same address. I approached her asking if she was there for the same purpose, and she was! And then more appeared. Two of them I recognised from an earlier guided walk; that had been archaeology and ecology in the Carneddau. We had a nice chat.
After a while we decided to check the junction nearby, and we found the van and everybody belonging with it. They hadn't bothered to look around the corner to the actual address where they had told us to meet. But now we were complete, and it could start.
The first thing the guide, Ieuan Wyn, did was if a bit of an introduction. He reminded people of when the book was written and published, and what the circumstances were of the author. He also touched on the form of the narrative; it’s childhood memories from an adult man. Even though that is a bit weird; when you read the book, it really has a childlike perspective, where things that happen are taken as given, and not reflected on. Adults looking back tend to do that differently, but hey ho.
He then proceeded to mention a lot of locations that were mentioned in the book, and explained what their real names were. Quite a lot of them are slightly altered, and some I thought I recognised, but wasn't sure of. Braich-> Braichmelyn, Pont Stabla -> Pont Twr (the most plausible bridge), etc. Some locations I really couldn't place, like an auntie’s house which turned out to be in Deiniolen, and the house where the protagonist lives. And that was the house where we had gathered.
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| The street and house where both author and protagonist lived |
Ieuan Wyn explain the various locations where the author had lived, which were all quite nearby. And took us to the house that is the location of a nasty eviction at the very start of the book. But then the rain was hammering down! It was decided that we will try to do some of the talking inside the bus. We could still see the locations from the inside. And after we had seen these locations higher up in the village, we went to the church. The protagonist is a churchgoer, not a chapel goer. I had never been in there! It had been built by Penrhyn Estate (of course) and there are several scenes that are set inside it. It was nice to see the details all matching up.
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| To the church |
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| Inside |
After church we went to the little parking space next to my house, as that plays a role as well. Not as a parking lot, obviously. But although there were probably about 20 pubs in the town at the time where the novel is set, there is only mention of one (now closed), and that his back entrance where is now the parking lot. So some of the scenes were really set nearby! And the guide also spoke a bit about the two various locations where there had been holding cells; I blogged about the older ones earlier, and now I also know where the newer ones, in use at the time of the book, are. I think had actually found out before, but forgotten again.
After that we went to the pub. I was glad! I was hoping for something hot. The communications about this event had been that a light meal would be served. Coming in we noticed it wasn't hot at all, but at least we could get a hot cup of tea or coffee with it. That helped!
I chatted a bit more with some of the other participants, but I did not stay long. And even then it was after nine when I left. And the next day was going to be a long one. But I was glad I had gone. It really lives more in your head if you know where all these scenes are set! So that was an evening well spent. And I was also glad I had managed to read almost the entire book beforehand. The guide read out scenes that related to the locations where we were, and I recognised all of them from recently having read them. Even finishing the book would not have given me more relevant locations. So both the re-reading and the walk were a success! I am now a better informed reader and Bethesda resident…
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