Passionate about Pembrokeshire

 Pembrokeshire is full of special places. The lie of the land, the western peninsula pushing into the Irish sea, the Cleddau waterway, and the Preseli hills offer many vistas that draw artists, writers and common folk more generally. But some places are very special. One is at Haroldston Chins above the high 300ft cliffs between Broadhaven and Druidston, near the centre of St Brides Bay. Here there is a long flat cliff walk with exceptional views of the ocean. To the north is St David’s Head and Ramsey Island. To the south is Skomer Island, though it looks to be an extension of the land.

 

'Where the sea touches the sky in a limitless horizon...'

Walking the coast path at this point feels like being on the deck of a liner with a limitless horizon, and where the sea touches the sky in a seamless continuity. Invariably, out in the Bay are oil tankers parked in line. Normally there are three or four, but I’ve counted as many as a dozen, waiting their turn for a berth in Milford Haven.

It is one of those places that, whatever the weather, feels intensely spiritual. And, in fact, it has taken on the character of a modern, secular 18^th or 19^th Century churchyard. It is full of benches bearing plaques commemorating the lives of people who frequented this place. One is in memory of Paul Blick who helped establish the Pembrokeshre coast path in the 1960s and who was appointed its first warden. The inscription is taken from Shakespeare’s sonnet, ‘Shall I compare three to a summer’s day’: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

A stretch of the cliff path has been tarmacked to provide wheelchair access. At intervals are square benches hewn from tree trunks, all bearing plaques. One is for Sheila Ann Mathias 30-9-42 to 12-6-02: “In loving memory of a devoted wife, mother and granny who liked to walk this path. Hope you enjoy the view as much as she did.” Another is for Edward Hier 1913-2007 and Margaret Hier 1921-2012, both of whom were “Passionate about Pembrokeshire”.

A little further on towards Broadhaven is a standing stone with a plaque declaring: ‘In memory of Glyn Charles Olympic Yachtsman. Lost at sea 4.9.1965 – 27.12.1998. He loved Pembrokeshire.’ Charles was drowned, aged 33, after being swept overboard from the yacht The Sword of Orion he was crewing during the 630 mile Sydney to Hobart Race, one of yachting’s most challenging contests. Ironically Glyn didn’t like ocean racing because the open sea made him seasick. Instead he was ranked fourth in the world for sailing the Star Class, a 22.5ft, two-man keelboat.

Most of these commemorations are for people who lived for a reasonable time. They had a good innings, you might say. But there is one for a young man who did not reach twenty, Roger Dyer 3 June 1981 – 27 February 2000. The inscription bears a quotation from Nelson Mandela: “It is not a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.”

Though we live in a largely secular age, we still need our own versions of spiritual commemoration.

Never ending tour of the Welsh Bob Dylan

Dafydd Iwan - never-ending tour

Dafydd Iwan’s Wales-wide fiftieth anniversary tour comes to Pembrokeshire next week. The troubadour, politician, businessman, language activist, architect, song-writer and lay-preacher will be giving one of his inimitable performances in Fishguard next Friday evening.

He started giving anniversary tours in the early 1980s with the band Ar Log (For Sale). These events have now become so frequent that one can say that like Bob Dylan, Dafydd Iwan is on a never ending tour. It has always seemed to me that he has a lot in common with Bob Dylan, though he insists it’s the American’s model of political protest rather than his music that has had most influence.

Dafydd Iwan first came to prominence in the 1960s as a student activist with  Cymdeithas yr Iaith (the Welsh Language Society), and especially its campaign for bilingual road signs. Peintio’r Byd yn Wyrdd (‘Painting the World Green’) was one of Dafydd’s most notable anthems of that era. He was ‘discovered’ by the television news programme Y Dydd (The Day) and given a weekly slot. As a result he became  “perhaps the first modern Welsh language singer to become a teenage idol”, to quote the sleeve of his first record in 1966.

He became chairman of Cymdeithas yr iaith between 1968 and 1971, one of the most dynamic periods in the Language Society’s history. This was due in part to its stand-off with George Thomas, the Labour Secretary of State for Wales who had adopted a stridently anti-language profile. In particular George Thomas ardently supported the Investiture of Prince Charles at Caernarfon Castle in 1969, which Cymdeithas yr Iaith opposed. Dafydd’s satirical anthem against the event was entitled ‘Carlo’.

Soon, however, he began a more conventional career on a number of fronts. He co-founded the record company Sain (Sound) which became a hugely successful business. Utilising his qualification as an architect he became involved with the Cymdeithas Tai Gwynedd housing association, dedicated to providing affordable homes for local people. And he switched from direct action campaigning to party politics. He stood as Plaid’s candidate in the two 1974 general elections in Anglesey, became an influential councillor in Plaid-controlled Gwynedd, and was eventually elected President of the party in 2003.

Dafydd was born and spent his early years in in Brynaman on the western edge of the southern coalfield. But when he was twelve his father, a nonconformist Minister, was called to be a pastor in the village of Llanuwchllyn near Bala. This upbringing gave Dafydd an instinctively national rather than local identity.  His was a family of nationalists in any event – grandfather Fred Jones, another Minister, was one of the founders of Plaid Cymru in 1925.

But what Dafydd’s 50^th anniversary tour underlines is that throughout his career he has never ceased composing, recording and singing. Undoubtedly this has been his greatest influence and achievement. As the writer Simon Brooks once said, Dafydd’s songs have changed the cultural universe in which the Welsh people live.

Puffin shuttle’s passport to paradise

Pembrokeshire's Puffin shuttle in action

For me summer always ends precisely on 27 September, the date that marks the end of the Puffin Shuttle’s daily forays around the Pembrokeshire coast. After that it can only be hailed on Thursdays and Saturdays during its winter schedule travelling between St Davids and Marloes.

The Puffin Bus travels a meandering route along St Bride’s Bay to the benefit of the walkers of the county’s glorious coastal path. First thing it sets out from St David’s, calling at Solva, Newgale, Nolton, Druidston, Broad Haven and Little Haven, and St Brides, coming to a halt at Marloes before returning to St Davids.

For me it is a passport for my favourite occupation of walking this stretch of the coastal path. Over the past 30 years and more I reckon I must have hiked it well over 500 times. I have walked it so often that it appears regularly in my dreams. If I can’t get to sleep I imagine I’m striding out on a particular section and count the landmarks before dropping off.

There is something magical where the sea meets the land, sky and weather in an ever-changing vista. Partly it is the light that, in my experience, is only matched on the west coast of Ireland and along the Lleyn peninsula in north Wales. It explains why Pembrokeshire is home to so many artists.

Spring is a joy when the whites, blues, pinks and reds of the wild flowers and the bright yellow of the gorse carpet the land with a veritable rainbow of colour. At the height of summer the tall grass and hot damp air deliver a heady experience better than any beverage I know. Even in winter walking in the gales that hammer the coast is an exhilarating thing to do. Rough seas, dark threatening clouds and driving rain will transport you from the day to day. 

Walking the path on a regular basis inevitably reveals the permanent inhabitants. The bird life is extraordinarily varied. Apart from the swooping seabirds there are finches, tits, and curlews, plus the occasional wren, robin and blackbird. The best place for skylarks is St Brides where if you lie in the grass for long enough you’ll see them against the sky before they plummet to the earth.

Rabbits are common. Occasionally a badger appears. Late one evening I was startled by one in Bluebell Wood near Little Haven. I don’t know who was most taken aback, he (or she) or me. For a split second we stared at each other before the badger dived into the scrub below. At this time of year you might see a newly born seal pup in a closed stony inlet anywhere along the southern part of the coast. Once I caught a glimpse of a line of dolphins, from a cliff north of Broad Haven, skimming through the water with their dorsal fins occasionally breaking surface.

So as autumn turns to winter and the days ahead are shortening, I’m looking forward to 3 May next year when the Puffin Shuttle begins its schedule seven days a week and summer begins.

Solva works cultural miracle

 A remarkable story of community engagement and enthusiasm came to a head last weekend with the celebration of the Edge Festival, Solva’s inaugural carnival of the arts, food, sport, swimming, music, drinking and much else. It is so-called because Solva lies on the rim of Wales, at the brink of the ocean. As our late, great historian John Davies once said, it is “the most delectable place in coastal Pembrokeshire”.

The festival was definitely edgy, and a bit nervous because nobody knew how it would work out. It was ambitious, held over four days in multiple venues with a wide range of participants, from writers, poets and comedians, to actors, surfers and celebrity chefs.

It was certainly damp. It rained everyday, sometimes all day. Yet despite that multiple events went ahead. A high point came with a four-kilometre open water swim from the harbor out to Green Scar rock in St Brides Bay that attracted entrants from across the UK. There was a six-a-side football tournament, rock and folk bands, cookery demonstrations, a pig roast and food of all kinds, plus a concert with Meic Stevens, one of Solva’s most famous sons. In all there were 221 swimmers, 41 musicians, 70 footballers, 40 climbers, hundreds of filmgoers, and drinkers galore. In short, and in defiance of the weather, it was a great success. To the surprise of the pessimistic it even broke even, despite costing upwards of £20,000.

Which is a lot of money for a small community of scarcely more than 1,000 people. How did they manage it? How did the Edge Festival come about and why was it such a success?

In June and July last year Solva was invaded by a film crew remaking Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas’s radio play that was first filmed in 1972, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and using Llangrannog as a backdrop. The new version stars Rhys Ifans, and Charlotte Church, with dozens of Solva villagers hired as extras. For two months the place was transformed. At the end of the shoot, during the wrap party in The Ship Inn, it was decided that Solva’s new cultural profile had to be continued in some way, and so the idea for the Edge Festival was born.

But to make it happen they first had to raise money. Some support came from local businesses and organisations like Literature Wales and the Milford Haven Port Authority, but far from enough. So Solva set to and organised a series of fundraisers including an Italian Supper and a Spanish Feast at the Café on the Quay and a six-course dinner at the Ship Inn to mark the end of the Six Nations tournament. With these and other events, including a raffle, they aimed to raise £10,000. By the end they got to £18,000.

Solva’s Edge Festival has mobilised a whole community and worked wonders for the local economy. It has demonstrated how from small beginnings, with dedication and commitment, something truly ground breaking can be achieved. Watch out for next year.