Exploring Brecon

31st August 2023

After a quiet night spent in the van we awoke to very rainy rain, we packed everything away in the van including our soggy tent ‘garage’ and even soggier swimming things (it was optimistic thinking they would dry) and Alun invited us in for a delicious cooked Brekkie, it was great to catch up with their youngest daughter Chloe too. Before we said our goodbyes we had to get Alun to tow us off his field! Goodbyes were then said and we drove off to Brecon.

Brecon is a town at the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park with the Black Mountains to the East nestled in the Usk valley.

I can’t remember if I’ve ever been to Brecon before and I’m not sure what I was really expecting, but it was bigger than I thought as we drove through to find the Cathedral. We were meeting an old friend of mine from our Cambridge days at the Cathedral to have a coffee and catch up, which we did in the café in the Cathedral grounds. We chatted while we drank and then left Steve to his Cathedral visit whilst we embarked on the Brecon Poetry trail I’d found online.

The trail said it began at the Theatr Brycheiniog so that is where we headed, Amanda weaving me through the town an pointing out landmarks on the way. Reaching the Theatr I spotted a slate plaque with a poem on it in Welsh which matched the description on the trail. Good so far, we popped into the Theatr to the information desk hoping to pick up a hard copy version of the trail as the online one only seemed to give details of where to find the first two poems. However the staff behind the info desk had never heard of the Brecon Poetry Trail and despite me showing them where I had found it online they had no further information about it. The trail was set up as part of the Cultural Olympiad for the 2012 Olympic Games, each poem has a Olympic theme, I knew there were 10 poems! Anyway the area by the Theatr is very pretty with a Wharf, you can get a canal cruise from there and Amanda tells me the canal is very pretty.

“Brecon’s poetry trail invites everyone to explore the streets, rivers and landmarks of the ancient market town of Brecon and its connection to the myths and legends of the magical, mystical land of Wales. The poems include references to names and events from The Mabinogion, verses recalling the deeds of Guto Nyth Bran, Taliesin, Gwenllian and others including the modern Olympian long jump legend Lynn Davies.

There is a strong Olympic theme throughout, as the trail was inspired by the Cultural Olympiad of the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the desire to embrace the whole of Britain through sport and culture.

Theatr Brycheiniog was one of seven arts organisations in Britain, and the only one in Wales, chosen to join the celebration, commissioning a permanent artistic installation for the enjoyment of the people of Brecon and visitors to the town.

Ten Welsh poets were commissioned to compose four-line verses incorporating Olympic elements of their choice within a framework of Welsh myths and legends or imagery with a strong Welsh resonance. The collective result is an outstanding monument to the wealth, depth and breadth of the richness and diversity of modern Welsh poetry in both languages.” Excerpt from the online description of the trail from Breconbeacons.org

We left the area by the Theatr and despite not really knowing where we were going we had some clues about the next plaque and after a bit of toing and froing we found it! Now we really were clueless, so Amanda started taking me to various landmarks in the town hoping we would spot a poem! The next poem we spotted was in the window of a second-hand bookshop, so Amanda went in to ask if they had any info…alas no.

**A fo ben** (Menna Elfyn)
He who would lead must be a bridge
Over streams of gold, silver and bronze
The Thames echoes to Pen y Fan
The rejoicing of champions from every land
(Translated by David Lloyd Pope)

A friend (thank you David) has helped me with some translations of the Welsh poems, but he made this very valid point. “Just as in English, Welsh poetry can be difficult to translate and to understand, even if you know what the words mean. There are cultural and literary references and sometimes language that is archaic or not often used in everyday speech. Also, Welsh poetry uses a number of fixed meters that are very rarely found now in English, like sonnets.”

The next poem we spotted was in the window of a second-hand bookshop, so Amanda went in to ask if they had any info…alas no. Just up from there was the Tourist Information Centre (small shop) and finally we found someone who knew about the trail!! They gave us a copy of the town map which has the locations of the poems marked on it, but no trail as such. We told them that the staff in the Theatr didn’t know anything about the trail!

**Gwenllian** (Clare Potter)
Her power worth more than the struggle
Her legacy lasting longer than treasure
She fought for the language inside us
And our heritage was carved by her

Amanda had to leave me at this point as she had to get back to her car, so I was now on my own. I then made my way back down to the river waterfront to find the third poem by Graeme Davies, then heading back towards the town I found the poem in the Art Gallery window (after asking as I couldn’t see it at first!)

**Yr Afon Wysg** (Grahame Davies)
The river Usk that you remembered in the past
Is brighter today, when you return
And the last rose of autumn at the side of the lane,
Is sweeter as you come home with wisdom

Boudicca statue outside Y Gaer, which is an “exciting and inspirational new cultural centre in Brecon, which brings together the refurbished Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery with a brand new Brecon Library to create meeting and event spaces to stimulate the senses – space for poetry, music, reading, art and learning, with peaceful corners for study and contemplation. The Museum & Art Gallery in the Grade II* listed former Shire Hall, has seen the restoration of the Assize Court, the opening of the subterranean cells and the provision of redesigned galleries, which contain the nationally-important museum collections and works of art and also offer space for special displays and exhibitions. The Brycheiniog Gallery on the top floor features on the different parts of Breconshire and their special features. Y Gaer Library has a fabulous range of books for all ages, plus Wi-Fi and computer facilities,” from Visit Wales

Why is it that if you stand looking at a map people always presume that you are lost??? I was trying to get my bearings and work out what the old TIC building was when a friendly chap asked me if I needed help, so I told him about the trail, he’d lived in Brecon since he was born, but knew nothing about the trail! I showed him what I was looking for and he offered to take me there! I thanked him and he bid farewell and good luck. He also pointed me into the right direction for another poem located at a school, however I wasn’t specific enough and he inadvertently sent me to the Infants School rather than the junior school! The staff in the reception were mildly amused when I asked them where the Poem slate was!

**Mwyalchen y Mynydd** (Chris Meredith) – (apparently a ring ouzel)
A flash of black
With a fierce song
Prince of the rock
With a silver collar

Back on the right track and eventually locating the slate, I was once again looking at the map for the next location when another friendly chap offered his assistance, he too knew nothing of the trail, although he knew the existence of the poem by the school. I needed to head back to the Cathedral and he kindly gave me directions and we walked down a few steps of the King Charles Steps before he disappeared into one of the houses!

At the bottom of the steps I spotted Steve along the road and shouted at him to wait. Catching him up we set off to find the next poem together not far from the castle. Brecon Castle is now part of a hotel, but was originally built as the administrative and military headquarters of the Lordship of Brecon (Bernard de Neufmarche) in 1093. After a bit of a wander and a visit to an eco shop and a chocolatier we headed back to the Cathedral for some lunch and discovered another slate poem in the bookshop!! Steve and Clara had their picture taken outside the Cathedral and we headed off on a long drive in the rain to reach our camping destination in North Wales.

**Lynn Davies** (Ceri Wyn Jones) – Lynn ‘the Leap’ won the Olympic Long Jump medal in 1964
To the stream we come on a venture again
Back to the measureless leap
Black and white, staying true,
A salmon’s golden leap through the air

In the shop in the Hours Cafe & Bookshop in the Cathedral grounds (which we didn’t spot on our first visit!)

My friend Amanda is one of the featured women in a Photographic exhibition in the Hours Cafe & Bookshop, Brecon. This stunning photograph (badly captured by me) represents her as an artist.

On our way out of Brecon we drove Clara past the Bus Station so I could dash out and capture the last Poem!

Sauntering in St Davids

Bimbling in Bangor