📔 Editor's Letter - October 2024
Hello and welcome...
One of the wonderful aspects of cycling is that can you go slowly and look for the small things along the way. The details can catch your eye and give the ride character. That's what I look for when I cycle. That's what I look for when I take photographs. The details are what I want to remember.
Still Waiting... sculpture on an abandoned platform quietly remembers.
There was once a lovely sculpture on the abandoned railway platform along NCN Route 492 below the small village of Varteg. It consisted of several pieces of luggage; a couple of large trunks, some suitcases, and an odd crate — all carved from wood and all reminiscent of what you might have seen on the platform when the trains were running. It was incredibly poignant. But just like the trains, this sculpture is now gone.
When giants roamed the valleys...
Along NCN Route 469 heading up to Parc Cwm Darran, there was once an unusual bench made from the the two halves of a large tree branch. Awkward and too large to be comfortable, it was somewhat of a folly, a whimsical bench for a Welsh giant to relax upon after a day of tormenting Arthur across the hillside. And just like the Giants of Wales, this too is now gone.
If you live in a place long enough, you're going to notice the details and you're going to see it change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not. That's life.
So much of what surrounds us here in Wales are reminders of the past. But when I think about these two simple sculptures which are now gone, I begin to think about all the other things which are now gone — lost to time. Things and places I'll never see or even know about.
(Of course too, I'll be gone soon enough and all that might be left are my amateurish photographs and these pointless diatribes — depending upon the Gods of Google!)
I spend a great deal of my time reading about and exploring old things and places. I find it fascinating. It adds an interesting hook onto cycling... it gives my adventures a bit of meaning and purpose.
So much of what surrounds us here in Wales are reminders of the past. But when I think about these two simple sculptures which are now gone, I begin to think about all the other things which are now gone — lost to time. Things and places I'll never see or even know about.
(Of course too, I'll be gone soon enough and all that might be left are my amateurish photographs and these pointless diatribes — depending upon the Gods of Google!)
I spend a great deal of my time reading about and exploring old things and places. I find it fascinating. It adds an interesting hook onto cycling... it gives my adventures a bit of meaning and purpose.
I hope you see this in my reports. And surprisingly too, despite "the best-laid plans...", I often find that it's the small things you discover along the way that makes cycling here in Wales so rewarding (at least to this humble cyclist!)
As always, if you've any questions or topics you'd like to share, do not hesitate to contact me. I'd love to hear from ya!
Thanks again for your support & encouragement. Your readership means everything.
Cheers! - muse kidd
bikewales99@gmail.com
As always, if you've any questions or topics you'd like to share, do not hesitate to contact me. I'd love to hear from ya!
Thanks again for your support & encouragement. Your readership means everything.
Cheers! - muse kidd
bikewales99@gmail.com
