Capel y ffin and the Twmpa

Ramblings

BBC

Science, Nature, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Clare meets a passionate proponent of walking today on a hike around Capel y ffin and the Twmpa in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park. Andrew Green has just published a book called Voices on the Path, a History of Walking in Wales and for him it’s not just a case of putting one foot in front of the other and admiring the scenery, it’s “an activity loaded with all kinds of social, cultural and economic associations”.

Their immediate surroundings have long attracted writers and artists from across the generations including William and Dorothy Wordsworth, JMW Turner, Bruce Chatwin and Allen Ginsberg. Also drawn to the beauty of Capel y ffin was the poet and painter, David Jones, described in 1965 as the 'best living British painter' by the then Director of the National Gallery. Peter Wakelin's book 'Hill Rhythms' tells Jones' story, which he wanted to share with Clare on the walk but a twisted ankle meant he had to remain at base, however he used the time to seek out the potential location of one of Jones's best loved paintings.

They met at the tiny Capel-y-ffin chapel on the Monmouthshire/Powys border and walked up the Twmpa - also known as Lord Hereford’s Knob - in the Black Mountains returning via the valley of Nant Bwch. A walk of just over six miles.

Grid Ref for where they met: SO253316

Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

Transcript

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0:45.1	I can just hear the sound of running water and if I look through the trees, I can see this
0:49.8	bubbling brook as the water breaks over rocks. I'm standing in a churchyard with yew trees around me that are so ancient.
0:58.8	The way the trunks fold and lump and bump makes it look like there are faces of trolls.
1:06.1	And these yew trees surround a tiny white church.
1:14.6	Grace Lake roof with moss covering it and behind the church you can just see the brow of a hill that is called Tumpur and today I'm going to climb Tumper
1:21.5	and I've come here to walk with a man who has written a history of Welsh walking.
1:28.3	He's called Andrew Green.
1:30.3	It's going to be fascinating.
1:31.3	He's also got his friend Peter Wakelin with him,
1:33.3	who is an art historian.
1:36.3	They're going to meet me inside the church.
1:42.3	This is very quaint. Oh, tiny just one room and through the window where you can see the
	...

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