It was with some trepidation that I drove up to mid Wales a week ago - after depending on the internet for so long, how would an in-person workshop be once more? Well - it was wonderful. Zoom sessions simply can't replicate the experience of sharing a space with like-minded others, chatting over coffee and lunch, working in concert with one another. And the venue - Farmer's Lavender in the hills above Builth Wells - added to the pleasure of the day, though I admit I didn't take advantage of the natural pool in the grounds for a swim, as did some of the braver souls! But Helena Attlee and Emma Beynon facilitated a very interesting and thought-provoking day and it was fascinating to talk to the other participants about their current life writing projects - such a variety of biographies, travelogues, memoirs.
I was back in mid Wales again at the weekend, to at last complete our Wye Valley Walk. It had been a somewhat protracted one - we started it in 2009 and it's only 136 miles long! For a variety of reasons we had had long gaps in between stints. But finish it we have, covering the last seven and a half miles in intermittent downpours - which might explain why we met no more than a handful of other walkers all day! It's the sort of walking I love though - in spectacular wild country, with history beneath your feet (home to Celts, Plynlimon saw the Romans mining lead, Owain Glyndwr routing the English). No wonder artists and writers down the centuries have taken inspiration there.
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