It’s been a hectic day today - I woke up near Narberth (and some sleeping donkeys) and am going to bed in Blaenau Ffestiniog, and there were lots of stops in between. Before I get to them I wanted to start with some stuff I was thinking about all day yesterday.
On this trip, I’m collecting small rocks and stones as I go. These are going to form part of the artwork I make at the end of this process. I’ve been thinking about this trip, and this project, for months and some things never crossed my mind until was off and running yesterday.
As I collected my first few stones, I suddenly had the thought, “Have I got any right to be collecting these?” I’ve done quite a lot of scuba-diving over the years and the mantra with that is, “Take only photos, leave only bubbles”, something I’ve always adhered to (other than an occasional piece of sunken trash or a lost mask and snorkel). This came to mind as I started collecting the stones. Was/am I doing something wrong by collecting these stones? In many ways I’m doing nothing more than what any kid might do - taking a little keepsake. But I’m not a kid. And, by default, these sites are special in some way - they’re purported to be sites of folkloric importance (is that a phrase?)…
I don’t know, is the answer. But what it forced me to do was start making some rules around my collecting, maybe to justify it to myself. Of course I’m not removing anything from walls, or cairns, or anything covered in moss and lichen. The basic rule I set myself is that the stone must be loose and on the surface of the ground. It can’t be in anyway embedded or rooted. I think, in this way, I’m just collecting things that might get kicked or thrown for dogs. My interest in the stones isn’t that they might be ancient, simply that they’re a physical token and marker of a geographical location and my journey. Another thing is that I’m noting the what3words location of every stone. That’s actually part of the work, but it also made me realise that if wanted to I could take them all back to the precise location from where they came. I don’t know. I overthink things, but I guess it’s important to do that sometimes to make sure you’re not NOT thinking about things…
So, my first stop this morning is unquestionably going to be one of my favourites from this trip - Ffynone Waterfall - purported to be the gateway to Annwfn.
Just up from the car park, on the trail, a house is being rebuilt/refurbished. It will be a pretty extraordinary place to live (remote, in an ancient wood, with lots of walkers passing your front door). The workmen have put this sign up as they’re so bored of visitors asking which way to go (I didn’t ask, but got briefly chatting to one of them when he saw me taking this photo).
A short walk away is this…
…and it’s really easy to see why people might have thought this a portal to another world. Even the surrounding trees feed the other-worldly feeling…
This has obviously been a spot people visit for hundreds of years and a tree just on the edge of the waterfall pool bears the scars of those visitors. I should wholly disapprove of this kind of thing but it’s actually pretty beautiful - hundreds of names carved into the same tree over decades. It’s the kind-of long term created object that an artist can only dream of making (or begin today and make for the rest of their lives).
Then came a long drive to Harlech, via a couple of other sites. If you’ve never driven through Wales before, you have to do it. The country is so incredibly beautiful you find yourself wanting to buy every other one of the many very remote stone buildings you see for sale as you meander through hamlet after hamlet, town after town, never getting much above 40mph as the roads are so windy and narrow. The landscape just keeps on taking your breath away. Yes, it all sounds very cliched but do it then come back and tell me I’m wrong.
There’s not much else to tell from today - stories-wise - so I’ll just post a few pictures and let them do the talking. Ynys Môn fory…
