{"id":998,"date":"2014-06-07T21:44:06","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T21:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/?p=998"},"modified":"2016-12-19T09:25:18","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T09:25:18","slug":"aberedw-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2014\/06\/aberedw-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Aberedw Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The morning of what I would later consider the first real day of summer starts with a clap of thunder, not quite close enough for the fizz and crackle of the lightning but loud enough to rattle the windows. Within seconds, the house comes alive with the sound of rain.<\/p>\n

By mid-afternoon, the weather is still making a nuisance of itself as I sit impatiently in the car, waiting for another heavy shower to pass.<\/p>\n

A little while back, I stumbled across a Fay Godwin image from The Drovers Roads of Wales<\/em>: an expansive view across the Wye valley from the bracken-clad slopes of Aberedw Hill. This morning, the map practically falls open there and so I find myself sat in the car a few miles outside of Builth Wells, wondering if I’ve wasted my time and whether the rain is set in for the afternoon. Eventually I decide it’s time to chance it.<\/p>\n

The sun makes a reappearance as I pick my way up a green lane running in rivulets. The air is stifling and the trickling runnels flow between stones that still radiate the heat of hours in the sun, a hearthstone warmth despite the downpour. Further up, a track makes its way on to the open hillside, and with it comes a welcome breeze, driving rainstorms across the landscape, pools of light and shadow under the convecting cumulus.<\/p>\n

The view starts to open out, a dramatic sweep of the Wye valley. To the south lies Pen y Fan and to the west I can make out the distinctive summit cairns of Drygarn Fawr, which I last visited on Boxing Day last year, in foul weather.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, on an afternoon of Constable skies, I filled a watering can from the water butt. As I picked it up, the sloshing weight caught me by surprise and a sky that had seemed so weightless and ethereal took on a new reality. Expanding for miles above me\u2014an impossible mass of water, suspended in air. And I felt small.<\/p>\n

My daydream is interrupted by a distant rumble of thunder. The Drygarn cairns are no longer visible, obscured by a dark veil of rain that is now starting to cover the valley. The first big raindrops arrive as I get back to the car, and as the valley descends into gloom, I\u2019m pleased to have got back without a soaking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The morning of what I would later consider the first real day of summer starts with a clap of thunder, not quite close enough for the fizz and crackle of the lightning but loud enough to rattle the windows. Within seconds, the house comes alive with the sound of rain. By mid-afternoon, the weather is… Continue reading Aberedw Hill<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[44,22,36],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/RG-20140607-031-2.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":430,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/08\/the-end-of-summer\/","url_meta":{"origin":998,"position":0},"title":"The end of summer","date":"Saturday 22 August 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, summer seems to have blasted past what with one thing and another. I've been pretty busy, seeing friends and family, and\u2014after watching this tutorial\u2014embarking on a surprisingly time consuming project to improve the keywording of my image catalogue. Hardly exciting, I know, but it needed to be done. Photographically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Dernol-valley.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1239,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2015\/08\/coed-gwernafon\/","url_meta":{"origin":998,"position":1},"title":"Coed Gwernafon","date":"Saturday 22 August 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A culture is no better than its woods. \u2014W. H. Auden It\u2019s mid afternoon and I\u2019m sat in one of my favourite seats, looking west over the valley of Nant Cwmcidyn, the view towards Plynlimon framed with sessile oaks. The heather is in full flower and the bilberries hang heavy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "places"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/RG-20150822-521.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":487,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/12\/a-favourite-place\/","url_meta":{"origin":998,"position":2},"title":"A favourite place","date":"Tuesday 8 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Take the Aberystwyth mountain road out of Rhayader for about half a mile until you reach a turning to the left, across a small bridge. Around a mile up this lane, you will find a place where two fields don't quite meet. From here, a small path overgrown with brambles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "places"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/RG-20091208-024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1044,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2014\/12\/hafren-forest\/","url_meta":{"origin":998,"position":3},"title":"Hafren Forest","date":"Friday 12 December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cYou haven\u2019t seen someone who looks like they could have fallen off a horse?\u201d, a concerned looking guy asks me. The horse had turned up at the car park just before I arrived, its saddle and bridle still attached but with no sign of a rider. I tell him I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "places"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/RG-20141115-002-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":613,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2011\/01\/source-of-the-severn-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":998,"position":4},"title":"Source of the Severn (part 2)","date":"Sunday 2 January 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The view from the kitchen window this morning was quite inspiring, with a light dusting of snow on the hilltops. A trip up to the source of the Severn seemed as good a cure as any for the cabin fever that's been kicking in over Christmas and New Year. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "places"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/RG-20110102-047.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/01\/source-of-the-severn\/","url_meta":{"origin":998,"position":5},"title":"Source of the Severn","date":"Saturday 10 January 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I must admit, I\u2019ve been quite enjoying what the media seem to have termed the \u201cBig Freeze\u201d, and this afternoon I decided to take a trip up the Severn Way to the source of the Severn. From this small peaty pool, marked with a single wooden post, the river Severn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "places"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/RG-20090110-014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1362,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/1362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}