Thursday, 21 October 2021
Sunday, 17 October 2021
Farewell Twmbarlwm, (well, kinda...)
My imagination literally amok during the few hours I spent exploring Twmbarlm. It's a place I had not even heard of until the morning I decided to look for somewhere new in South Wales to explore. But its a place that will linger in my mind for a long time to come...
Locally known as 'Twmp', this mystic tumulus is also more widely nicknamed 'The Nipple' given the hill's appearance to a breast, and is, in fact, an Iron Age hillfort, constructed by the Celtic Silues tribe [more info here].
Twmbarlwm Summit, aka 'The Nipple' |
One of the defensive ditches on Twmbarlwm |
The place is stepped in folklore, much of which I still haven't ha the opportunity to study (I will leave a few links here if you are thirsty for this info right now.
http://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/category/legend/
https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2986/twmbarlwm.html#folklore
I will leave Twmbarlwm there, for now. But I will be returning to the place - maybe not physically, but creatively very, very soon :)
Twmbarlwm ~ Into the Woods
The woodland looked more than enticing from the summit of Twmbarlwm. So much so that it would have been impolite to ignore the invite:
Saturday, 16 October 2021
Friday, 15 October 2021
Scooby Doo Trees ~ Twmbarlwm
En route up to 'The Twmb', a row of trees that appeared to have been imported from a Scooby Doo cartoon or a movie retelling of Sleepy Hollow pulled me briefly off course. I nearly used the word grotesque to describe their appearance, but on closer inspection, the moss-softened trees seemed more sensual than that term relays. Recent scientific evidence seems to support the idea that trees communicate with one another and can actually help look after one another in times of need. Here, in Twmbarlwm, these trees appeared like kindred spirits, enjoying each others company both emotionally and physically: