BOOK REVIEWS Roly Smith
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The Cadfan Way
Jean Napier Gwasg Carreg Gwalch , £ 7.75 ( pb )
This is another very attractive and well-designed walk guide from the small Llanrwst publisher Gwasg Carreg Gwalch . This one is unusual because it does not give detailed directions or mileages but follows an approximate 90-mile route around Tremadog Bay and the Llŷn peninsula between Tywyn and Bardsey Island , mainly using the Wales Coast Path . The link is the 6th century Celtic Saint Cadfan , who created a Christian community at the starting point of Tywyn around 1,500 years ago , and later founded a religious settlement on Bardsey , Ynys Enlli , “ the island of saints ”, at the western tip of the Llŷn peninsula . The Diocese of Bangor are in the process of developing the route into an established pilgrimage route . This is an intensely personal pilgrimage for the London-born author , who came to live in Tywyn 30 years ago and finds solace in the 13th century St Cadfan Church , which contains the 9th century Maen Cadfan monument , which is thought to bear the earliest inscriptions in the Welsh language . It is Napier ’ s outstanding landscape photography which elevates this guide into the little
treasure that it is , despite some missing captions . Her stunning sunset image of the golden snaking meanders of the Mawddach estuary and the aerial view of Bardsey are among many which stick in the memory . This stunning collection of images perhaps provides some forgiveness for some howlers in the text , such as her naming of the surname of the builder of The Cob at Porthmadog as both Madocks and Maddocks . Also in her description of the annual Three Peaks fell running , cycling and boating race , which starts at Barmouth , she names “ Scarfell ” as the highest point in England to be reached by competitors , when it should be Scafell Pike .
Guardian of the Dales
Nigel Watson Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority , £ 14.99 ( pb )
n a sense ,” wrote Bill
“ I Mitchell , long-time editor of The Dalesman and winner of the Guild ’ s Golden Eagle award in 2007 , “ the National Parks were born in Malhamdale .” And in a sense , Mitchell was right , because it while he was living in Kirkby Malham , in the midst of war-torn Britain and suffering from the debilitating effects of tuberculosis , that John Dower , the architect of Britain ’ s
National Parks , wrote his 1945 report which laid down the blueprint for our Parks . The author of this splendid and timely survey , a former elected member of the park authority , tells the story of the Yorkshire Dales National Park over its 69- year history , and gives due credit to Dower and his seminal report . “ It was the Dales that inspired Dower ,” Watson writes , “ and it is the Dales that can claim to be spiritual home of Britain ’ s National Parks .” The book rightly highlights the considerable achievements of the Dales park , most notably perhaps the Dales Rail project ( led by the Guild ’ s Colin Speakman ); the saving of the Settle-Carlisle railway ; pioneering footpath restoration work on the Three Peaks ; supporting England ’ s first Environmentally Sensitive Areas , and the launch of the fundraising Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust . Featuring vintage photographs and news articles from the archives , it is a no-holds-barred chronicle of the work of the National Park Authority as told by members , staff , supporters and even the many critics of the National Park . Watson faithfully records some of the darkest days of the park , including the infamous 1991 petition signed by 1,700 residents expressing no confidence in the park authority . Due credit is given , however , to its outstanding leaders such as its long serving chief officer Richard Harvey , John Baker in park management and George Hallas as head of planning . Baker , who died prematurely from cancer in 1998 , was the husband of Angela Baker , a founder member of the famous Rylstone WI Calendar Girls , who subsequently raised millions of pounds for cancer research .
14 outdoor focus / spring 2023