Geraint Roberts - Ramblings of a would-be published novelist

Talerddig

I sometimes use the name Talerddig. No link to the place mind you, it is a windswept barren hilly part of Powys. The highest point of the railway line between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury The summit is sliced by a steep cutting, which was the deepest in the world in its day. they used the stone to build embankments and bridges further along.
From the train climbing up from Machynlleth, you pass cascading streams and steep hillsides as you fight your way up to a barren summit. there you are met with the green wilderness and twisted wire fences that is rural Wales. the road tries to keep up, as it clings up the valley side, occasionally winding under the railway in some horrendous hairpin that always makes you imagine a juggernaut lying in wait on the other side.
The place is famous for those of the railway persuasion. There you would see the steam engines in all their glory, struggling up, digging in the coal reserves. Perhaps another engine would be on the back to give a bunk up.
It's a wilderness and when the wind doesn't howl or the rain fall, must be very peaceful. As I sit in my office in the middle of a concrete jungle, I dream of lying down close by to Talerddig on a warm summers day, with a gentle cool breeze wafting over me. Just watching the clouds or the trains, or both.
There are no mines nearby, funny that! I am more in tune with the land than the mine. Don't get me started on coastlines!

posted by Geraint @ 1:48 pm