Dylan Thomas' Laugharne

A week away in Wales at the end of September was a risk with the weather but what a week of weather we had.
24th-25th in Dinas Head there was camping in a field with the best view of the Cardigan Bay you could have wished for but the final night we had a storm and the tent was taking off from the ground along with the sheer weight of the rainfall, I don't think that the tent knew what to do!
Then we moved to the home of Dylan Thomas in Laugharne and the weather has gone 180 and we had a heatwave along with the rest of UK. A day of travelling and acclimatising was had before the real adventure of seeing Laugharne and the surrounding area in all its glory.

We did a walk around Laugharne and the Taf Estuary, starting in the shadow of Laugharne Castle, you join Dylan Thomas' Birthday Walk. What a fantastic walk to do on your birthday! Ascending into the coastline along the woodland, you see a noticeboard next to the pathway about 100 yards up.

Dylan Thomas Birthday walk and a Birthday poem for us to enjoy. I am not an avid reader of Dylan Thomas and his poetry, I find it to be hard work to read but when I do I am amazed at the amount of thought that has been put into the writing to make it brilliant.

On the walk, the Poem in October has been broken down to make it easier for readers and to allow you to enjoy the fabulous walk.
The first board contained the verse:

 A springful of larks in a rolling
     Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
        Blackbirds and the sun of October
                Summery
            On the hill's shoulder,
     Here were fond climates and sweet singers suddenly
     Come in the morning where I wandered and listened
            To the rain wringing
                Wind blow cold
        In the wood faraway under me.

Continuing up the hillside, the woodland breaks away for a moment and looking across the estuary, studying Laugharne Castle from the distance, the second board appears from the Poem in October:

It turned away from the blithe country
     And down the other air and the blue altered sky
        Streamed again a wonder of summer
                With apples
             Pears and red currants
     And I saw in the turning so clearly a child's
     Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
             Through the parables
                Of sunlight
        And the legends of the green chapels

 Jumping over the stile, just past the board and finishing the ascent according to the map and walking instruction, there is a signpost 'The Last Verse', following the hill downwards to a set of deckchairs strategically placed to read and enjoy the last board.


And there could I marvel my birthday
     Away but the weather turned around. And the true
        Joy of the long dead child sang burning
                In the sun.
             It was my thirtieth
        Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
        Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
             O may my heart's truth
                Still be sung
        On this high hill in a year's turning.

The walk continues to the Salt Marsh Farm, Broadway, Delacorse on the ascent and you pass St Martins Churchyard where Dylan and Caitlin are buried. Once the ascent has been reached, there are continous views of the River Afon and Taf Estuary as you descend towards Dylans Boathouse and his writing shed.

We continued to the town and all the shops, stopping at a gift shop to purchase some local gifts and I wanted to know more about Dylan and his life so chose a book by Caitlin Thomas.

Catch the book review in my BOOK REVIEW BLOG