Going around the mountain,
Time to communicate with friends
Opportunities for communing with Nature
Developing an eye for detail
Around the mountain goes in stages:
Leaving the house
Down the track
Then steeply up the neighbours’ drive,
Over the stile by the last house
Under the laburnum and the ash
Out into the open hillside.
Views reaching out below
Eye drawn to the sparkling river
On past the rampike -
The old dead tree
With its ruff of oyster mushrooms.
The path is then snuck into the space
Between the pine forest and the steepness of the hillside.
Soft pine-needle flooring underfoot
Pine cones nibbled by squirrels or mice,
The one scruffy, the other neat & tidy.
A small rocky outcrop up above
A couple of stone steps to negotiate
As the pine forest ends and the path steepens
A stream gully below to the left
Casting V-shaped contours
A silver ghost tree drawing the eye.
A couple more rocky steps
And crossing the gully - the stream springing below
Hedged in now by bracken
Even steeper for a bit, breath rasping
The view widening as the ground gradually levels
Across to the slate-grey spoil heaps
And down to the River Dee at the bottom of the valley below,
Or further afield,
Often to the sun setting
Over the rounded nub end tops of the Berwyns
Looking out for the arrow traced with stones
To signal time to turn right and
The chance to breathe again:
Climbing no more.
Past the "lone tree" and across the col,
Footpaths leading to the tops on either side
Now into gorse, making its prickles known,
Even re-directing the path a couple of times.
Heading downwards now
Following the badger’s paw-prints in the snow.
Another stream, springing to our right
Much more kindly,
Merely a dimple in the hillside.
Curving round the hill to the left
Avoiding the steep bank
And popping out onto the miners’ track,
Wonderfully level as it snakes back
Towards the nose of the hill.
Is it here we saw the white hart?
Did we really see her?
Or was she a ghost, or a goat?
Bounding swiftly away until hidden again
Making us question her... our .... reality?
Now the conversation can take over,
No longer constrained by lack of breath
Or, if alone, one can increase the speed
But often the conversation or the pace
Is interrupted by the view.
The moon above the stand of pines
On the next ridge over.
Taking note of the masts above,
Ponderosa and Horseshoe Pass,
The eye skipping over Velvet Mountain
Stopping on the top of Fron Fawr
Then sweeping across to the escarpment of Eglwyseg
Before dropping onto the ramparts of Dinas Bran.
Then being drawn down the valley
To the white sails of the Eistedfford Pavillion
And the conurbation of Llangollen.
Reminiscing of wedding vows at the ruined Abbey
And of Storm Brian
Who tried but failed to dampen our spirits
As we ceilidh-ed the night away.
Light glinting on the silver coins
Of pooled water along where the river once flowed
Or softened by the emerald green of patchwork fields
Continuing on, turning the corner
Finding the flat sun-trap with
Evidence of sheep’s resting places.
Which mushrooms are out today?
The ones flaked with chocolate
Or the tiny yellow antlers
Or the little flat table tops?
One last little rise
Past the old winding house
Just to remind the heartbeat it can't quite relax yet
Before dropping down over the hill's snout,
Again through protective gorse on each side
In the snow tiny little footprints
Dashing back under that spiny sanctuary.
Clambering over the stile
Careful not to slip now,
As the steepness increases downhill
Turning again and picking up the edge of another stand of forest
Larch this time,
In spring, lime-green needles and tiny yellow larch flowers
And galls at the ends of some spruce branches
Like miniature pineapples, housing for grubs.
Stepping around the sheep's skeleton
Strewn into its separate pieces
Recognisable, more for the scattering
Of woollen coat in which they are nestled.
Than for any identifiable shapes.
One last stile marking the boundary
Between natural hillside habitat
And back into human habitat
Along the crunchy drive
What offerings have the cats at
Capel Horeb left today?
Finishing back where we started
More at home, in both mind and body now
Content to continue with the day's tasks
Or maybe relax by the fire
Knowing that all is well
Around the mountain.