A rapturous lamentation, and a winding tale with an unswerving message. One of the best books I’ve read on the climate emergency” From coastal castles to the steep pitches of Snowdonia National Park, mountain passes to the UK’s first trail centre at Coed-y-Brenin, traversing the ‘desert of Wales’ through the Cambrian Mountains and spectacular Elan Valley and lastly crossing the rough and wild Brecon Beacons National Park into the valleys of South Wales, there are few long-distance routes that rival the variety of landscapes that you’ll find on Sarn Helen. Part love-letter, part lament, part call-to-action, Sarn Helen is one man's passionate attempt - in prose that's at once lyrical and forensic - to put into words what's at stake for us all in our present moment -- Carys Davies Well, that’s how it is in that adrenalised condition. (There have been times when I have felt that I could walk across a motorway without any concern for my safety, I was that sure that a book must happen – which goes to show, if nothing else, that it is also a form of intoxication.) In fact, there are more tangible aspects. For one thing, this state of clarity never simply comes from nowhere; it follows an immense amount of thinking and research, and in my case, usually, a deep, despairing murk. For another, it always seems to come when you find yourself in possession of a shape. I’m a great admirer of George Monbiot and I also understand how he’s managed to upset so many people with his hatred of sheep,” says Bullough. “I share his feelings in lots of ways, and I grew up on a bloody hill-farm. The smell of sheep is home. So I can really feel what people feel they are losing, which is their soul, their identity. You try and take that stuff away – what are we?”

He continues to hear the call throughout the final section of the book but no discussion of them is otherwise provided so, for me, it starts to become sinister. Just on that first day, Sarn Helen brought communities struggling to recover from Covid-19 and from flooding caused by unprecedented rainfall – both, of course, symptoms of the CEE. It brought mountains reduced to a virtual wasteland, but it also brought relics of the Age of Saints – of the 5th and 6th centuries, the roots of Wales, when the natural world inspired a divine awe. To write about the CEE, really, you have to do little more than observe: the crisis is no less than everything we are. What that first day provided was the shape of the book, but also (as it seems to me) its basic music: the disjuncture between who we were and who we have become. And our Editor’s Tip this month chosen by Emma Herdman of Bloomsbury is In Memoriam from Alice Winn. We recently joined a coachload of local people travelling up to London for the XR Gathering. It was peaceful, organised, with upwards of 60,000 very nice people attending of all ages, hardly terrorists.We are already witnessing the effects of climate change, not just in Wales but all over the world. 2020 saw the warmest winter and wettest February. There were floods, droughts, landslides. Remember last summer’s record temperatures topping 40 degrees? A rapturous lamentation, and a winding tale with an unswerving message. One of the best books I've read on the climate emergency -- Chloe Aridjis

It is a triple view of Wales, he is very much in the present when walking up hills and along the 2000-year-old road, parts of which are still visible. But inevitably he explores the past of the landscapes and the people that inhabited the villages that he walks through. The third aspect of the book is the future of the country as the spectre of climate change looms ever nearer. Sarn Helen refers to several stretches of Roman road in Wales. The 160-mile (260km) route, which follows a meandering course through central Wales, connects Aberconwy in the north with Carmarthen in the west. [1] Despite its length, academic debate continues as to the precise course of the Roman road. Many sections are now used by the modern road network while other parts are still traceable. However, there are sizeable stretches that have been lost and are unidentifiable. A Roman road once connecting the north and south coasts of Wales, Sarn Helen is a ‘perfect spine from which to flesh out a picture of the country’. Despite no trace of it on the OS map, Bullough manages to walk the entirety and, in doing so, is able to juxtapose the past, present and future of Wales.

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More has changed in the past fifty years than the past six thousand. We are on target for reaching catastrophic global temperature increases, meaning the collapse of societies. It is of interest to me, not only as a Welsh learner who is keen to learn more of Welsh culture, history and landscape, nor as a lover of Roman roads and good writing, but also as a grandmother who is keenly aware of the climate breakdown and what it will mean for our beloved small granddaughters. The road gives its name to the annual Sarn Helen Hill Race that starts and finishes in Lampeter in mid-Wales. The 16.5-mile (26.6km) multi-terrain race, founded in 1980, takes place in May each year. It claims to combine "the speed of road racing with the rigours of cross country and fell running over a challenging picturesque course". [7] In popular culture [ edit ]