HHH Chapter 16: Two saints and a meaningless pillar

I started today in the beautiful city of Tregaron. It is named after Saint Carón and this is the church dedicated to him, unfortunately firmly closed. It sits on what looks like a small hill, but is actually a completely man-made Bronze Age “mound.” These mounds are often associated with burials or other ritual uses. When the Romans occupied this area, the local population no longer used these places.

St Charon took over the site for Christianity in the 3rd century, and there would have been a smaller building then. Caron was a man of humble origins who traveled to Rome to try to gain support for his government. He was another saint of hiking. He managed to rule the area for 7 years starting in 286 AD and was eventually overpowered by the Romans and killed.

Here is the main crossroads at Tregaron, where in the past you would have seen herds of cattle being driven to markets as far away as London. They even took the geese the same way, protecting their feet by putting tar on them and then walking the geese on sand and pebbles to make a kind of “shoes”!

A secluded holy well

My first objective was to visit the sacred well of San Gybi, also known as San Cubi. You reach the well under an arch of willows and descend some stairs to an attractive clearing, scented by bluebells.

The water flowed gently from a spring covered by the large stone slab on the right. Today it reflected the sky as it flowed into a small stream. It was a very serene and peaceful place, evidently well maintained and out of public view.

St Gybi had an interesting life, traveling from Cornwall, where he came from, to Wales. The local duke wanted to drive away Gybi and his followers, but as he approached, the duke fell from his horse, which quickly died and the duke and his men were blinded. The duke repented and dedicated his body and soul to God. The result was that the horse came back to life and everyone was cured of blindness. Gybi has another famous well further north, also with famous healing properties. He was good friends with a saint called Seiriol, and he tanned a lot because he always walked east, towards Seirol, facing the sun when they met! Saint Gybi also spent many years in France with Saint Hilary. Are all these early saints through disguised hikers?

Walking through tall, windy forests

I could have taken a low route along the valley floor. It was hot so I chose the higher route. This took me out of the valley to a ridge above the Teifi River. This ridge is occupied by a community owned forest, managed by them for wildlife and low profile sustainable forestry. Filled with birdsong, fresh leaves glowing lime green against the sun, it was a magical walk. I was glad to stay.

A meaningless pillar

I stopped in a clearing where I could see the valley. Landowners often like to erect monuments on their land, and looking across, I could see an obelisk rising directly from the top of the hill.

I discovered that this was not a monument at all. In a time of economic depression in the 19th century, when many were suffering hardship because there was no work, the landowner paid workers to erect this pillar, just to give them employment. Maybe I’m too critical, but maybe they could have built something more useful like a school or some houses?

A sadder sight

I continued along shady forest trails, with a refreshing breeze, stopping to rest at a bend in the road. Among the lush new green foliage was a dead tree, like a pale skeleton.

This was a dead ash tree. Globalized trade moves goods and the trade in wood and plants also moves diseases. This tree has the famous ash dieback disease, caused by an imported fungus. Trees have no natural immunity to this new threat. There are so many dead and dying ash trees now, a really sad sight.

Finally I left the trees and walked down a steep slope towards the town of Lampeter, to enjoy all the comforts of sleeping indoors. My camping days are behind me.

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