Tracing a 135-mile horseshoe-shaped route through rural mid-Wales, Glyndwr’s Way passes through the splendid hill country that was at the heart of Owain Glyndwr’s 15-year rebellion against the English from 1400.
I am fascinated by this “great Welsh hero”, said Kevin Rushby in The Guardian, so I decided to hike the trail’s southern half, from the “pretty” border town of Knighton to Machynlleth, where the building in which Glyndwr held his Welsh parliament still stands.
I can’t say that I ended the journey feeling any wiser about the man himself – but it was a wonderful walk: “quiet, very quiet”, with highlights including the “lovely, slightly eccentric” town of Llanidloes, and the 564-metre-high peak of Foel Fadian, which affords some “great panoramas” of Snowdonia.
Marvellous mobiles in Philadelphia
Best known for his huge mobile sculptures – bright, abstract forms hanging from suspended metal frames – Alexander Calder was born in Philadelphia in 1898, and last year, a new museum dedicated to his work opened in the city, said Michael Joseph Gross in Travel + Leisure.
Designed by the architects Herzog and de Meuron, the galleries at Calder Gardens are “uplifting”, light-filled spaces in which the work is presented without labels or “curatorial statements” (Calder believed that we should interpret his art “on our own terms”). Outside, there’s a “meadowlike”, 1.8-acre sculpture garden laid out by Piet Oudolf (the Dutch landscape designer behind the High Line in Manhattan), to which admission is free.
It’s a worthy addition to a city known for its great art institutions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation, which has a huge collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.
A handsome port in northern Spain
The port city of Avilés, in Asturias, was once known for its “steelworks and pollution” – but with few factories left now, said Isambard Wilkinson in The Times, its air is much cleaner, and it is well worth a visit.
Avilés’ old town is one of the “loveliest” in northern Spain, with its Renaissance palaces, “leafy” parks and medieval churches, including two dedicated to Thomas Becket (“Santo Tomás de Cantorbery”). And in 2011, the city was given a major boost by the opening of the gleaming-white Oscar Niemeyer Centre, a “futuristic” arts venue designed by the Brazilian architect.
If you visit the centre, try to eat at Yume; the city also has another fine restaurant, Casa Tataguyo, which serves traditional Asturian cuisine. From nearby San Esteban de Pravia there are boat trips on the “majestic” Nalón estuary; it also has an excellent hotel, the Gran Hotel Brillante.