Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
Walking Cardiff
Walking Cardiff
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Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description
Yn y gyfrol hon, mae'r bardd a'r seicoddaearyddwr Peter Finch yn cynnig 20 taith gerdded o amgylch ei ddinas enedigol, gan fanylu ar nodweddion a straeon difyr hanesyddol a chyfoes ar hyd y daith, ac ar fywyd dinesig ddoe a heddiw. Cyfunir gwybodaeth gynhwysfawr yr awdur gyda delweddau'r ffotograffydd John Briggs, gan gynnig canllaw bywiog i ddinas Caerdydd.
Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description
Poet and psychogeographer Peter Finch undertakes 20 walks around his native city, picking out features en route and providing interesting stories, historical and contemporary, about life in the city past and present. His sharp eye and compendious knowledge of Cardiff is illustrated by photographer John Briggs' images in a lively guide to the city.
Manylion y cynnyrch / Product details
- ISBN 13
- 9781781725580
- Gwales Code
- gwales.com.9781781725580
- Gwerthwr / Vendor
- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
- Long Title
- Walking Cardiff
- Awdur / Author
- Finch, Peter; Briggs, John
- Current Price ex VAT
- £14.99
- Current Price inc VAT
- £14.99
- Availability Status (EN)
- Available
- Availability Status (CY)
- Ar gael
- Dyddiad cyhoeddi / Publication Date
- 2022-10-27
- Cyhoeddwr / Publisher
- Seren
- Media Type (EN)
- Paperback / softback
- Media Type (CY)
- Clawr meddal
- Pages
- 214 pages
- Size
- 193 × 250 mm; depth 18 mm
- Language Code
- English
- Categori / Category
- CY: Taith, Twristiaeth, Teithlyfrau (yn Saesneg) | EN: Travel, Tourism, Guide Books (in English)
- Is-gategori / Subcategory
- CY: Teithlyfrau - Cymru (yn Saesneg) | EN: Travel Writing - Wales (in English)
Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography
Peter Finch is a poet and topographer who has written extensively on Cardiff, including four volumes of Real Cardiff in Seren’s Real series. John Briggs has photographed Cardiff for more than 40 years and has a visual knowledge of the city equal to Finch’s historical and literary takes. Seren has published two books of Brigg’s images of Cardiff, Before the Deluge and Taken in Time, plus Newportrait.
Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review
There are walking books giving navigational instructions with snippets of interesting information, and there are travel books of a more literary nature. Shops and libraries might have some trouble deciding which category is right for this book. I am something of a connoisseur of walking guides, and I appreciate certain essentials, like good clear maps and unambiguous instructions. Walking Cardiff is a very good example of the genre which fulfils the criteria, the only criticism being that it is too heavy to comfortably carry around. This is mitigated by the provision of maps that you can download onto a phone via the Snapseed app. However, this book is much more than a hiking guide. It is the musings of an experienced raconteur and wordsmith, and includes what is, to me, entirely new and personal information about the recent literary, social and local history of the city, with its rich subculture of poets meeting in various drinking houses to share their ideas, just like the multifarious literati and artists of Paris. The narratives are often anecdotal, and very well supported by John Briggs' excellent photographs, which match the prose in their clarity and in avoidance of the obvious and the banal. The two men take the part of companionable protagonists in most of the walks, where, unlike in most walking books, interaction with the city's often quirky inhabitants is integral to the chronicles. Reading the book is a satisfying exercise in armchair travelling. You are being guided around the city by an exceptionally well informed and urbane native, a man who knows the streets, parks, rivers, buildings and people with an engaging intimacy. It’s as I imagine it might be to amble around Oxford with Philip Pullman, Dublin with James Joyce, or Edinburgh with Ian Rankin. Peter Finch may not be as universally known as these literary giants, but his gentle Cardiffian wit, with its acerbic left-field insouciance, is a delight to this reviewer. We are shepherded on short city strolls of two to five miles by an accomplished writer and poet who is familiar with the exceptional numbers of Cardiff poets, as well as knowing and researching the minutiae of local history along the way. He points out several ancient and not-so-ancient structures and buildings going back to the Bronze Age. His routes avoid the obvious, but are nonetheless well chosen, and anyone walking all of them would end up with a comprehensive feeling for this varied and attractive city, as well as an understanding of how it has developed and how its multi-cultural inhabitants have moved around. One or two longer walks are provided for those of a more energetic disposition, but mostly the routes suit those who enjoy a leisurely amble with a beer or a coffee (or a meal) along the way. The walks are all linear, and are accompanied by good and currently up-to-date instructions regarding public transport to the start and from the finish, and most of them start and finish at interesting places where refreshments can be taken. I almost inevitably do my rambling in the open countryside, but I am inspired by this book, and look forward to trying some of the walks next time we visit my sister-in-law in Penarth.
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