The sandstone hills are crowded with woods, patchworks of dirt-orange paths that meld together like running paint. Over the years the Council have designated dozens of cycle and walking routes, with complementary signs put up by the National Trust (who have no jurisdiction to do so).

On a warm summer afternoon, walkers emerge out of the quilt of shade into areas of clear sky, green-rimmed horizons that merge with the diamond-like estuary, and for a while, silence reigns. In truth, the silence here is not much more profound than down in the town, where quiet moments can be found on certain cul-de-sacs even during balmy periods, when the ducks and the geese in the park are hushed to the occasional rustling of slick neck feathers. The wider streets, solidly packed with cars and bicycles, are lined with grand old beeches and oaks which allow what little rain has fallen to remain as sludge in the uneven gutter. At dawn, the ducks waddle across the busy road and splash into the half-barrel pool in number 30’s front garden. They will return, unnoticed, before rush hour.

I go to the sloping lawns of Ashton Park to lie down and try to write something, or make some progress on the History of the Arab Peoples I’m reading, but I quickly put aside any thought of writing and let a few pages of tribal customs and migrations float past me. A day like this, which hasn’t happened yet, which I’m dreaming of from January, is not for language. Even the act of creation seems like a chore, which it should never become. So instead I’ll lie there, here, on the sloping lawn, and open a second frame, picturing myself in the past now, wandering through the grounds of Tatton Park, in the Oriental garden. There is a pool, brick-built, with leaves and algae; the water is cold, but reasonably clean. No insects skate the surface, the tiles are aquamarine. If I was younger, I’d be dragging on my mother’s arm to go into this pool. I stop, and stare at the surface. Eventually, I follow the girl out of the garden, through the leaf arch.

We've been doing some photos.

This is a little taster - they'll be more to come very soon...

Swn

If you're lucky enough to be in Cardiff this Saturday (22/10), drop by The Undertone around 3pm to see us play the wonderful Swn Festival...

tour dates incoming*

we're going out on tour:

16th October - Binnacle Festival @ The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch

22nd October - Swn Festival @ The Undertone, Cardiff

28th October - CUC Warehouse, Liverpool

5th November - Liverpool Music Week @ Mojo, Liverpool

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