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Journey 5: Gerald of Wales
Gerald’s account covers a seven week journey in March and April 1188.
Gerald of Wales Biography
From Hereford, Gerald covered over 500 miles. His route ranged from southern Wales, an area he knew, to the wilder north. Along the way he tackled some of Wales’ steepest mountains and most treacherous rivers.
His trip bequeathed not only the first book ever to be wholly devoted to Wales, but also the most vivid portrait of a British medieval journey ever written. -
New Radnor
The first stop was New Radnor. Here, Gerald himself pledged to go on the crusade, probably in a stage-managed bid for an early burst of recruits.
People found their way by sighting ahead from vantage points, and by asking locals. There was the odd stretch of old overgrown Roman road, but most of the way was uneven muddy tracks, prone to flooding and very heavy going. And people were forever finding new routes as old ones became unusable. -
Hay-on-Wye
Gerald, a prodigious writer for his times, would have loved modern day Hay-on-Wye. It has more bookshops per square metre than anywhere else in the world.
At Hay, and every stop along the way, he and Baldwin preached aloud to crowds of locals, hoping to persuade them to ‘take the Cross’. Those who agreed wore a cloth cross on their shoulder, and waited for the call to fight for Christ in the crusades. -
Llangorse
The joy of Gerald’s writing is his unpredictability. His account digresses intro flights of fantasy. Convinced that Wales buzzes with superstition, he relates tales of lakes that shift location, hybrid ‘deer-cow’ and ‘monkey-dog’ animals, and locals who predict the future using the shoulder blade of a ram.
At Llangorse, Gerald describes a lake that “sometimes turns bright green, and in our days it has known to become scarlet, not all over, but as if blood were flowing along certain currents and eddies.” -
The Black Mountains
Historians have long debated where Gerald went from here. His account claims the ‘rugged pass’ of Coed Grwyne, and Nick identifies two possible ‘Grwyne’ valleys on his map.
A guide to The Black Mountains
But they’re both 1800ft up in the mountains, whilst down below ran a perfectly usable Roman road alongside the River Usk – now the A40. -
Aberavon
The area round the River Neath has long been colonised by industry, but in Gerald’s time it was notorious for its perilous estuary.
Their plan was to ford it at low tide. But they got their timings badly wrong, and then there was the quicksand…
“One of our pack-horses, the only one possessed by the writer of these lines, was almost sucked down into the abyss.” The whole party – some two dozen people, plus horses – is trapped. Another wrong step could be fatal.
“In the end it was pulled out with some difficulty, thanks to the efforts made by our servants, who risked their lives in doing so, and not without some damage done to my books and baggage.”
Behind schedule, the group presses on to the river, just as the tide turns against them. With fording no longer guaranteed, they instead detour upstream to cross by boat at Briton Ferry – and safety at last. -
St David's
His account is full of biographical digressions, including a misty-eyed account of Manorbier Castle, his birthplace. Another place close to Gerald’s heart was his next destination: St David’s, the holiest place in Wales. His uncle had been bishop here, and Gerald undoubtedly had dreams of following in his footsteps.
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Anglesey
From St David’s onwards, the journey became harder – physically and in terms of recruiting. Gerald must have known the best chances were behind them, and things had already taken twice as long as anticipated. But he pressed on into north Wales, which had resisted Norman invasion and retained a more independent character.
Hard mountain crossings and a treacherous row across the Menai Straits followed. On Anglesey, the ‘Mother of Wales’, Gerald and Baldwin preach their final sermons in a ‘circular natural theatre of rocks’.
Credits
- Presenter
- Nicholas Crane
