The Welsh hills are alive with the sounds of visitors

Cadair Idris, Gwynedd This diverse aural geography perhaps reflects the transformation of the Welsh hills from a rural landscape into a recreational oneCadair Idris may not attract the vast crowds of Snowdon, which sees more visitors every year than there are people living in Bristol, but it's still not a mountain you get to yourself on a sunny September Saturday. In the Minffordd Path car park, scores of people perch on car bumpers pulling on socks and stout footwear. A man with an Estuary English accent is ribbing his companions, who have voices from the Valleys. A jovial but slightly pointed argument over Welsh independence ensues.My dad and I join the procession, which takes us up through a swath of relict woodland. Summer's green lustre is going; oak leaves are crisping at the edges. But out on the open hillside, clusters of rowan berries shine lipstick-bright in the light, their ripe autumnal red contrasting with the brooding volcanic sublimity of Craig Cau. Sleep on these slopes, goes the local legend, and you wake up either mad or a poet (it doesn't specify which is worse). Continue reading...