The walk begins in the town square opposite the Talbot Hotel, where George Borrow experienced "very good entertainment.... an excellent supper and a very comfortable bed." The 19th-century hotel was originally a drovers' inn; Tregaron was a major centre for stockmen who converged on the Talbot Arms to refuel body and soul before undertaking the long, hazardous journey across the untamed mountains to the east.
In the centre of the square is a statue of Henry Richard (1812–88), MP for Merthyr Tydfil and an outspoken supporter of disarmament. Born in Tregaron, Richard was apprenticed to a draper before his ordination in 1835. A strong advocate for the disestablishment of the church, he eventually devoted himself to a political career and founded the European Peace Union, the forerunner of the League of Nations and the United Nations.
The bronze statue, unveiled in 1893, portrays a forcible man in a Victorian frock coat with a sheaf of papers clasped in one hand and a pince-nez in the other.
On the other side of the square, the route passes the Welsh Gold Centre, where the world-famous Rhiannon range of Celtic silver and gold jewellery is created from Welsh minerals. Tregaron is one of the few places still making specialist jewellery from dwindling stocks of Welsh gold, with many designs inspired by the nation's mythology and natural history.
You leave the town on a quiet road sheltered by oak, rowan, beech, and hawthorn as the ground rises gently to overlook Cors Caron (Tregaron Bog), a four-mile-long raised bog that formed over two large lakes impounded behind a glacial moraine.
The habitat of Cors Caron gradually altered as the lakes were drained by the Afon Teifi. Open water plants gave way to reeds, which in turn formed dense banks of peat; as the surface dried, alder, birch, oak, and pine trees flourished, only to die back when rainfall increased and the water table lifted again.
Sphagnum moss carpeted the central area, forming vast accumulations of acid peat and creating three raised bogs 33 feet above the original level of the lake beds. Today the bog is white with cotton grass in summer and a sea of swaying purple moor grass by autumn, with a marked nature trail to follow around Cors Caron complete with information boards to help you spot the flora and fauna.
From Cors Caron you branch off into the hills. Towering high above to your left are the brooding heights of the Cambrian Mountains, where Twm Siôn Cati — a favourite villain of Welsh folklore — hid out in his narrow cave. The legend is based on Thomas Jones (c. 1530–1609), who received an official pardon for some unknown crime in 1559; down the centuries many tales have collected around his name, portraying him as a brigand, highwayman, and talented trickster.
The walk ends back in the town with a closer look at St Caron's Church, which stands on an oval mound 24 feet above the road (legend has it that the earth on which it stands rose up of its own accord to cover St Caron's grave).
The fortified 14th-century tower rises to 60 feet, seemingly out of proportion with the rest of the building. The belfry holds a solitary bell whose resonant E flat rings out across the parish (tradition says the original complement of four bells was removed by marauding Irish pirates, though it is more likely they were taken during the Civil War to be smelted down for munitions).
The walk follows the drovers' road back to the square, the heart of this thriving community — as one old drover said to George Borrow about Tregaron: "Not quite as big as London, but a very good place."
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
