I have written previously of the demise of Yr Academi Gymreig, the Welsh Academy of Writers. An internet search for its remains will quickly bring you to Literature Wales, which is funded by the Welsh Arts Council and does much of the work in developing and sustaining interest in writers and writing in both languages. Even so, I miss those occasions when an Academy outing might take a bus full of eager readers to places associated with Roland Mathias or Alun Lewis. Ready access to computerised textual material and the ease of internet communication may be efficient enough substitutes in their way, but there is nothing to replace the good-fellowship of the occasional meetings and conferences of Academi/Academy members that I recall very well.

The Literature Wales website advertises forthcoming literary events such as that programmed later in October by the Newport & Gwent Literary Club, when Robert Minhinnick will talk about Dannie Abse. And something similar to the old Academy trip, though without provided transport, has recently turned up under the auspices of Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru/ National Resources Wales. With 1,900 staff and a budget of £180 million, this is the largest Wales Government sponsored body, which gathers together functions formerly in the remit of the Countryside Council, the Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency. Among its responsibilities is the Wales Coastal Path, a pedestrian route that on the basis of pre-existing paths in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Anglesey and the Llŷn Peninsula now offers the keen and physically fit an opportunity to walk the entire coastline from ...