Jim Perrin..the caped crusader: Tom Hutton
Jim Perrin, writer and climber, led over 250 people on a walk up into the Pumlumon mountain range, in Mid Wales, to protest about the possible desecration of this magnificent mountainous upland by a proposed wind power station. The stunning views across the Nant y Moch reservoir, enhanced on the day by beautiful sunshine, emphasised only too clearly the what would be lost should the development go ahead, covering the rolling hillsides with 64 giant turbines, each 485ft tall.
The area, the most tranquil spot in Wales, and classified by the Countryside Council for Wales as a landscape of outstanding quality, is also steeped in history as the place where Owain Glyndwr won the first battle of his great uprising.
The Cambrian Mountains Society is campaigning for the area to be designated as an AONB, a title it clearly warrants, that would be impossible if it were to be covered in industrial giants.
The march was attended by people from all across Wales and well as the Midlands, the South West and greater Manchester, who then followed Perrin as he rode, in true Glyndwr fashion, to the top of one of the hills targeted by the development. Here he addressed a seated crowd.
Bathed in glorious sunshine, Writer and rock climber, Jim Perrin, led over 200 people on a short walk into the foothills of Pumlumon, in the heart of the Cambrian Mountains yesterday. The walk, a protest about the possible desecration of this magnificent mountainous upland by a proposed wind power station, concluded on a grassy hillside high above the glistening Nant y Moch Reservoir. With views that stretched across much of upland Wales, it was easy to see what would be lost should this planned industrial development, that will cover the remote hillsides with 64 giant turbines, each 485ft tall, go ahead.
The area is the most tranquil spot in Wales and is classified by the Countryside Council for Wales as a landscape of outstanding quality – the highest designation possible. The Cambrian Mountains Society is therefore campaigning for it to be designated as an AONB, a title it clearly warrants. Any development of this scale would destroy the chances of this happening.
It is also steeped in history: it was here, at Hyddgen, that an outnumbered Owain Glyndwr won the first battle of his great uprising.
The march was attended by people from all across Wales and well as the Midlands, the South West and even greater Manchester, showing what high regard these mountains are held in. They followed behind Perrin as he rode, in true Glyndwr fashion, into the mountains. His impassioned address would have rallied any army.
"Nowhere better epitomizes resistant Welsh nationhood than the wild landscape of Hyddgen, north of Pumlumon Fawr. It was here that Owain Glyndwr, hugely outnumbered, won the first battle of his great uprising. It is here that we hope to make our stand against the depredations upon Welsh landscape by heedless, ill-considered government. May the spirit of this place impart its strength to us; and may we in our turn, help preserve it undiminished by threatened environmental atrocity.
