Days before our next trip – and they’re out again. No pictures of the specific characters this time unfortunately, but on our trip back from Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, or more specifically, Pistyll Rhaeadr, the highest waterfall in Wales (a drop of 80m) and one of the seven wonders of Wales to boot, we encountered  a merry woman, clad in a loose black velvet double breasted jacket with three pairs of (different) brightly coloured buttons, and a floppy velvet top hat  – striding purposefully along the tree shaded single track road which winds itself up this isolated valley. What was the purpose for which she strode?

Valley of mystery and Arthurian Legend, site of the film ‘The man who went up a Hill and came down a Mountain’ ( Hugh Grant), Site of Special Scientific Interest, and generally lovely and peaceful place, the possibilities were    endless. And while discussing this,     and cradling my head after a fall   at the top of the waterfall, breaking my stick but not my good humour as I walked out with my two girls ( daughter and  surrogate daughter), we found outside the depot of the famously emission laden  Tanat Valley Buses, a young man, playing the violin with all his might!

The fairies know we’re about to travel. And this time we will be in their midst – we will be the few, and they the many, if the films are to be believed…..