Clouds of Unknowing

So many things I would have done,
But clouds got in my way

Joni Mitchell, both sides now

It's clouds that drew me out this evening, to get my photo of the day. The smell of the approaching shower was thick on the air, and a distant rumble heralded the approach of showers.

The view over the valley is ideal for a cloudscape, but I really needed to get a bit higher - so quickly drove up onto the shoulder of Mynydd Maen, to the top of the Slippery Path. This was my childhood path up onto the mountain, a playground for me with friends in the times before .... well long before we had TV. The bracken clad hillside provided a natural landscape for all sorts of games, and mischief too. I've camped on the hillside, and tried to buy beer at The Mountain Air pub when I was about 15. Failed miserably of course, The Bush was the place to get served in those days. Quite an adventure to camp on the mountain, we always had a fire of course but I don't ever remember cooking anything. The steep path would wind it's way through the bracken, and at the best of times was a bit of a scramble. But in the dry summer the grass would be flattened, shiny and very slippery - hence its name. I never understood how, but at this time of year sheets of cardboard [flattened boxes] would magically appear and the path would be polished smooth by our backsides sliding down the hillside. It was steep, and a long way down, with a bank of trees at the bottom. Fail to stop and the tumble over the bank would ensure a few bruises as trophies of the "Cresta Run". Even without the cardboard it was possible to get a good run and throw ourselves down, sliding on our backsides. Fortunately trouser material in those days was thick and worked equally as good as cardboard. A few grass burns, cuts and bruises and we were ready for home, exhausted after our days excitement.