A walk and a bit of right Royal history

The children are back at school so Jo and I are back to our weekly jaunts. For starters we headed back to our trusty old favourite, the 6.5 mile path around Llysyfran dam.

I have lost count of how many times we've done this walk now but I never tire of looking at the view. Today the weather was a little moody. Clouds billowed into pillars and towers but early heavy rain had headed off grumpily in the direction of England leaving behind sunny spells and a quite furious wind that luckily we were mostly sheltered from.

The bluebells are divine and the hawthorn is Persil white.

Now for our Royal historical connection. This stone is a memorial to William Penfro Rowlands, composer of the hymn tune Blaenwern which, with Charles Wesley's words 'Love divine all loves excelling', was sung at Prince William and Kate Middleton's recent wedding.

Mr Rowlands, a teacher, was born at Llysyfran in 1860 and died in Swansea in 1937. He wrote Blaenwern in 1905 and it was also sung at Prince Charles' wedding to the Duchess of Cornwall in 2005.

The stone - a piece of polished slate - is sited near the dam by the ruins of Rowlands' cottage. I wonder how many tourists have ambled past it recently not knowing the Royal connection.