I am on the last mile or so of my walk and I stop to take a breather beside a dry-stone wall, backed by wind-blunted trees. A robin, feathers arrayed like armour against the cold wind, sings from a small branch nearby. In the shelter of the trees, the song seems unreasonably loud when compared with the size of the bird, a piercing yet fluid call to help establish a breeding territory and defend it from competitors.
The lane climbs higher, through a notch in the ridge where a wall of rock shows the steeply dipping strata. Then the view to the south opens out to deliver a panorama of the harbour town of Porthmadog, with an expanse of hills, marsh and open water beyond.
