Paul Jenkins

A really important step in the development of the Welfare State.

Spent last week staying in the grounds of Plas Newydd the former home of the Marquess of Anglesey and now owned by the National Trust. The mural in the house by Rex Whistler wowed when I first came here in 1979 and did so again this time.

The statue of Tom Ellis in Bala. One of the stars of Welsh Liberal politics at the end of the 19th Century and ally of Lloyd George. Died at the age of only 40. Might well have gone into greater things.

It’s so reassuring to know I am not the only person who does that 😀😀

Visited Bryn Celli Du on Anglesey this morning. A neolithic burial chamber which exudes a beautiful sense of connection with the past.

Around the City in fifteen days A couple of weeks back I completed the last leg of the London Loop, a one-hundred-and-fifty-mile footpath around the perimeter of London.  It was the culmination of a series of fifteen walks o…

My blog celebrating the joys of walking 150 miles around the edge of London. ybrumro.wordpress.com/2025/06/29/a...

109 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in history. Here lie some of the young men killed on that day. A reminder in more uncertain times of the horrors of war.

Around the City in fifteen days A couple of weeks back I completed the last leg of the London Loop, a one-hundred-and-fifty-mile footpath around the perimeter of London.  It was the culmination of a series of fifteen walks o…

Round the City in Fifteen Days - my latest blog on the joys of walking the London Loop. ybrumro.wordpress.com/2025/06/29/a...

The Rollright Stones on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire are a very special set of prehistoric monuments. Spent part of two summers on a dig here when I was a student in the early 1980s. Lovely to pop back to see this afternoon.

The Rollright Stones on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire are a very special set of prehistoric monuments. Spent part of two summers on a dig here when I was a student in the early 1980s. Lovely to pop back to see this afternoon.

Yes, I remember Adelstrop …. A cycle today to the place behind Edward Thomas’s iconic poem written on the eve of World War One.

The lifting of Pont Jacques Chaban Demas in Bordeaux followed by the arrival of the tall ships. Quite a feat of engineering.

Le Musee d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux has a wonderful collection of Roman gravestones. This one of a young girl holding her pet dog is so moving.

Sunshine, architecture, wine and history- Bordeaux takes some beating.

Today I completed the London Loop, 15 days of lovely walking around the periphery of London. I've been through some stunning countryside and learned a lot about this wonderful city. Thoroughly recommend it.

On every cycle trip I make I try to photograph the war memorials I pass trying to capture their diversity and the universality of the grief they commemorate. Here's 4 from Friday's ride in Northamptonshire: Brixworth, Rushton, Brigstock and Warmington.

An Eleanor Cross at Geddington.

The magnificent structure which is the largely Saxon church at Brixworth in Northamptonshire.

She has to be my favourite Welsh saint.

Incredibly powerful piece. Poverty is a real thing which will hurt people today, tomorrow and the day after unless we pluck up the will to do something about it. Not because it's politically expedient but because it's wrong.

Let them eat cake! It perhaps did not do an awful lot of good for the reputation of Marie Antoinette.  However, I have always thought that promoting the eating of cake was not a bad philosophy for life.  Ce…

Good ingredients, a strong wrist and knowing your oven are for me the key to making a good cake. Another plug for my blog in praise of making and earing cakes. ybrumro.wordpress.com/2025/05/25/l...

Thoroughly recommend the Siena exhibition at the National Gallery. Some immensely beautiful paintings and such an influential place in the development of modern art. The start of the depiction of emotion.

Let them eat cake! It perhaps did not do an awful lot of good for the reputation of Marie Antoinette.  However, I have always thought that promoting the eating of cake was not a bad philosophy for life.  Ce…

Let them eat cake! My blog celebrating the joys of making and eating cakes. ybrumro.wordpress.com/2025/05/25/l...

And Leo X was Pope when it all kicked off in 1517.

I am presuming that Leo XIV is the first Pope to be elected whose first language is English since Adrian IV in 1154!

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One of Yeats's best and a rather appropriate poem for our times.
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A couple of reflections on the 80th anniversary of VE Day. First how strange it feels this time not to have with us anymore those members of my family (like my uncle below) who fought or lived through WW2. Second how fragile that triumph against the evil of unbounded nationalism now feels.

Brilliant weekend's walking on the Anglesey coast path. On its day there are few places more beautiful.

Just back from a short trip to Mallorca. A beautiful island with its own distinctive history. Amongst the highlights - Robert Graves's house, the monastic cells in Valldemossa where Chopin and George Sand stayed, the Roman town at Alcuida and Palma's stunning cathedral.

Sharing again the war memorials I have passed on today’s cycle - Woodford Halse and Byfield in Northamptonshire and Priory Maraton in Warwickshire.