A Long Walk on a Cold Night!

Along with a couple of thousand other walkers we joined in the Jubilee Tower 200 celebrations here last Sunday night. Music and drumming, laser lights into the sky, a lantern lit procession and fabulous fireworks were enjoyed by all, and the hot drinks and food much appreciated after a long cold walk in the dark. In my photo you can see the tower lit up and the lighted lanterns of the many walkers, young and old, on their way down the mountain.

Moel Famau has been the background to our family lives since we moved here in 1958 and the tower, (or "the fort" as we've always called it) is situated on its highest point. Built to celebrate King George III’s Golden Jubilee, the foundation stone was laid exactly 200 years ago on 25th October 1810 and it was reported that on that occasion too up to 5000 people trekked to the top of Moel Famau to watch. The tower was completed some time after 1815 but a storm in 1862 destroyed the high Egyptian-style tower. It was never rebuilt but the base has remained and those that reach it today are rewarded by fabulous views to the coast, Snowdonia, Liverpool and beyond, and even Blackpool tower can be seen on a clear day.

These three old postcards from my collection show the same scene unchanged over the past 100 years - and probably unchanged since that stormy night in 1862.