Dwi wedi byw yn Eryri yn rhywle neu’i gilydd fwy neu lai ar hyd fy oes – efo un neu ddau o detours at y môr ar y ffordd. Ddim mod i’n hen iawn chwaith cofiwch, ddigon hen i gofio pan odd lampa paraffîn a shellsuits yn thing ac yn ddigon ifanc i beidio a rhamantu gormod am y gorffennol.
I’ve lived in Snowdonia national park more or less all my life, with a couple of detours to the sea on the way. Not that I’m that old, old enough to remember paraffin lamps and shellsuits and young enough to not romanticize about the past.
I drio unioni y ffaith na fues i fyny ryw lawer o ddim tra on i’n fengach dwi wedi bod ers ambell i flwyddyn yn bygwth dringo amryw i fynydd sydd yn dal i fod ar stepan drws.
Dyma drio mynd fyny Moel Siabod yn ddiweddar a’r eira a’r rhewynt yn chwipio wrth i ni fochel yn erbyn wal tua tri chwarter ffordd i fyny. Ar ôl cyraedd Llyn y Foel roedd clogwyni Daear Ddu yn fur o wad o’n blaena a throi nol oedd yr opsiwn galla efo faint o amser oedd ganddom ni ar ôl cyn iddi nosi.
So to try and rectify the fact that I never did go up anything when I was younger I’ve been planning on climbing or walking loads of the ones that are still on my doorstep.
We attempted to go up Moel Siabod recently and the snow and wind whipping as we took shelter against the wall about 3/4 of the way up from Dolwyddelan. So we’d got to Llyn y Foel but the cliffs of Daear Ddu were a wall of denial in front of us and we took the sanest option of turning back while there was still enough light.
Son am Gwm Prysor, ar ddiwrnod brafiach yn ddiweddar mi fues i yn Yr Ysgwrn yn gweld cartref Hedd Wyn a’r Gadair Ddu. Gwnaethpwyd Y Gadair gan Eugene Vanfleteren o Wlad Belg a symudodd i Benybedw fel ‘faciwi adeg y rhyfel a chael y gwaith o greu y gadair ar gyfer yr Eisteddfod honno. Mae h’n gadair gymleth a thrawiadol iawn o ran dyluniad, a’r cyfan o waith llaw. Dyna steil y dydd am wn i – manwl a chywrain a thoraeth o syniadau Celtaidd a Christnogol wedi eu plethu i mewn iddi.
Talking of Cwm Prysor, on a nicer day recently I went up to Yr Ysgwrn to see Hedd Wyn’s family home and the infamous Cadair Ddu (black chair of 1917 Berkinhead Eisteddfod). The chair was made by Eugene Vanfleteren of Belgium who moved to Berkinhead as an evacuee during the first world war and got commissioned to create the chair for the Eisteddfod of that year. The chair itself entirely hand made is of complicated design and carved with Celtic and Christian imagery which makes it very striking in the flesh.
Yn amlwg dydi amgylchiadau ddim yr un fath o un oes i’r llall a mae ffasiynau a syniadau yn newid a datblygu wrth dreigl amser. Mae’n fyd gwahanol i be oedd hi 100 mlynedd yn ôl ond mae’r Gadair Ddu yn dal i droi pennau. Doedd Eugene Vanfleteren ddim yn gwybod ar y pryd ganlyniad trist yr Eiteddfod honno, a felly dydi stori Hedd Wyn yn benodol sydd erbyn heddiw yn un â’r gadair ddim i’w wneud a’i dyluniad mewn gwirionedd, er mae’n anodd iawn gwahanu’r ddau beth. Bron iawn ei bod hi wedi ei dylunio yn seici y Cymry ar ôl y ffaith.
Mae dylanwadau a ffasiynau yn newid, ond yr un mynyddoedd sydd yn Eryri ac erioed, ond efallai bod ein hymateb ni iddyn nhw yn wahanol o un oes i’r llall.
Obviously situations aren’t the same from one age to the other and fashions and ideas change and evolve with time. It’s a different world to 100 years ago but the Gadair Ddu still turns heads. Eugene Vanfleteren didn’t know that the winner of the chair he made would die in battle before the Eisteddfod so in reality its design hasn’t as much to do with Hedd Wyn specificaly as with a lost generation of men, though it’s difficult to separate the design of the chair from the story. It’s almost as it was designed in the Welsh psyche after the fact.
Influences and fashions change, but they’re the same mountains , but maybe our reaction to them changes from one age to the other.
Mae’r Ysgwrn ar gau ac yn cael chydig o TLC ar hyn o bryd i’w wneud yn fwy addas i ymwelwyr a’i gadw i genhedlaethau a ddaw fel oedd dymuniad y teulu. Dilynwch @YrYsgwrn am fwy o wybodaeth.
Yr Ysgwrn is at the moment undergoing a little TLC to make it more suitable for visitors and to keep for generations to come, as were the wishes of the family. Follow @YrYsgwn for more info.
*inverted brackets in this instance denotes tongue firmly in cheek.