CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Hello and welcome to Nature Fix with me,

Claire Hickinbotham.

Every month we take you with us as we meet the people who spend

their time outside and join them in a place that most inspires

them. Today we're in Bannau Brycheiniog or the Brecon

Beacons, to meet Emma Kolano-Rogers, who had a change

of heart really early on in her career and left the job she

trained for at uni for one that would have her outside in all

weathers.

We've met you where, Emma?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: We are just on the edge of the Brecon

Beacons. We're on the eastern side of Carmarthenshire County

and we're about to go and try and find the Lady Of The Lake.

We're about as rural as it gets here, but for me that's ideal.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: The hills are big, aren't they? The

valleys are big and the skies therefore are big. We've got a

tumbling cascade of water bobbling over the rocks next to

us.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: And it gets so loud, it's only when you walk

higher up the hills and you don't hear the river anymore you

really get the whole silence of the rural area. Some people

really struggle with just pure silence so for the people that

come and visit areas like this the river can kind of be that

white noise machine for them - can be quite calming.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I'm already starting to get out of breath.

We are going up.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yes which is pretty much every single walk in

the Beacons area you park your car and then it's just this

straight vertical climb up and then you have the views and then

it's a straight vertical climb back down.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So you're newly into the job of a ranger

at the National Trust?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yes, in September I started as an

apprentice ranger so I didn't have any previous experience. I

started my career as an illustrator and then moved into

design work and just realised it was not for me. I'd always get

this feeling on a Sunday night of that's my free time over and

now I've got five more days of work ahead of me.

Yeah, I would just get the Sunday blues knowing I was going

to have to go back into this office environment, especially

when the sun was shining. That's the last place I wanted to be.

So I started volunteering with conservation charities. And then

this apprenticeship role came up.

And the only criteria they needed was that you didn't have

any previous experience. I just feel like I found my place. To

come from a job that you know fundamentally is just the wrong

fit for you into a job where every morning you wake up and

you look forward to what you have in store. Like it doesn't

even feel like a job.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So you've not done this walk before up to

the lake, have you?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: No, this will be my first time up here as

well. And I'm absolutely just amazed by the scenery. Like the

whole track we're walking along on the way up, there's just this

stunning river running alongside it. We've just come to the bits

now where it looks like there's tiny waterfalls cascading down

into it and I'm just yeah completely enamoured by it.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I think the Brecon Beacons is quite well

known for its waterfalls isn't it?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yeah waterfall country there's rivers

there's waterfalls there's valleys whether you go to Pen Y

Fan where you'll maybe see thousands of people in a day or

somewhere like here where I think we've seen about three

people all together so far it's just yeah whatever you need it's

it's got it to offer.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: You've mentioned the Lady Of The Lake.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yes. Within Welsh culture, the folklore and

the myths and the legends shape a lot of the history and a lot

of the modern culture today as well.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And is it something you're exposed to from

a very young age in Wales?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yes and no. I think everyone that went to a

Welsh primary school probably knows stories like Beth Gellert.

I think it depends as well where you're brought up. I know people

brought up in the valleys might have much more of a cultural tie

to Wales, whereas for me it came a lot later on in life.

I kind of got taught Welsh in school and because it was forced

on me, I had this reluctance to embrace it and it was only in my

later life where I wanted to explore more of my roots, I

started learning Welsh myself. That's when the real passion for

understanding my culture came from.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So Emma, as we were just walking up a little

bit of the path, we're sniffing a bit.

And I didn't bring a tissue. But you told me that rangers don't

need tissues.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: So it's a rather gross realisation I had

probably on day two of my time as a ranger, is that no one

takes tissues around with them because when you are out in

nature, the combination of the cold, the pollen and everything

else going on, you constantly have a runny nose. So all my

fellow rangers have tried convincing me that the only

thing I need to do is snot rocket all of my snot out and

I'll never need to carry a tissue again.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I've never heard of the ranger's secret

snot rocket.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Anyone can do it. All they need to do is

cover one of their nostrils and send one sharp puff of air out

of one of their nostrils to clear it and then do the same on

the other side. And I suppose it's saving the world one tissue

at a time as well.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I think you can gross out now knowing that

you're saving the planet.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yeah, I'm still not quite there myself,

but maybe one day.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So do you think we're nearly there?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yeah, so we kind of verge around the corner

and then you can see where the sun is reflecting off that one

part of the hill over there. I'm hoping it will be this wild

moment where it just presents itself to us.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: We must be close. How many steps do you

reckon until we can see it?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Ten. Massive steps.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: That's my 10. Have you done 10?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: I've done 10. Can you see it?

Almost.

Here it is.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: It's got ever such a slight volcanic

crater look to it, hasn't it?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Absolutely. The hill directly behind it must

have what must be, what, an 80 degree decline on it. So there's

just this dramatic drop from the top of that ridge down into the

Lake.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And then the other half of the crater

just opens up to the valley doesn't it? Yeah. Oh wow look at

that view! Those extra 10 steps and it's changed again hasn't

it?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: I know with every step it changes so much.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So what's the Lady Of The Lake story that

involves this Lake that we're at today?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: There was a man called Gwyn who lived on a

farm with his mother. He often had to take his cattle to graze

and he was enjoying some rye bread and cheese when he noticed

there was a woman on the other side of the Lake almost

appearing to float.

She was ethereal, she seemed to possess this supernatural power

and he was completely enamoured. To the point where he couldn't

speak and the only thing he could do was extend this crusty

old loaf to her. So she floated across the Lake and when she saw

it was just some barley bread she laughed and she dove into

the Lake.

So he went home and told his mother what he saw. And she

thought that was because the bread was too old and too

crusty. I'll make you a softer loaf of bread. So he went back.

She came a lot closer to him this time, and he was able to

see the green and brown specks of her eyes. This time she

accepted the new loaf of bread. And he took her hand, asking for

her to marry him. She said, I will marry you on two

conditions.

The first condition is that you never reveal to anyone where

I've come from or the origins of my powers. And the second is

that if you ever strike me three times, I will leave without

saying a word and you will never see me again. So Nelferch, Gwyn

and all their cattle left the Lake and they had a really

happy, successful life and three strong, healthy sons. And this

lasted for years until he struck Nelferch

After this, his temperament did improve, but he struck Nelferch

for a second time. Unfortunately, it didn't take

long before he struck her a third time.

She was already leaving for the door. And when he got to the

foot of the Lake, she dove into the Lake and he went mad with

grief. His sons were equally overcome with grief. A few years

after their father's passing, their mother appeared to them

one final time. She said that she only had one day with them.

And she set a mission on them to be the healers of mankind.

She taught them herbalism and the healing properties of plants

and wanted them to spread this knowledge with the local

community and pass it down through generations. And then

she embraced each of them, returned to the Lake and was

never seen again.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: And does the Lady Of The Lake ever

reappear?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Not as far as I know. It says that because

she was an immortal being, her love and grief won't diminish or

fade, she'll have to live with that for eternity.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Well she picked a very nice spot to have

eternal life didn't she?

Let's go and have another sneak peek of it.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Where we are now, the sun is right above it

and it's glistening, like the whole Lake is glistening.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I mean, we've walked up here with the

sound of the stream and it's a very different sound to a Lake

lapping against a shore, isn't it?

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: This one for me is kind of meditative and

it's very calming.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Do you find that as part of your ranger job

there is a kind of... Meditative quality to the work that you're

doing.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yeah, 100%. The fact that you're doing a

task and then you maybe take a little break and you are in the

middle of the most beautiful landscape you could imagine is

the first thing that I just find very good for the soul. And then

the second is that the work you're actually doing is going

into conservation and preserving the landscape.

It's the perfect balance because I get to experience the rural

countryside in my job, but then I get to go back and be in the

hustle and bustle of the city in Cardiff. And I think if I just

had one or if I just had the other, my lifestyle wouldn't

work. It was scary making this change. It took years of

deliberating. I knew I wasn't happy. And I think that was my

driving force, is that I knew fundamentally there was a very

big issue in my lifestyle and it was affecting my ability to go

out and socialise because I had anxiety at times because I had

that crisis of what am I doing with my life I'm not in the

right career I'm not on the right path.

It was a really big decision to make the career change but one I

I'm so glad I did so when people say to me oh I'm very envious of

your job I think part of it they just think I'm always out on a

sunny day I'm always in the hills and that that is great but

I think part of it's because they're not happy in their job

and I always say to them you know if you're not happy other

things you can change about it.

Is this temporary? Do you think it will get better? And if the

answer is fundamentally no, then I would just encourage them

gently to change certain aspects of their life to make their

happiness a priority.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: I think at this point we should say that

not all of your ranger days are out in the sunshine.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: I have had ranger days where it's taken a

considerable amount of time to regain the feeling in my

fingers. I've had ranger days where I've fallen into bogs and

had to be pulled out by my rucksack. But they have all been

so unique and so rewarding and so different.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: We've left the lady and her Lake behind,

Emma.

We're heading back down now.

We've got a lot more stories we could go into, but there's a

couple more I think that you really like.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: There is one story called the Radnor Forest

Dragon. It's essentially about a dragon that would terrorise the

local community. It would eat the livestock. It would burn

down its infrastructure and it was the angel Saint Michael who

came and slayed the dragon and became this massive hero figure

for the village.

The villagers built five churches around the dragon to

contain its body and each of these churches was built on one

of the pre-existing mounds of the landscapes. The legend has

it that if any of these churches were to be destroyed the dragon

would reawaken and continue to cause terror over the villages.

This story is great because it ties into the natural landscape.

There's some old remains of an Iron Age hill fort called

Llandegli Rocks and it's on the edge of a ridge and the way the

rocks have kind of fallen over the years, a lot of the locals

say that it's the long spine of the dragon.

I always like it when you hear a story and it's got a real

location to it that you can go and kind of imagine this all

unfolding.

It just draws people back into that cultural history, the

heritage and the history of Wales. And storytelling is one

of the oldest forms of passing down documents and important

information through generations, especially with kids, to

interact them into these historical fables and myths. It

is just going to give them that greater sense of understanding

the culture in which they've come from.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: When we first started out this morning,

Emma, you mentioned in passing Beddgelert. I think most people

do know the story. It's a very well-known one, but I think you

should tell it anyway. But I hesitate to ask you to tell it

because it's always one that makes me so sad.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: Yeah, it's quite a tragic one, this one. So

you have the Prince Of Gwynedd, also known as Llywelyn the

Great, and his trusty noble hound, Gelert. The prince left

to do a hunt one day and left his newly born heir, his son in

the capable hands of Gelert. And when Prince Llewellyn left, a

wolf had entered into the castle.

There was an immense fight with lots of blood and Gelert

actually managed to kill the wolf. During the chaos, the

son's crib had been tipped over and moments later, upon hearing

Prince Llewellyn return from his hunt, Gelert bound out to greet

his master and Prince Llewellyn was completely shocked by the

sight of his hound covered in blood and immediately ran to see

if his son was okay. And when he entered the son's bedroom he

realised that the cot had been overturned and in a moment of

pure rage he plunged his sword into Gelert's heart and as he

did this he heard a faint cry from underneath the cot and when

he picked the cot up his son was there completely unharmed and

lying next to him was the dead wolf covered in blood from

Gelert.

And after realising that he'd jumped to the complete wrong

conclusion the prince picked up Gelert, took his body to the

edge of the castle grounds and buried him, so that the

community and villagers would know he was a hero and come to

pay his respects. and whilst he was really relieved that his son

was safe and sound, it's said that from that day on Prince

Llewellyn never smiled again. So Beddgelert literally translates

to the grave of Gelert. Beddgelert is up in Eryri in

Snowdonia, and if you go there, you can actually see a stone

that's been erected to commemorate the grave of Gelert.

I actually went up there last summer and it brought the whole

story to life, made it feel real.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: We're nearly back at the car park,

Emma. We've gone past the very noisy waterfalls.

Thank you ever so much for taking me on this walk.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: It's been a new one for me and it's been my

absolute pleasure to take you on the walk and tell you more about

some Welsh folklore.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Well, and about you as well and about how

being out in nature is... It brings you so much joy and

comfort, I suppose.

EMMA KOLANO-ROGERS: It's the antidote to life, nature. It

just helps. Being out in nature just helps clear your head of

certain stresses and gives you the space to order your thoughts

and make a little plan of action of what you want out of your

life and how you can get it.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Thanks for listening to Nature Fix. We'll

be back next month with a new episode. Why not give us a

follow on your favourite podcast app? And if you've got the time,

leave us a review. Bye for now.