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.