You stand on the bridge, and breathe in the cold air around you. You feel it fill within your lungs, fresh and crisp from the recent rainfall. Some 50 years ago, that same air might have caught you off guard, the particles of coal and dust invading you, bringing forth a sharp cough as small pieces of rock cut mercilessly at your throat. But today, the air flows gently through every available avenue, flushing out accumulated pollutants, and your outward breath feels much easier. Nature has reclaimed this valley, crafted over hundreds of thousands of years, and continuing to shift in shape today. The greed of elders once dug deep into these slopes, and the ignorance of youngsters once set them ablaze. But nature has survived and surpassed them all, so that you may stand here and breathe easily. Welcome home.

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I'm definitely teimlo-ing the hiraeth at this stage!

So yes, this is home, captured with a new camera. Since I left Wales last September to spend a year in Japan, the upper Afan Valley seemed much greener, the trees have advanced ever further on what little civilisation remains in this place. The bridge upon which I'm stood has survived another year, since it's construction 89 years ago, and despite rumour of a possible refurbishment by the local council. For the record, there are trees currently growing out of the bridge, so it could certainly do with some structural sure-ing up! Life is even beginning to return to the hill on the left, after being mostly desolate for over a decade.

I still remember the day, on Easter Sunday one year, possibly 2004, when we all woke up to find the whole hillside on fire. Some kids with too much time on their hands, as it turned out. I can still see the trees burning, and I can still smell the smoke which rolled down into the valley. Had the fire spread another few metres, everyone in the lower valley would have been ordered to evacuate. There have been countless small fires since, up and down the valley, for exactly the same reason as this one, but none will stick in my mind as much as that one. Nor will the fact that in wake of so much destruction, nature always came back, stronger than ever.

Hope you enjoy!