Barer

What on earth do they think they are doing, this legion of barers of poets' souls: apart, of course, from making a few bob for, and enhancing the reputations of, their publishers and themselves?

All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles.