NO MOUNTAIN, NO PROBLEM

POET AND WRITER CHRIS TOWERS TREKKED TO NORTH WALES TO WATCH FLINT MOUNTAIN IN ACTION IN JD CYMRU NORTH

- CHRIS TOWERS

There I was on the cusp of the clocks going back and, in the gloom, walking up a track from Flint Station, having taken a train from Chester, beyond the castle ruins and the banks of the estuary, looking for the home ground of Flint Mountain.

Carrying on walking, I was suddenly in the path of a man with a broken Eastern European accent who told me "Flint Mountain play up the mountain".

Somehow it did not seem believable, particularly as I had been corrected in my assertion that there is a mountain range in Flint. For that 'try Snowdonia' said one.

It was both comical and curious, and I clearly misread Google maps, but the mystery still needed unravelling.

Reaching the ground, I was then told by a club official that Flint Mountain share the ground of Flint Town United and that there was no need to go in search of that elusive snow-capped Alpine phenomena in the town. I was already there!

The accent of the Eastern European gentleman approaching me before the ground made me consider how I hear accents. For me, much of the sounds heard during my weekend stay in North Wales were scouse. Apparently, scouse originates from a mixture of Irish and Welsh sounds, both nations linked culturally to the city of Liverpool.

Going to Non-League grounds one often finds the unexpected. For much of the time, going to these places is a journey into the unknown. Once orientated to the place, I spent time admiring the castle and the estuary. I observed the sight of a carved sculpture of a local woman with a basket of fish sitting before the castle.

I went in search of dinner in a town that looked like it had seen better days, but the people were warm, and I was told that the town is going through some regeneration.

It reminded me of some other grounds visited for my two books 'Hinterlands', the left behind areas where Non-League or in this case Welsh League football is played.