The woman who's spent a quarter of a century walking in the footsteps of Mary Jones
Mary Thomas has spent the past 25 years walking in Mary Jones's footsteps - literally. Like her namesake before her, Mary has hiked across the mountains from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant to Bala on her own in a single day; more frequently, she has led people from around the world along the 28-mile route, usually in stages over several days. Most recently, Mary did the journey in January this year, "over four very cold days", at the age of 80. The reason for that trip was to note any changes to the path ahead of a new edition of The Mary Jones Walk , a guidebook Mary researched and wrote in 1999. Last week, she was among members of the Bible Society who brought back to Bryncrug the very Bible Mary Jones walked to Bala to buy. For about an hour, the 224-year-old tome was on display to the public at the ganolfan (community centre), opposite the churchyard where Mary is buried. It also went to Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, where Mary was born and grew up, Craig y Deryn, Llanegryn and Pe
