{"product_id":"aberystwyth-by-heart","title":"Aberystwyth By Heart: Local Secrets, Honest Stories \u0026 the Town That Won't Let You Leave","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn honest book about Aberystwyth, written by a bloke who came for three years in 2004 and never went home.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI got off the train in September 2004 with a suitcase that had one working wheel. Eighteen, from Stoke, never been further west than Shrewsbury in my life. I dragged that case down Terrace Road, and then the road ran out and the whole of Cardigan Bay opened up in front of me and I stopped dead in the street.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnyone who has done that walk knows exactly what I mean. This town doesn't ease you into it. It just hands you the sea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI gave it three years. It has been twenty two. My mate Gethin, born and raised in Penparcau, has never once called me anything but \"the student\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is everything I have worked out since. It is not a guidebook and it does not read like one. It is what I would tell you over a pint in the Cŵps if you asked me straight out why I never left.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e68 pages. 22 short chapters. A PDF that lands the second you pay, and reads on any phone, tablet or laptop. Send it to a Kindle if you'd rather.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWho this is for\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou have lived here years.\u003c\/strong\u003e You will argue with half of it, which is the point, and there are two or three things in here that long-timers have told me they did not know.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou left and still think about it.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is the closest thing to a walk down the prom you can get on a wet Tuesday night three hours away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou are thinking of moving here.\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a straight, unsentimental chapter on what February is actually like, area by area, including the parts an estate agent will not raise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou visit and want the real town.\u003c\/strong\u003e The wind rule, the starlings, the wet day plan, and the spot. Not the trolley route.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe whole contents. Nothing padded.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0942\/8218\/7134\/files\/aber-v2-g-contents.jpg?v=1788535993\" alt=\"The full contents of Aberystwyth By Heart, all 22 chapters\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat is every chapter in the book, listed. Below are the nine people ask about most, and what is actually in them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp style=\"text-align:center;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/cart\/57970860687742:1\" style=\"display:inline-block;background:#36475A;color:#F5EBD6;padding:17px 46px;border-radius:4px;text-decoration:none;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:1px;\"\u003eGET THE BOOK — £12.99\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eNine things you will not find in a guidebook\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe wind rule.\u003c\/strong\u003e Which beach to be on depending on which way it is blowing, and the ten minute walk that turns a ruined afternoon into a good one. Nobody on the front will tell you this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe starlings.\u003c\/strong\u003e Thousands of them dropping under the pier at dusk, October to March. Where to stand, roughly what time to be there, which months are best, and why the pier itself is the wrong place to watch from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Old College.\u003c\/strong\u003e What that building means to everyone who arrived here scared and eighteen, and honestly where the project stands now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe real view of the town.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is not the top of Consti. Exact spot, exact time of day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe wet day chapter.\u003c\/strong\u003e For the sort of Aber weather that sends visitors home by eleven in the morning. There is a whole town to do instead and most people never find it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGethin's chapter.\u003c\/strong\u003e Penparcau born, same house his whole life, on the harbour, the marina, the students, the council and every incomer including me. I have not tidied him up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe chip argument, settled.\u003c\/strong\u003e You will disagree. That is rather the point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMoving here, honestly.\u003c\/strong\u003e Area by area. What February is genuinely like when the students go and the sea comes over the wall. And a straight, unfunny section on housing and why people born in this town are being priced out of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe spot.\u003c\/strong\u003e Twenty minutes' walk from the clock, with exact directions and the right time of day. It is the best thing in this book and I very nearly kept it to myself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eSee it before you buy it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNot a mock-up. This is Chapter Four exactly as it appears in the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0942\/8218\/7134\/files\/aber-v2-g-spread.jpg?v=1788535993\" alt=\"A real page spread from Aberystwyth By Heart, Chapter Four, The Wind Rule\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp style=\"text-align:center;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/cart\/57970860687742:1\" style=\"display:inline-block;background:#36475A;color:#F5EBD6;padding:17px 46px;border-radius:4px;text-decoration:none;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:1px;\"\u003eGET THE BOOK — £12.99\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eBuy it once, keep it for good\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0942\/8218\/7134\/files\/aber-v2-g-updates.jpg?v=1788535992\" alt=\"Free updates for life\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAber changes. Shops shut, cafes open, the council changes its mind about the harbour. Every time this book is updated you get the new version free, forever. Most guides go out of date on the shelf and you buy the next edition. This one does not work like that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eStraight answers\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow do I get it?\u003c\/strong\u003e An email arrives with your download link the moment you pay, and the link is on the thank-you page as well. Nothing is posted. Nothing turns up a week later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWill it work on my phone?\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes. Phone, tablet or laptop. If you would rather read it on a Kindle you can send it across.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCan I send it to someone who left?\u003c\/strong\u003e Please do. Half the people who buy this are buying it for a son in London or a sister who moved to Cardiff. Forward it on, that is allowed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if I don't like it?\u003c\/strong\u003e Email me and I will refund you. No form to fill in, no reason needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs it just a list of cafes?\u003c\/strong\u003e No. It is stories, with the useful things woven through them. Read it front to back in an evening, or dip into it for years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhy is it not two quid?\u003c\/strong\u003e Because it took twenty two years of living here to write, it has the spot in it, and I would rather sell fewer copies of something worth keeping.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne last thing. The starlings come back in October and they are under that pier every dusk until March. If you are going to read one chapter before then, read that one, and go and stand in the right place this year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp style=\"text-align:center;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/cart\/57970860687742:1\" style=\"display:inline-block;background:#B5563A;color:#F5EBD6;padding:19px 50px;border-radius:4px;text-decoration:none;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:1px;font-size:18px;\"\u003eDOWNLOAD ABERYSTWYTH BY HEART — £12.99\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp style=\"text-align:center;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eInstant download. Free updates for life. More than 2,000 orders taken across the Roots \u0026amp; Routes shop.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp style=\"text-align:center;\"\u003eDiolch.\u003cbr\u003eTim Morris\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roots \u0026 Routes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57970860687742,"sku":"ABER-BH-01","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0942\/8218\/7134\/files\/aber-v3-cover.jpg?v=1788536446","url":"https:\/\/rootsand-routes.com\/products\/aberystwyth-by-heart","provider":"Roots \u0026 Routes","version":"1.0","type":"link"}