A memoir that paints a vivid picture of growing up in 1950s and 60s Pwllheli and the effect it had on the author, has been released.

When Jos Simon left for university, he didn’t realise he’d never live in Wales again. He didn’t mind – his eyes were firmly fixed on student life in swinging 60s London.

Four years later, married and a qualified teacher, he embarked on a career elsewhere in England. The impact of Welsh life dwindled further.

Taking early retirement, he embarked on a late-blooming second career, writing about his travels. Deciding that travel-writing was best left to the young, he turned to memoirs. This book is his second.

Old age gave Jos the opportunity to reflect, and he realised his Llŷn childhood, far from being the jumble of trivial memories he’d imagined, was in fact a crucial part of who he was.

Jos Simon’s first memoir, ‘On Bonfires, Butlins and Being Welsh’, was a celebration of that childhood. In the sequel, ‘A Welsh Odyssey: Childhood, Exile and the Search for the Hiraeth Inside’, the lively stories continue, but feed into how being Welsh influenced the rest of his life. At last, he consciously embraced his roots. Better late than never!

Jos says: “During my sixty-year exile in England raising a family and building a career, I’d fully expected my Welsh childhood to have simply faded into the past. Hiraeth, though, isn’t so easily sidestepped.

"As I prepared for a recent house-move I discovered that, much to my surprise and with no deliberate intent, I’d stayed firmly in touch with my roots. I’d written about Wales in caravan magazines, I’d followed the fortunes of the Welsh rugby and football teams, and I’d visited Wales frequently with family and with friends, by car, by caravan, by bike and even on foot.”

Whilst his first memoir was firmly centred on the Llŷn Peninsula, this second volume ranges more widely across north Wales, Cardiff, Swansea, Laugharne, Hay-on-Wye, Harlech, Rockfield Studios and Offa's Dyke. But it ends back where it started – in Pwllheli, with the 2023 National Eisteddfod, the refurbishment of the Tower Hotel, and the resurrection of Capel Salem.

His search for the hiraeth inside, he likes to think, has finally come to an end.

Jos’ book (£11.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

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