Wales – Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire, Brecon Beacons National Parks

WALES INTRODUCTION
Wales is a principality of the United Kingdom now with its own elected Assembly. It is bounded on the east by England, on the north and west by the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the Bristol Channel. It has an area of approximately 8000 square miles and a population approaching 3 million. The country as a whole is mountainous, with Snowdon (3,560 ft.) the highest peak, and extensive lowlands occurring only in the extreme south and in the relatively narrow coastal plain bordering the Irish Sea. It is one of the most beautiful and fascinating areas of the British Isles. The mountains of Snowdonia in the north offer some of the most challenging and dramatic scenery to be found anywhere in these shores, whilst the coastal scenery of Pembrokeshire, in the south-west, is Britain’s only truly coastal National Park – a true testament to its beauty. There is also the Brecon Beacons National Park. Man has left his mark and, very rarely for him, has managed to enhance an already stunning landscape by the addition of a girdle of wonderfully situated coastal castles.

HISTORY & HERITAGE
The first known colonization was that of the New Stone Age people who came from the western Mediterranean about 3000BC. This culture was centred in the south-west and archaeologists are still searching for the answer as to how 25 ton stones, originally hewed from Menin Carn in the Prescelly Hills, found their way into the circle of stones at Stonehenge over 200 miles away. Druids, priests of the ancient Celts, survived throughout Roman times as the country was never conquered and the vestiges of druidism linger on in the ceremony of the Eisteddfod – a competitive congress of Welsh bards and musicians. Offa, an Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia, built a dyke from the Dee to the Wye to keep out the still Celtic peoples and this remains as much of the border with England. In the thirteenth century Wales strived for political independence under Prince Llewelyn but this was crushed by Edward I who had the great fortress castles built around the coast. Edward’s son was the first to become Prince of Wales. Local customs and traditions continue and the Welsh language continues to be the native tongue of many, especially in the north and in Anglesey.

CUSTOMS & CULTURE
The Eisteddfod tradition has given rise to one of the loveliest sounds in the musical world – that of the Welsh male voice choir. In the south of the principality coalmining gave rise to a great industrialisation of the ‘valleys’ each vying with the other over the highest output. Now these rather forlorn valleys compete in brilliant song. The (in)famous poet Dylan Thomas came from South Wales and his verses from ‘Under Milk Wood’ have been immortalized by the marvellous tones of the Welsh actor, Richard Burton. Traditional Welsh costume is still worn by many for Sunday Service and festivals and the Welsh language is undergoing a large revival, being especially used as the first language in the north.

LANDSCAPES & LANDFORMS
Wales boasts three National Parks; Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and the Pembrokeshire Coast. The highest mountains are in Snowdonia where there are 14 peaks over 3000 feet. This may not sound particularly high, yet the first successful Everest expedition trained around the marvellous arete of Crib Goch, an outlier of the highest mountain in England and Wales, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa). The easiest way to reach Snowdon’s summit is by railway and this helps make Snowdon the most-visited mountain in the British Isles. It may be busy but the views are wonderful and vast. In the valleys are beautiful lakes with none finer than the moraine-dammed lakes of Llyn Llydaw and Llyn Idwal in Snowdonia and Llyn-y-Gadar in the Cader Idris area of Central Wales. Spectacular waterfalls abound and the beaches and cliffs of Pembrokeshire have no rival anywhere in the UK.

PLACES TO VISIT & EVENTS
The incredible Italianate village of Porth Merion (the setting for the ‘Prisoner’), superbly situated on the Glaslyn estuary, is just too good to miss. But surrounded by eyesore heaps of waste an unlikely ‘must’ are the slate caverns around Ffestiniog, where roofs of the world first saw daylight!
All the castles are very much worth visiting if only to marvel in the ‘power’ which seems to emanate from their immensely thick, castellated walls and wonderful locations. Picturesque Llangollen is the site for the National Eisteddfod but the capital of Wales is Cardiff on the Severn Estuary. In the past it has been much maligned as a place to visit but a vast redevelopment has put it to the forefront of European cities and is the home to the modernistic building for the Welsh Assembly.

SPORTS & LEISURE
Rugby Union placed Wales at the pinnacle of world sport in the 1960s and it seems to be on the way back. All the larger towns and many of the villages have top class rugby teams. Climbers and walkers find themselves in their own paradise in the mountains and valleys. Walkers are especially well catered for along the official long distance footpath around the Pembrokeshire coast, whilst fishermen especially love the Wye and Severn valleys. To the south of the Brecon Beacons an area of limestone provides excellent caving opportunities.