A visitor to
the United Kingdom should be encouraged to include Wales on their itinerary,
because it is a very special part of the country and different in many ways
from England or Scotland.
Visiting
Wales for the first time
Anyone who is
not a native or a resident of Wales, but has spent an appreciable amount of
time there, whether as a student or a holidaymaker or both (like me), will
testify that it is impossible to “do” Wales in a single visit, whether that
lasts a week, a fortnight or a month.
Wales is
relatively small, being about 8,000 square miles in total in a roughly
rectangular shape some 160 miles from north to south and 60 miles from east to
west. It is therefore not quite as big as New Jersey. However, it is usually best to
think of Wales
as having three distinct zones, namely North, South and Mid.
This is
because of the mountainous territory of most of Wales that makes travel between
north and south quite difficult, as most of the road and rail links run from
east to west. The visitor is therefore best advised to aim for one of the three
regions and to leave the others for another time. Whichever they choose, there
will be plenty to see and do.
The first
timer should also decide their priorities in terms of what they want to get
from their visit. For example, are they most interested in Welsh culture, or
its natural scenery, or its castles, or its beaches? Do they want to surf, or
to climb mountains, to pony trek, to watch wildlife or travel on its “great
little trains”? There is no reason to plump for just one option, but if you
have a particular aim in mind, it might not be so easy to plan your visit in a
way that incorporates certain others.
For example, Wales is noted
for several heritage rail lines that were originally built to transport slate
and other goods from the quarries to the coast. These are to be found in Mid
and North Wales, and a certain degree of
planning would be needed to fit them all into a short break. If the visitor is
also interested in the cultural delights of Cardiff, with its first-rate venues for
music, opera and theatre, then combining the two interests would be difficult.
It is
impossible, in a short article, to describe all that Wales has to offer, so a
short breakdown of the three main regions will have to suffice.
South Wales
This is where
the majority of Wales’s
population lives, particularly in the only two Welsh cities of any size, namely
Cardiff and Swansea. The wealth of Wales in the 19th and 20th
centuries came from coal-mining and steel, and it was in south-east Wales that
these industries were based, although there is little sign of them now.
For the
tourist, Cardiff has far more to offer than Swansea, especially since the
development of Cardiff Bay that has taken place in recent years. Cardiff, the chief city of Wales,
was always an attractive city, with its castle and the civic centre and
university buildings around Cathays
Park, but the waterside
developments, including the new Welsh Assembly building, are generally agreed
as being particularly impressive. The tourist could make Cardiff their sole destination with no
trouble at all.
However,
South Wales has much more to offer, including the magnificent coastal scenery
of the Gower peninsular and Pembrokeshire, and the brooding mountainous
territory of the Brecon Beacons and Black
Mountain. Walkers are
well served, whether the choice is hills or coast paths, as are families who
seek safe beaches and rock pools.
Mid Wales
The heart of Wales is a land
of lakes, forests, deep valleys and windswept moorlands. This is wild country
with only a few villages and not many roads. It is therefore a region that will
suit people who want to get away from it all, but they will also have to be
largely self-reliant.
The chief
town of mid Wales is Aberystwyth on the coast, home to the oldest university in
Wales and the National Library. It is also well used to catering for tourists,
with many small hotels and guest houses. The railway line from Shrewsbury
(in England)
ends here, as does the steam-powered narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol line.
Aberystwyth
is at the mid-point
of Cardigan Bay, on which
can be found many unspoilt and lonely beaches. Whether one goes inland or stays
on the coast, this is excellent territory for wildlife enthusiasts, particularly
birdwatchers.
North Wales
The region is
dominated by Snowdonia, the mountainous area centred on Snowdon, the highest
mountain in Wales. A mountain railway can take you to the summit, or there are
a number of well-marked paths that are very popular in summer. The area is
something of a tourist trap, so visitors would be well advised to explore other
parts of the region if they do not wish to be where everyone else is.
Also popular
are the large and well-preserved medieval castles of Harlech, Caernarvon
and Conwy. These are reminders of Wales’s
history and its eventual domination by England in the 14th
century. Children love exploring castles, and North Wales
has some fine examples.
The coast of
North Wales, eastward from Llandudno, is popular with tourists from the cities
of north-west England, so visitors might prefer to head further west, to the
Lleyn peninsular and Ynys Mon (Anglesey). It is not difficult to get away from
the crowds when one wants to.
Culture in
Wales
The
first-time visitor should make every effort to absorb some of the culture of
Wales, which has a tradition of choral singing that goes back for centuries. If
you can attend a concert given by a Welsh male-voice choir it will be an
unforgettable experience. Even better is an “eisteddfod” (Welsh for “sitting”)
which is a festival of music, dance and literature. The 8-day National
Eisteddfod is an annual festival held in early August, but local eisteddfodau
are also held at other times and places.
Food is part
of a nation’s culture, and Wales
has some culinary customs of its own, such as the use of seaweed to make “laver
bread”. Welsh lamb is highly prized, with sheep rearing being the dominant
agriculture in many parts of the country. Leeks are typical vegetables and are
one of Wales’s
national symbols. On the sweeter side, “bara brith” is a bread made with
raisins, currants and fruit peel.
The national
sport of Wales is rugby
football, with most of the big clubs being in South Wales.
National pride is very much to the fore when Wales play at Cardiff’s
Millennium Stadium, especially if the opponents are England! Tickets are much more
easily obtained for club matches, but the passion on display is always high.
The Welsh
language
The
first-time visitor, especially one from beyond the United Kingdom, may be surprised to
find that a language other than English is spoken here. Welsh is an ancient
Celtic language that was once spoken across most of England as well, before
England was created by invading Angles and Saxons in the 5th and 6th
centuries. The invasion never reached Wales, so the language was
preserved.
The visitor
will soon see that all road signs and many other public notices are in both
Welsh and English, with Welsh usually given priority. Welsh is spoken as the
first language by about 20% of the population, although the proportion is much
higher in north and west Wales.
You will hear
Welsh spoken in shops and whenever local people get together, but this should
not worry the visitor, because every Welsh speaker is bi-lingual, having
learned both languages from an early age. That said, Welsh people are justly
proud of their language and appreciate it when visitors take the trouble to
learn a few phrases, such as “bore da” (“good morning”).
The
first-time visitor to Wales is
unlikely to be an “only time” visitor, because a first visit can only be a
taster of what Wales
has to offer. There is so much variety, especially in outdoor activities, and Wales keeps
many of its secrets well hidden, only to be prised out by the determined
explorer.
© John Welford
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