Explore Wales
Perched on the rocky fringe of western Europe, Wales packs a lot of physical beauty into its small mass of land: its mountain ranges, lush valleys, ragged coastline, old-fashioned market towns and ancient castles all invite long and repeated visits. The culture, too, is compelling, whether in its Welsh- or English-language manifestations, its Celtic or its industrial traditions, its ancient cornerstones of belief or its contemporary chutzpah. Wales often gets short shrift in comparison to its Celtic cousins of Ireland and Scotland. Neither so internationally renowned nor so romantically perceived, the country is usually defined by its male voice choirs and tightly packed pit villages. But there’s far more to the place than the hackneyed stereotypes and, at its best, Wales is the most beguiling part of the British Isles. Even its comparative anonymity serves it well: where the tourist pound has swept away some of the more gritty aspects of local life in parts of Ireland and Scotland, reducing ancient cultures to misty Celtic pastiche, Wales remains brittle and brutal enough to be real, and diverse enough to remain endlessly fascinating.
Recent years have seen a huge and dizzying upsurge in Welsh self-confidence, a commodity no longer so dependent upon comparison with its big and powerful neighbour of England. Popular culture – especially music and film – has contributed much to this revival, as has the arrival of a National Assembly in 1999, the first all-Wales tier of government for six hundred years. After centuries of enforced subjugation, the national spirit is undergoing a remarkable renaissance. The ancient symbol of the country, y ddraig goch or the red dragon, seen fluttering on flags everywhere in Wales, is waking up from what seems like a very long slumber.
As soon as you cross the border from England into Wales, the differences in appearance, attitude and culture between the two countries are immediately obvious. Wales shares many physical and emotional similarities with the other Celtic lands – Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany, and even Asturias and Galicia in northwest Spain. A rocky and mountainous landscape, whose colours are predominantly grey and green, a thinly scattered, largely rural population, a culture rooted deeply in folklore and legend and the survival of a distinct, ancient language are all hallmarks of Wales and its sister countries. To visitors, it is the Welsh language, the strongest survivor of the Celtic tongues, that most obviously marks out the country with tongue-twisting village names and vast bilingual signposts. Everyone in Wales speaks English, but a quarter of the population also speaks Welsh: TV and radio stations broadcast in it, all children learn it at school, restaurant menus are increasingly bilingual and visitors too are encouraged to try speaking at least a fragment of the rich, earthy tones of one of Europe’s oldest living languages.
After Wales’ seven-hundred-year subjugation at the hands of its far larger and more powerful neighbour, many Welsh nationalists call for, if not outright divorce from England, at least a trial separation. The mutual antipathy is almost all good-natured, but often the greatest offence to Welsh people is when those very obvious differences are blatantly disregarded or patronized. Avoid referring to England when you really mean Britain or the United Kingdom, and don’t say English when you mean Welsh: it is like calling a Kiwi an Aussie or a Canadian an American (probably worse).
Although it is the wealth of places to visit – prehistoric sites, crumbling castles and wild landscapes – that brings tourists here in the first place, they often leave championing contemporary Wales. The cities and university towns throughout the country are buzzing with an understated youthful confidence and sense of cultural optimism, while a generation or two of “New Age” migrants has brought a curious cosmopolitanism to the small market towns of mid-Wales and the west. Although conservative and traditional forces still sporadically clash with these more liberal and anarchic strands of thought, there’s an unquestionable feeling that Wales is big enough, both physically and emotionally, to embrace such diverse influences. Perhaps most importantly of all, Welsh culture is underpinned by an iconoclastic democracy that contrasts starkly with the establishment-obsessed class divisions of England. The Welsh character is famously endowed with a musicality, lyricism, introspection and sentimentality that produces far better bards and singers than it does lords and masters. And Welsh culture is undeniably inclusive: anything from a sing-song in the pub to the grandiose theatricality of an eisteddfod involves everyone – including any visitor eager to learn and join in.
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Male voice choirs
Male voice choirs
Fiercely protective of its reputation as a land of song, Wales demonstrates its fine voice most affectingly in its ranks of male voice choirs. Although found all over the country, it is in the southern, industrial heartland that they are loudest and strongest. Their roots lie in the Nonconformist religious traditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when Methodism in particular swept the country, and singing was a free and potent way of cherishing the often persecuted faith. Classic hymns like Cwm Rhondda and the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers), are synonymous with the choirs. Each Valleys town still has its own choir, most of whom welcome visitors to sit in on rehearsals. Ask at the local tourist office or library, and take the chance to hear one of the world’s most distinctive choral traditions in full, roof-raising splendour.
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Prehistoric and legendary Wales
Prehistoric and legendary Wales
Whether trudging through a dew-soaked field to some mysteriously inscribed standing stone, or catching the afternoon sun as it illumines the entrance to a cliff-top burial chamber, exploring Wales’ prehistoric sites is thoroughly rewarding. At all but a few of the most popular, the bleating of sheep will be the only sound to break the contemplative silence of these spiritual places.
Prehistoric sites litter Wales. Hut circles defensively set atop windswept hills attest to a rugged hand-to-mouth pre-Celtic existence dating back four or five thousand years, while stone circles, intricately carved monoliths and finely balanced capstones set at crucial points on ancient pathways suggest the more spiritual life led by the priestly druids. Britain’s greatest druidic centre was Anglesey, and the island is still home to many of Wales’ best prehistoric sites, including the splendid chambers of Barclodiad y Gawres and Bryn Celli Ddu. Elsewhere, numerous standing stones and circles can be found on the mysterious slopes of the Mynydd Preseli in Pembrokeshire and in the area around Harlech in north Wales. Many sites take their names from great figures in Celtic history and folklore, such as Arthur and Merlin (Myrddin in Welsh); legends abound to connect much of the landscape with ancient tales.
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Land of song
Land of song
“Praise the Lord! We are a musical nation,” intones the Rev. Eli Jenkins in Dylan Thomas’ masterpiece, Under Milk Wood. It’s a reputation of which the Welsh feel deservedly proud. Although plucky miners singing their way to the pithead was the dewy-eyed fabrication of Hollywood (How Green Was My Valley), Wales does make a great deal more noise, and make it a great deal more tunefully, than most other small countries.
The country’s male voice choirs, many struggling to survive in the aftermath of the decimation of the coal industry that spawned them, are the best-known exemplars of Welsh singing, but traditions go much further back, to the bards and minstrels of the Celtic age. Wales continues to nurture big voices and big talent: from the hip-swivelling Sir Tom Jones and show-stopping Dame Shirley Bassey to anarchistic rockers the Manic Street Preachers and young divas like Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and Duffy.
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Wales’ best drives
Wales’ best drives
You can’t go far in Wales without experiencing great views, but if you’re set on seeking out some of the very finest scenery, try these drives.
Wye Valley
Savour the wooded gorge of the River Wye on a journey from Monmouth past Tintern Abbey to Chepstow.
Gospel Pass
Take the narrow road over the roof of the Black Mountains from Abergavenny past Llanthony Priory to Hay-on-Wye.
Elan Valley and Cwmystwyth
From Rhayader take the mountain road up past the reservoirs of the Elan Valley up to the blasted landscapes around Cwmystwyth and down past Devil’s Bridge into the Vale of Rheidol.
Abergwesyn Pass
Follow the ancient drovers’ road over the spectacularly remote moorland of the Cambrian Mountains from Llanwrtyd Wells to Tregaron.
Marine Drive
A short but wonderfully scenic loop around the Great Orme.
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Wales’ steam railways: six of the best
Wales’ steam railways: six of the best
With the rising demand for quarried stone in the nineteenth century, quarry and mine owners had to find more economical ways than packhorses to get their products to market, but in the steep, tortuous valleys of Snowdonia, standard-gauge train tracks proved too unwieldy. The solution was rails, usually about 2ft apart, plied by steam engines and dinky rolling stock. The charm of these railways was recognized by train enthusiasts, and long after the decline of the quarries, they banded together to restore abandoned lines and locos. Most lines are still largely run by volunteers, who have also started up new services along unused sections of standard-gauge bed.
Tickets are generally sold separately, but ten railways (including all those listed here) operate as The Great Little Trains of Wales (GLT: wgreatlittletrainsofwales.co.uk) and offer a Discount Card (£10; valid 1 year), giving you 20 percent off the cost of the return journey on each of the GLT railways.
The railways below are listed north to south:
Snowdon Mountain Railway Llanberis.
Welsh Highland Railway Porthmadog.
Ffestiniog Railway Porthmadog.
Llangollen Railway Llangollen.
Talyllyn Railway Tywyn.
Vale of Rheidol Railway Aberystwyth.
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Fun tours and adventure trips
Fun tours and adventure trips
If you’re short on time or want to see the sights in the company of like-minded travellers, join a guided tour. Some of the best include:
Bus Wales t0800 328 0284, wbuswales.co.uk. Wide range of backpacker and smarter tours, from day-trips (£50) to six- and ten-day trips (from £400 staying in hostel dorms to £1850 using five-star hotels).
Dragon Tours t01878 658124, wdragon-tours.com. Custom tours for individuals, couples and small groups plus a couple of more fixed routes covering the country in six days (£299 including hostel accommodation) or ten days (£499 including hostel accommodation). There’s also a wide range of accommodation upgrades.
Road Trip t020 8133 8375, wroadtrip.co.uk. London-based outfit running all-inclusive minibus trips: the weekend “Wales Coast & Mountains” tour (£169) visits the north Wales coast, Conwy Castle, Snowdonia and the Ffestiniog Railway, while the five-day “Welsh Explorer” (£182) heads to South Wales and includes trekking in the Brecon Beacons.
Shaggy Sheep Tours t017919 244549, wshaggysheep.com. Great fun and hugely enthusiastic, the booziest backpacker tours around leave twice-weekly from London. Choose between a weekend (£118) or a four-day (£148) trip. For independent travellers, there’s also a handy jump-on, jump-off return bus service from London (£79) stopping at key destinations in Wales.
