Wales Travel guide
information about Wales
Wales :(Cymru) It is easy to go to Wales from Chester or
take the . But you should try to get
to Wales, which has a hundred old castles, even if you don't make
Chester. North Wales is the best. The cities of the south are grim,
bleak coal-mining centers that are closed now. Go to Llangollen for the
annual Eisteddfod festival, which is a festival for musicians and dancers from
all over the world. But it is the magnificent Welsh singing such as you
heard in "How Green Was My Valley" which rules the occasion. Llangollen
is in Denbighshire, where flows the River Dee. Go to Betws-y-Coed in
Caernarvonshire. Visit Colwyn Bay, and Llandudno, modern resorts with
good hotels and fine beaches. Try the Imperial, St. George's or
Craigside Hydro.
Caernarvon Castle is where the first Prince of Wales was presented by
his father, Edward I. The castle is forbidding and majestic. North of
Caernarvon are the resort towns of Llanfairfechan, Penmaenmawr and
Bangor. The highest mountain in England and Wales, Snowdon, is in this
county which is famous for its steep mountain ranges and its mountain
climbing. South of Caernarvon is Montgomeryshire, which is in Central
Wales where the Wye and the Severn Rivers start their course. There are
some charming towns and excellent fishing in the streams of Vyrnwy and
Wye.
Westward on the coast is Cardiganshire with some delightful resort
towns. At Aberystwyth is a college of the University of Wales. Still
going south you come to Pembrokeshire with its many Norman castles. This
is the oldest county in South Wales and full of historical interest. The
stones at Stonehenge are believed to have come from here. And who could
resist a lighthouse named Strumble Head. Cardiff is the chief city in
Wales.
Wales occupy 8,023sq. miles on the s.west of Great Britain, bounded on three sides by water and on the fourth
by, Herefordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire and Gloucestershire.
The Clwydian Range, Anglesey, Gower Peninsula are among the most natural
beauty areas of Wales. The coastline of the Principality of Wales is over I,000 miles long, and no part of the country is more
than 50 miles from the sea.
The westerly Cambrian Mountains, which include, at their northern end,
Snowdonia (rising as Snowdon to 3,560 feet), exceed in height and grandeur
the Brecon Beacons in the South. The Wye (I35 miles.), and the Severn (22o m.)
have their sources on Plynlimmon (2,q68 ft), and finally disgorge into
the Bristol Channel. Wales also shares with England the river Dee ('7o m.).
Lake Bala (4 m. long) in Merioneth is the largest natural lake, larger
than the artificial Lake Vy°nwy, which supplies Liverpool with water.
Birmingham draws its supplies from the beautiful artificial lakes formed
by damming the Elan Valley.
The largest island of Wales is Anglesey (276 sq. miles) and is linked to the mainland by Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge (completed in 1826) and the Britannia Bridge.
Population
The industrial areas of South Wale are more heavily populated than the agricultural and mountainous ones of North Wales. In fact, of the 2,693,000 people in Wales, about 2,000,000 live in the industrial South.
Welsh-speaking people numbered 656,00o in 196 1, and of the total population I per cent spoke Welsh only.
History: The Menhirs and other megalithic monuments in Anglesey indicating the prehistoric past of Wales. The Romans conquered first the Celts, of South East, and then those of central and western, Wales between 74 and 78 AD, and kept them under subjection by constructing military roads. After the departure of the Romans, the Saxons confined the Welsh by building Offa's Dyke from the Dee to the Wye.
Edward the 1st (1272-1307) set up military bases and castles throughout Wales. Legend has it that, when he promised the unconquerable chieftains a native-born prince who did not speak English, he tricked them by contriving that his own son should be born in Caernarvon Castle. Since then, the eldest son of each Sovereign has been given the title of Prince of Wales. This has helped to reconcile an independent nation to English rule, though rebellions continued until the Battle of Bosworth Field brought the Tudor Henry VII, who was born in Pembroke, to the throne of England.
Wales Map: