TRAVEL: North Wales

CROESO i Gymry - Welcome to Wales! That’s one phrase which many non-Welsh speakers know and reflects the country’s open arms policy to visitors.

Many would say that Wales is one of the friendliest places to take a trip to and is certainly a part of the UK which has its own distinct charm.

I fell in love with the land back in the 1980s during a week-long trip with friends to Brecon and have been back many times since.

I even took a course in basic Welsh at university — though I admit a lot of what I knew back then has perhaps been lost by now!

The most amazing thing that I find about Wales is that each visit has been very different, a testament to a country of contrasts and surprises.

Anyone who has read Jan Morris’s book The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country will know that it is a land where the modern world and the mythology of ancient times share an uneasy truce.

This is particularly true, I think, in the northern half of the country.

Far more rural than urban, it is a land of imposing mountains, lonely valleys, wide beaches.

You can go for miles without passing another car on some of the roads, and for hours without meeting another walker in Wales’ great outdoors.

Snowdonia has a majesty all of its own and is the jewel in the crown of north Wales.

Snowdonia is very much the heart and soul of Wales and venturing into it is always an enjoyable experience.

The further across the border with England that you get, the quieter the roads become, the wilder the terrain and, quite frankly, the friendlier are the people.

A good place to get a feel for north Wales is to pay a visit, or even stay in, the town of Caernarfon on the north west coast.

By English standards it’s a small town but one where you feel the modern world has had a look-in but thankfully left most of it as it was.

Caernarfon Castle is a building with a rich history located at the heart of the town.

It is a must for anyone interested in the nation’s past.

Run by Cadw, the Welsh government’s historic environment service, the castle — built by Edward I — is best known as the place where Prince Charles was inaugurated as Prince of Wales by The Queen.

Wandering around the impressive structure — along its walls, up its towers, through its dark corridors — you can get a real feel for what life must have been like when the castle was a hub of military and community life.

These days it is only beady-eyed seagulls that stand guard over the battlements.

But the town of Caernarfon has many attractions from the harbour to a surprising array of eating places covering most tastes.

You can look out into the Menai Strait and see Anglesey — known in Welsh as Ynys Mon — over the water.

It’s a surprisingly big place with an equally impressive diversity of things to see.

For example, on the southern coast of Anglesey itself at the Anglesey Sea Zoo you can get up close and personal with marine life from around the coast of our country.

You walk into the dark and see fish and molluscs and anemones and other weird and wonderful creatures from the deep.

It is something of a revelation to realise that some of them are here in the UK, but the Sea Zoo is here to educate and educate it does.

You can also learn about the creature’s lives.

The weirdest thing was to see shark egg cases with something strange wriggling about inside.

It was like a real-life version of Alien.

A lot of work has been put in to make the Sea Zoo attractive to both grown-ups and children and it is well worth a visit.

Anglesey has so much to offer with its astonishing landscapes and stupendous coastlines that you will feel spoilt for choice.

For instance, you could venture along the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path.

And of course it is almost obligatory to mention that the settlement with the longest place name in Britain is on Anglesey.

In case you were wondering, it’s Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch.

There are also other attractions to explore if you venture south into the country around Yr Wyddfa (that’s Snowdon to you).

You could drive down to just north of Machynlleth where the village of Corris plays host to King Arthur’s Labyrinth.

This attraction is off the beaten track but worth the journey.

Set in an old slate mine, it gives visitors the chance to travel underground on a short boat journey into the mountains (and I mean into).

Then the participants can wander around the tunnels and caves while learning the story of the legendary King Arthur.

Different caves feature tableaux that tell the story of Arthur through music, lights and plenty of atmosphere.

The coldness of the caves and the low lighting make for a spooky experience in keeping with the tale of dragons, giants, ancient kings and mysticism.

It is an inventive way of drawing in both adults and children, and teaching old folk tales.

If you do fancy finding out more about the slate mining history of the area, there are trips available into the mines courtesy of Corris Mine Explorers.

The trips are of varying lengths depending on your interest and available time but they give a very different perspective on what is to most of us an alien environment.

I was given a personal guided tour into the heart of the old slate mine some time back.

Walking down cold dark mineshafts with only a miner’s lamp to see by gives a very different perspective than more organised, fully illuminated trips.

Scrabbling about over rocks, getting your feet wet, the silence — they all make you realise the hard lives the miners had all those years ago.

Realising that the huge caves are entirely man-made courtesy of dynamite and pick axes brings home the danger facing those men, and the ingenuity they must have had to get the rock out.

Old bits of machinery litter the tunnels like ghosts of the past. The mine trips are truly fascinating and unforgettable.

Back on the surface, you can get a good meal at the site’s Y Crochan cafe and then have a wander round various craft emporiums of the Corris Craft Centre offering unusual furniture, glassware, cards and much more.

You can have a go at making your own candles at one of the shops which is great for the kids.

If you want a more physical challenge then you could do worse than venture down to three Zip World attractions around the Betws-y-Coed area.

Zip World Penrhyn Quarry offer zip wire fans the chance to travel at 100 miles per hour while Zip World Slate Caverns has three lines on Europe’s largest zip zone.

Zip World Fforest has features such as the Fforest coaster, tree top nets, the zip safari and the Skyride.

Snowdonia and north Wales in general has so many hidden gems that you really need to visit to appreciate it to its fullest.

You can hear rare choughs — crows with red curvy beaks — screeching on the coasts if you are lucky, or take a train trip on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

Along the coast there are delightful locations such as Llandudno, Holyhead (in Anglesey), Prestatyn, Conwy, Colwyn Bay and Pwllheli, as well as lovely places inland like Blaenau Ffestiniog and Denbigh.

Wales is always a great place to go — so GO!

Diolch yn fawr! Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey