Wales (
Tourist website) is part of the UK, abutting England's west midlands. On its east is the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish
Sea. Ireland is not far to the west. Wales developed into a separate country in the 5th century.
But relations with England were not peaceful. There were many clashes between Welsh and English peoples in the border area,
known as the Marches where there are no natural barriers separating the two countries. An English force under
King
Edward I conquered the Welsh
King Llewelyn in the 13th century, and built a series of forts to keep the Welsh in check. Two
centuries later Wales was incorporated into England. So, while Scotland and Ireland both always have had a separate identity
from England, Wales has been seen as English for over 600 years. But it would seem that this has not completely eliminated
a bit of an identity problem.
Relations with England have seen long periods of strain since the defeat of Llewelyn and the subsequent
incorporation. 800 years later there still seems to be some latent resentment, which we think we encountered in the
following incident: We decided to take the
cog railway up to the top of
Mount Snowdon in the
Snowdonia National Park.
We were waiting behind a barrier with many other people for our turn to get on the train when we noticed that the first compartment
on the first car had been cordoned off, and that people were being let on the train from the second compartment back. We were
standing next to a railroad conductor and, kidding, Ron asked him if they were waiting for the arrival of the Queen to occupy
that first compartment. He turned around and looked at us, and said in a serious tone, "No! This is Wales. We don't
have Queens here!" And then he added, derisively, "Only Princes." The latter reference was to the fact that the first
born English Prince has been known since the incorporation of Wales into England as the Prince of Wales. The conducter
was letting us know that this land is very different from England. And the tone of voice implied that "here" was not only different,
but better--democratic, not monarchistic. We soon saw that the compartment had been reserved for a party celebrating the
birthday of an 98 year old lady in a wheelchair.
Another obvious indicator that the Welsh have strong feelings about
their separate identity is that most signage is both in Welsh and in English, including signs painted on roadbeds.
Welsh is a national language, along with English. You do not see this in Scotland or in Ireland. It is a bit ironic that
in the two countries that always have had a separate identity, English is the only national language, while in Wales which
has been part of England for so long, there are two national languages.
We did not see a great deal of the country.
We entered Wales from our stop in Liverpool where we had camped on a farm just across the Mersey River in Birkenhead. Mountains
to the west were pointed out to us as being in Wales. We drove from Birkenhead to Conwy in the northwest part of Wales.
In Conwy we visited one of the castles built by Edward I and an Elizabethan house. From there we continued westward to
Holyhead in
order to take a
fast ferry for a day trip to
Dublin, Ireland, which we include here. Then we drove southeast to the Snowdonia
National Park and visited Mount Snowdon. We left Wales driving southeastward to
Shrewsbury, back in England. Physically
the parts of the country we saw, all in its northwest, is very pretty, and except for Mount Snowdon, with shorter, more abrupt and
rockier hills than we saw in Scotland or in England. There were a few slate quarries around the cog railway departure
point in Snowdonia. Wales also had many working coal mines in the southern part of the country until the 1980's.
We
regret not having had a chance to visit
Cardiff and
Swansea in the southern part of the country. Perhaps next time.
