What adventurers and sports fans should do on a trip to Wales
10 ways to get your blood pumping and make a short break one to remember this spring
Wales is not only home to some of the UK’s most breathtaking scenery, but there’s also a fabulous feast of activity for sports fans and travel enthusiasts to sink their teeth into.
Discovery is a travel pleasure that we can enjoy on our own doorsteps. Look to the west, and you do not need to let your gaze wander as far as the broad horizons of the United States, nor the snow-capped peaks of Canada. You can find treasures to uncover much closer to home – in Wales.
Here are 10 unforgettable experiences to get your heart racing, from soaking up spectacular scenery by foot or on two wheels, to riding the rapids in Cardiff and exploring the Wales Way by car.
Hit the heights in Snowdonia
Anyone who has ever glimpsed mighty Snowdon – and knows that, at 3,560ft (1,085m), it is the highest mountain in Wales – may baulk at the suggestion that Snowdonia, pictured above, is a great place to learn to climb. And yet, this high-rise portion of North Wales is a perfect classroom for the upwardly mobile.
Plas y Brenin (pyb.co.uk), the national mountain sports centre at the heart of the national park offers dedicated tuition (on rafting as well as mountaineering) with expert instructors. As does the Blue Peris Mountain Centre (blueperis.co.uk), near Caernarfon, with its mix of artificial climbing walls and real crags.
Watch the rugby in World Cup year
Wales takes its rugby union very seriously. You know this already. And with the World Cup in the diary for the autumn in Japan, this year’s Six Nations has extra spice.
The Welsh national team, winners of the title in 2012 and 2013, will face current champions Ireland at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff in a seismic showdown on 16 March. You can find the latest ticket details on the Welsh Rugby Union website. The same source also lists other upcoming fixtures, including under-20 and Wales Women internationals.
Hike up a southern legend
There’s much more to the Welsh mountain landscape than Snowdonia. Brecon Beacons National Park, above, provides a splendid spine to the south of the country, with glorious Pen y Fan rising at its heart.
The range’s highest peak is a mighty beast, topping out at 2,907ft (886m). But for all its scale, it is remarkably welcoming – you can clamber to the summit and back in around three hours, without overly taxing your legs (find route details at breconbeacons.org and beacons-npa.gov.uk).
The view from the roof is unsurprisingly spectacular, with the neighbouring bluff Corn Du – only a little smaller at 2,864ft (873m) – visible to the south-west.
Take pedal-power to the extreme
What goes up must, as the saying goes, come down, and for every climber tackling a cliff in Wales, there is a biker riding a gradient at pace. And why not? Mountain Bike Wales (mbwales.com) offers a list of daring biking opportunities – including the descent of Snowdon and the excellent mountain bike trail centre at Llandegla, near Wrexham.
Visit Wales also details possible routes for those visitors who prefer the way ahead to be a little less bumpy – such as the Taff Trail, which runs for 55 fine miles along the river of the same name, between Cardiff Bay and Brecon.
Get under the skin of Wales
Thanks to the ruggedness of the Welsh landmass, you can wriggle into the ground almost as easily as you can rise to its summits. For subterranean delights, take a trip to the National Showcaves Centre for Wales – a labyrinthine complex which runs underground for 10 miles in Brecon Beacons National Park.
The most striking sight here is the Dan-yr-Ogof cave, below, where the River Llynfell emerges from the mountain. The Corris Mine Explorers attraction at Machynlleth in Powys, which delves down into a slate mine which was hand-dug by Victorian labourers in 1836, is no less amazing.
Take a stroll at the sea’s edge...
It might sound strange to call the Welsh shoreline a recent innovation when it has framed the country’s relationship with the sea since time immemorial, but the Wales Coast Path was completed as recently as 2012. It runs from Chepstow in Monmouthshire to Queensferry in Flintshire – and in doing so, is the only hiking route anywhere on the planet to encompass a nation’s entire seafront.
At 870 miles, it isn’t a challenge that can be tackled in one weekend, but walkers can dip in for a few hours, whether they are in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, or anywhere where the waves rush.
... and through beautiful countryside
You can also, of course, put one foot in front of the other inland – maybe in one of the five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which adorn the Welsh landmass.
Gower AONB makes a virtue of the peninsula which hangs down from Glamorgan’s torso. Wye Valley AONB also decorates the south of the country, framing the river in question as it cuts through Monmouthshire. Further north, Llŷn AONB is another slab of peninsula perfection in Gwynedd, which keeps one eye on its near-neighbour, the island jewel that is Anglesey AONB.
Then there is Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB, which deals in hills and mountains in Denbighshire and Flintshire. See wales.com/aonb for more on all five.
Stay on track
Snowdonia’s magnificent cragginess means it also throws its weight behind journeys on rails as well as in the saddle. Both the Ffestiniog and the Welsh Highland Railways (in both cases, see festrail.co.uk) are a legacy of the region’s 19th-century slate-quarrying industry.
Preserved in the 21st, these narrow-gauge relics – now providers of leisurely day trips where once they were workhorses – climb up steep slopes and through high valleys. Both lines run out of Porthmadog on the Gwynedd coast. Ffestiniog is arguably the more picturesque of the two, thanks to its Whistling Curve – a grand 180-degree arc of track.
Ride the rapids in the city
Cardiff has more than enough cafés, bars and restaurants to fill a year of weekends. But for those who like to do more than relax, the Welsh capital also deals in action-packed mornings and afternoons.
It does this specifically at Cardiff International White Water, a state-of-the-art hotspot for spray-soaked rafting, kayaking and canoeing, set on the edge of Cardiff Bay. For those with added energy, there are also activities out of the water, such gorge-walking, rock-wall climbing and biking, plus a high ropes course.
Explore the Wales Way
Wales has lots of allure for those wanting a driving holiday – and this is certainly set to continue now that the Wales Way has been inaugurated. This trio of routes, criss-crossing the country, shows off the best of the landscape to those who want to see it at an unhurried pace.
The Coastal Way takes its job literally, running 180 miles along the full length of Cardigan Bay, between Aberdaron and St David’s. The Cambrian Way takes matters further, arrowing for 185 miles between the north and south coasts, linking Llandudno and Cardiff via Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons National Parks, and the ridges of the Cambrian Mountains.
Too long to attempt in one short break? Probably – although the same cannot be said of the North Wales Way, which ebbs for 75 miles, from the English border to Holyhead on Anglesey. Feasible in four days? There’s only one way to find out...
For further inspiration, see visitwales.com
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