National Geographic - USA (2020-01)

EPIC WALES

THE SIMPLE WORDS painted on a billboard-size wall

overlooking a parking lot in Swansea, Wales, read:

“More poetry is needed.”

A plea to locals? More likely an exhortation to the

rest of the world—because poetry isn’t something I

find Wales lacks. A short drive beyond any Welsh

city leads to landscapes of imagination: hillsides

embroidered with bluebells, lonely castle ruins on

windswept crags, rocky coastlines noisy with seal

song, valleys that are an encyclopedia of green.

The industrial port city of Swansea is the gateway

to the Gower Peninsula, the first Area of Outstanding

Natural Beauty (AONB) designated by the British

government, in 1956. The recognition singles out for

conservation exceptional landscapes of “distinctive

character.” Wales now has five AONBs, in addition

to three national parks.

Three new touring routes, collectively called the

Wales Way, showcase the best of this ancient land—

and they appear on National Geographic Travel’s

annual Best Trips 2020 list, which heralds them as

essential experiences for travelers. At 185 miles, the

Cambrian Way is the longest of the three, snaking

north to south along the backbone of Wales. Sand-

wiched between peaks and sea, the Coastal Way is

a sweeping 180-mile journey around Cardigan Bay

BY AMY ALIPIO

JUMP INTO COASTAL ADVENTURES,

THEN HIKE TRAILS AT THE SPEED OF SHEEP.

TRAVEL | BEING THERE

PHOTO: CARL JONES

In Snowdonia National Park, summer dusk bathes a slope above Lake Idwal, in the Ogwen Valley.