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Welsh people, like the English, carry British passports. Welsh people, like the Scottish, are definitely NOT English. And Welsh people, like the Italians, live in a very nice place. Mostly.
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| I only really know north Wales, but it’s enough to fill a small internet page mostly taken up by photos anyway. Its language, mountains, coasts and very well preserved castles may not define it but would do so smartly if required to. Although Wales is not widely known across the world as far as I can tell, many of its proudest creations and successes are, for example Ryan Giggs, whose allegiance to the struggling dragon of the football world deprived him of a deserved appearance in the World Cup. Tom Jones is similarly recognised by millions and Neil Kinnock is, ah, who cares about him?
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The smallest house in Britain
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| Trouble is, how many people abroad know that Ryan Giggs is Welsh? How many know Tom Jones is? How many know that Wales has its own language which I regret to say is still only a minority language even there. How many people could recognise and correctly identify the Welsh flag? How many even know that Wales is? Not too many, sorry to say.
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| Thing is, Wales lives in the shadow of England to a far greater degree than Scotland, which is a shame, because in its own way it is every bit a different country with a confident identity. You just feel you’ve come to a different place, bilingual road signs or not. Legally speaking the Welsh are as British as the English and an independent Wales is scarcely an economic viability barring generous help from a European Union that doesn’t seem much concerned for affairs of the Kingdom be it United or not.
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| A fortnight in Wales would necessitate some travelling around to achieve variety, but might rightfully start in the southern cities of Cardiff and Swansea before working along the coast via the Gower Peninsula to the tiny city of St David’s in the west, before heading north along the coast towards the rugged peaks of Snowdonia, insignificant mountains on a world scale but more than enough for a few days fun (or serious) climbing here. Then over to Caernarvon with its incredible castle which seems in as good nick as the day it was built, before heading over the Menai Bridge, one of the nicest bridges anywhere, to Anglesey.
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| Of course, the last few days would have to be spent in Llandudno
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| and I’ve missed a great number of very nice places out, but other than this, anybody who appreciates the glorious outdoors could do a lot worse.
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| As for me, well, I can trace ancestors to near the Welsh border but it involves going back to before the days of rugby union, so I might leave the Cymraeg to the natives. However it might have crept onto the list, sneakily.
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