wales
This was a return "home" for us as our ancestors on the Blethen side sailed from Wales to Maine in the early 1700s and we have been in America ever since. One of those sailors was Captain James H. Blethen, who started our family wanderlust around the globe, and it is to him that my largest site The Maritime Heritage Project is dedicated.
For this trip, we tried a one week Cosmos bus tour through England, Wales, Ireland and found it better than nothing perhaps, but, at the same time, not something we would do again . . . not nearly enough time to visit anything (we were actually jogging through towns to see as much as possible); the bus broke down in Bath, England; we missed that historic and lovelyl town completely (I had visited there previously while going to school in England, but my daughter saw little other than the closed baths through a steamy window.)
It was one of those vacations where you are never quite sure where you are, and in a country like Wales, with its wonderfully strange names, you never stay long enough to learn to pronounce anything. But any travel is worthwhile.
We lodged in the Cardiff Moat House, close to the historic city center, and who were kind enough to keep dinner for our late arrival. It was comfortable, but we were up early and back on the bus so we missed highlights such as Caerau, a hillfort with three ramparts around a plateau, one of the strongest forts in South Wales and said to be a Celtic site.
During the 19th Century, Cardiff's population jumped from 1900 in 1805 to more than18,000 in 1851 and close to 60,000 people in 1871. Exports of coal, iron and grain helped the town grow, and it industries such as shipbuilding, ropemaking, brewing, milling and paper making also grew as Cardiff became overcrowded and dirty because of the rapid growth.
Ironbridge, in the North of Wales, is known for its role in the Industrial Revolution. Here, ironmasters in the 18th century began the mass production of iron and helped create the British engineering industry, laying the foundation for the railway age in the next century. Furnaces, houses, factories, chapels and works house collections have been designated of national importance. the Ironbridge Gorge Museum shows how people lived, worked and created the products in the "cradle of industry." The bridge spanning the River Severn stands as an icon of the industrial revolution. Very interest part of Welsh history is that when trying to settle the north of Wales, they offered free land to anyone who would build a home from the abundance of slate in the area. The image buried on the green hillside to the left in the row of photographs is of slate, and walls lining roadways are slate. The shades of gray against the vibrant green is stunning.
One of the many highlights was the small town of Llangollen in North Wales, which like most European towns, is seeped in myth and legend. Today it is best know for hosting the Llangollen International Music Festival in July, which brings in something like 120,000 visitors and turns the town into a vibrant international stage. As with so many ancient Welsh towns, it takes its name from its founding Saint; Collen, a seventh century saint. Llangollen was established in the 7th Century when The monk St. Collen was instructed to find a valley by riding a horse for one day and then stop and mark out a "parish" a place to build his hermitage or cell in the custom of the times, with tiny church, hospice and outhouses all enclosed within a wall.
Reading departure signs in some big airport