Mar
11

Why you shouldn’t believe walking holiday reviews from Visit Wales

..you should ask real walkers instead (image: the ancient brit)

So here is the official line….

“Walking holidays in Wales are great. We’ve got thigh-tremblingly steep mountain walks and gentle coastal strolls, gloriously muddy nature trails for children, and craggy cliff tops for grownups who are looking to blow off a few cobwebs. There’s something for everyone.”

‘OK thats fine….’  we hear you say

‘But I get the same PR blurb from other UK Walking destinations, whats so special about Wales?’ We asked ourselves the same question.

Is Wales truly a great place to go for a Walking break ?

So we did what any customer should do, we went online and looked for real reviews of real walking holidays, by real people who love walking.

We were pleasantly surprised. We have picked out some stories for you that mix great walking with a bit of local culture and folklore. We hope that you will seek out some more for yourself.

Story #1 London Escapees

Chris and Anna from New Zealand share their experience of a weekend walking the Brecon Beacons and a hike to the book-lovers paradise of Hay-On-Wye:

After a ridiculously big breakfast the next day, we set off to find the start of the waterfalls loop near Ystradfellte. We decided against the 6.4km loop of the falls and choose to add on a 15.3 km route that included a few more falls and an area of moor land. This was a fantastic walk that covered so many different types of terrain and had a pub conveniently located at the half way point!

Story #2  Walking in the footsteps of Merlin

This lady spent a great day walking in Snowdonia National Park and discovered both giant artwork and the home of an Arthurian legend.

Legend has it that Merlin spent a lot of time at the fort…… in fact he lived there for a while. The ground is quite sacred! It was also the scene of a battle between the White Dragon of England and the Red Dragon of Wales – the Red Dragon won hence the Welsh flag!

These boots are made for walking. And having a nice sit down too.

Story #3  Journey to the Ogres Tomb

Neddy and her friends braved the Snowdon Horseshoe ridge walk on a birthday weekend for her younger brother, and found more Arthurian legends waiting for them at the top.

Mt Snowden is the tomb of Rhita Gawr, an ogre who would kill kings and make cloaks out of their beards – lovely. (Apparently the ogre was defeated when King Arthur climbed to the top of Mount Snowdon and killed him – I am not sure if this was before or after his encounter with the Lady of the Lake, which is also meant to have happened here).

It wasn’t all myth and magic for Neddy, but the Horseshoe route is great for those looking for a challenge!

The walk is officially graded as a ‘Grade 1 ‘Scramble”. What is a ’scramble’? A ’scramble’ is essentially, a ‘walk’ that lies between a walk and a rock climbing. Scrambles are graded from 1 (easiest) to 3 (hardest), but a basic requirement of all of them is that the ascent requires use of your hands (for more than just balance). If only I had known this before I dismissed the ‘hard’ ranking with a flippant ‘Hard? Schmard.’

Got any reviews to share? We would love to hear from you.