Wales:
Timeless
tradition

I believe my loved ones and I found the best possible way to see Wales.

In a rented narrowboat, 6 feet wide and 60 feet long, we traveled the historic system of canals built for transport during the Industrial Revolution. It’s deliciously slow and the perfect way to meet the Welsh. There are locks and drawbridges that you crank open and closed, countless tunnels, great pubs and lushly pretty countryside. At one point, the canal funnels into a narrow channel and crosses a thrilling 120 feet above the river valley below.

The Welsh have managed to maintain a strong cultural identity. At the Eisteddfod, a national festival of music, poetry and arts, only Welsh is spoken. It’s a mysterious-sounding language and nearly impossible for the unaccustomed tongue. The “Crowning of the Bard” ceremony was an awesome example of history and tradition lovingly brought into the present. Although I couldn’t understand the words, I was lost in the pageantry and pride of the experience.