Geography
Wales has over 1,200 km of coastline, including the famous rocky coastline of Pembrokeshire. It's more a land of valleys and hills than high mountains. The country's highest peak is Mount Snowdon in the north-west at 1,085 metres. And the valleys abound with rivers and lakes. But it's also home to some 50 islands - many of them uninhabited. The largest is Anglesey in the north-west. The main river is the Severn, which rises in the Cambrian Mountains (linked to the Brecon Beacons) and crosses the whole of western England. At 354 km, it is the largest river in the UK.
The Snowdonia massifs are thought to be between 400 and 600 million years old. Snowdon is thought to be the result of an underwater eruption, and the area has been covered several times by water. There are numerous slate mines in the area, the result of lateral pressure exerted on the Silurian rocks.
When it comes to climbing Mount Snowdon, one rule prevails: beware of the weather. Fog can roll in very quickly, and temperatures at the summit are at least 5°C lower than in the valley.
To the south, the Brecon Beacons region offers many rolling hills, traces of ancient mountains whose rocks have been eroded. Numerous coal mines are to be found in the region, as the geological past of the area has allowed the deposition of sediments and the transformation of biomass (particularly plant organic matter such as forest residues).
National parks with legends
Agriculture has completely shaped the Welsh landscape, with fields and meadows abounding for sheep, cows and horses. The challenge today is to reduce fossil fuel emissions while protecting farmers and breeders.
The Welsh classification of natural areas includes three NationalParks and fiveAreas of Out standing Natural Beauty (AONB). Strict rules apply to the construction of roads and houses. The three national parks are: Brecon Beacons, Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia Park.
Created in 1957, Brecon Beacons National Park offers magnificent low mountain scenery. The Brecon Beacons wilderness boasts forests, rare trees, lakes, moorland and scattered flocks of sheep. And in 2013, Brecon Beacons Park became an International Dark Sky Reserve!
Within Brecon Beacons is the Fforest Fawr Geopark, established in 2005 as the country's first Geopark. These are unified geographical areas, where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed according to an overall concept of protection, education and sustainable development.
This is also where you'll find Llyn Cwm Llwch. This lake is at the heart of a beautiful legend, that of an enchanted island invisible from the coast. A passage leading to a rock is said to open every May1, and those brave enough to pass through the door will find themselves in a magnificent garden populated by fairies. The fairies play enchanting music, tell tales of events past and future, and offer visitors exquisite flowers and fruit. No one is allowed to leave the island with these offerings... But one May1st, a visitor stole a flower and left with it. Once off the island, the flower disappeared and the man lost all his senses. Since then, the gate has never reopened. But Lake Llyn Cwm Llwch is also a glacial lake, the best preserved in the south of the country. A glacial lake is a lake formed in a hollow by glacier erosion.
For anecdote and movie buffs, in the film Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, the entrance to the Batcave is located at Henrhyd Falls. These are the park's largest waterfalls.
Snowdonia Park
Mountaineers gather at Snowdonia National Park. Yr Wyddfa or Snowdon is Britain's highest peak, towering 1,085 metres above the nearby sea. The magnificent landscape is deeply marked by forests, lakes and waterfalls. But if mountaineers are said to congregate here, it's also because the area has repeatedly been used as a training ground for teams preparing to tackle Everest. It all began with Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer and the first man to climb Everest and both poles, in 1958.
Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) took an early interest in mountaineering and, from 1946 onwards, climbed several peaks in Europe. And Mount Snowdon has some great cliffs and walls to climb. In short, it was the perfect place for Edmund Hillary, who made the park his training base in 1952. On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay became the first men to reach the roof of the world.
Finally, like so many Welsh places, the area is the stuff of legends. Glaslyn, a lake in the park, is said to be the final resting place of a sea monster: the Afanc. The monster once lived in the River Conwy, but one day, for some unknown reason, became aggressive and frightening. The valley's inhabitants, tormented by the monster and unable to kill it, decided to bait it with a young girl and take her to this lake, in the heart of Snowdonia Park.
In addition to the three national parks, Wales has five natural areas of outstanding beauty. This designation was introduced to "promote the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty, to advance public education, understanding and appreciation of the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty" and to promote the organizations that care for them. The five areas are: Isle of Anglesey, Clwydian Range, Gower Peninsula, Llyn and Wye Valley.
