January 12, 2001
This is a lovely little castle town you'd imagine in a children's storybook. Pretty as it is, the story of the mighty castles in this land are not always so. They were constructed to show the Welsh the dominating force of the English when they came in. In fact, this whole town was created to support the castle put here to land lock the one part of Wales where the Welsh could last be free: the near by snow covered mountain area appropriately called Snowdownia.
Unfortunately even today the Welsh are pushed off in a corner and the butt of most English racial humor. The nature lovers are the exception and will tell you the best hiking in the Southern UK is in Wales.
UPDATE: At the present time, walking in the UK countryside has been forbidden due to the fear of carrying the Foot and Mouth disease from farm to farm.