Outpost Magazine

WALES journey through Wales is like A waking up in a detective story. And in this episode we were travelling

with the genuine article. Our guide, WALES John Wake, had been a police officer for 27 years. He spent 23 of them as a detective in the Criminal Investiga- tion Division, and seven as head of the Drug Squad. Today, he’s an ex- pert on the legendary King Arthur. The figure of Arthur casts a warm glow over the medieval histo- ry of the United Kingdom. He lived at a time when knights dreamt of rescuing damsels and roamed the land for the love of a quest. Arthur formed the Round Camelo Table, a meeting place of equals, where he ruled over a Golden Age the likes of ncovered which we haven’t seen U since. Or did he...? What about dragons and magicians and gi- ants? What about the Holy Grail? Oh, they were just stories, you might say. Fables tacked on. Metaphors for some- thing else. But could you dismiss one while accepting the other? What’s the truth in all of this? Was there any truth, at all?

These pages: Tintern Abbey, Monmouthsire. Construction of the abbey began in AD 1131 and started to fall into ruin in the 16th century. hrough the mist-swept castles and lush Trolling hills of Wales, a literary lover sets on a quest for truth befitting a knight— Did King Arthur Ever Exist? Story by Ryan Murdock Photos by Simon Vaughan

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 44 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 45 Winter 2011|20122011|2012 That’s what my friend Simon already torpedoed our quest? I have to legends, in particular the Arthurian Arthur and Cadwaladr. the site of our next clue, I asked him WALES Vaughan and I have come to Wales to admit I was shaken. I’d grown up on tales. Experts today regard it as a work “Now have a look here. This is a about the Roman occupation. find out. We met detective John one stories of Arthur and his Knights, and of fiction, with a few facts sprinkled in. Victorian-era window, so it obviously “Did you know we’re driving on one morning over coffee at Cardiff’s Parc part of me still wanted to believe. And yet, Arthurian scholars still treat came much later and isn’t a histori- of their roads right now?” he said. “Pull

Thistle Hotel, and I asked him how he “So, was there a man behind the it as the one definitive text on the real cal source. But it depicts Arthur as into that parking lot on the right, just WALES developed his rather odd hobby. legend?” I asked. “Or was it all just an King Arthur. a Romano-Briton, which would have up there.” “It started as a fascination,” he said. elaborate fiction?” John Wake would have none of it. been correct.” The Romans left Britain The stone remains of a thick Roman “And then became an obsession. Now “Oh yes,” John said. “I believe there “You can’t pick and choose facts just in AD 410, and the Britons still hadn’t wall stood behind a beer garden, cov- it’s back to being a fascination again.” was a man. But he wasn’t the Arthur to support your case,” he said, jabbing come on the scene. “If Arthur did ex- ered in moss, with only a pile of rubbish An awful lot of people have written of these stories.” a finger into the air. “You can’t say ist, this is probably the type of clothing to mark the spot. We were standing about King Arthur. Academics have And so the three of us set out to Arthur set up his camp at Cadbury in he would have worn.” beside the ancient entry to the village fought over him, England has trans- uncover this person, this mysterious one chapter, and in the next, Merlin Despite Hollywood images and later of Caerwent, where the landscape still planted and claimed him, and a wide Arthur. And there were many digres- flew in on the wings of a dragon. The legends, suits of armour wouldn’t be held signs of what was once a very large range of tourist sites bill themselves as sions along the way. person who wrote that is not a cred- invented for many hundreds of years. market town. It spread across a broad the “real” burial place, and the place of ible witness. All of his testimony must John pointed to the man in the cen- bowl of land, and I could clearly trace the round table and battlefields. But no ur first stop was Llandaff be dismissed.” tre of the triad. “I believe Geoffrey’s the sweep of the wall that marked the one denies that the earliest references OCathedral, a 12th-century church By questioning Geoffrey, John was Arthur was the grandson of Tewdrig. distant limits of the settlement. This to Arthur come from Wales. The en- north of downtown Cardiff. John casting doubt on the one source of And that the fragments he used to was exactly the sort of place Arthur tire topic is so full of misinformation, briefed us on the case as we drove. Arthurian legend that is accepted as weave his fiction and tales were based and his contemporaries would have hidden agendas, personal interest and “There are a few things you a baseline by academic researchers. In on actual events and actual people who known in the centuries following the competing national myths that you’d guys have to know about Geoffrey the world of Camelot—Arthur’s mythi- lived. I’m going to show you exactly decline of Roman Britain. have to be a detective to figure it all of Monmouth,” he said, beginning cal kingdom where chivalry, peace and who I think they were.” It wouldn’t be the first such site we out. And that’s where John comes in. with the source of all King Arthur social justice reigned—this is serious Having set the stage with some stumbled across in Wales. This is a “Here’s my angle,” he said, cut- legends—and the most questionable business. And with that, we arrived at rather stunning stained-glass visuals, place where you can’t throw a stone ting straight to the core. “Would a witness in the entire case. “Geoffrey Llandaff, the first stop on our journey Detective John turned and walked without hitting a 13th-century church, particular fact make it into a court was commissioned to write his History through a confusion of fact, fiction and down the aisle. “Come on then. Our hilltop castle, or Roman site. Every of law? Not, would it by Robert of Gloucester, hidden agendas. next set of clues is a bit of a drive.” square foot of the land has a story to prove the case—but No one denies and the book is dedi- “This place has real historical con- tell, and in Wales, these legends are would it even make it cated to him.” nections,” John said, as we walked journey through Wales is like a right around the corner. Our investi- into court? If a story that the earliest Robert of Gloucester through the church’s moss-covered A conversation in a bar. It’s filled gation continued at the nearby site of or a piece of so-called was one of the powerful lich gate. “The first religious -com with digressions. You never really Meurig’s Well. proof doesn’t meet references to Anglo-Norman barons, munity here was established by stick to the point you thought you “You guys remember Tewdrig, the these criteria, I dis- Arthur come the so-called Marcher Saint Dubricius—St. Dyfrig in Welsh. were trying to make. And you never figure next to Arthur in the window miss it immediately. Lords, placed in control Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed Dyfrig know where you’ll end up, either. of Llandaff Cathedral?” John asked. It isn’t relevant to from Wales of the Welsh-English crowned King Arthur at a nearby It didn’t take us long to realize John “This place is connected to him. And the case.” border region at that Roman site called Caerleon. And Wake had a limitless ability to pull there are some very interesting paral- This was clearly a man with no pa- time. In other words, Geoffrey wrote Dyfrig was a real person. This places facts and odd places out of his hat like lels to the story told by Geoffrey of Top three: Gargoyles on the 12th-century tience for nonsense. his book for the ruling class of his day. Arthur in the correct time frame, if a conjurer pulling a rabbit. If there was Monmouth.” Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. “So, what do you think?” I asked, “You’ve got to remember that the he were real.” ever a Merlin in Wales, this man is it. Tewdrig was a famous 5th- to 6th- determined to appear even more hard- 12th century was a very corrupt time,” Our detective wasn’t the type to As we sped down the highway towards century king of the region of Gwent, boiled than ‘Detective Wake for The John continued. “The kings of Britain mess around with sightseeing. We an area on the Welsh border with Prosecution.’ Trust me, I know how to needed a back story, something to made our way straight down the England. He became a holy man in handle these things. legitimize their rule. And Geoffrey vast, echoing centre aisle to a small his later years, willingly abdicating “Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of wanted to please his patron.” apse tucked away near the altar. John his throne to his son, Meurig, and the Kings of Britain, written around His book chronicles the kings of the pointed to a stained-glass window retiring to a hermit’s life in the Wye AD 1136, introduced Arthur to the Britons from mythical Trojan origins showing three figures: Tewdrig, King world. There were a couple of obscure right up until the 7th century, when references to an Arthur in Welsh the Anglo-Saxons came on the scene. tracts before this, but they had no Geoffrey claimed to have based his resemblance to Geoffrey’s embellish- Arthur chapters on “a very ancient ments. Every other Arthur story is book in the British tongue.” A book based on the details of Monmouth’s which has never been found, or posi- fiction, and so everything that comes tively identified. Monmouth’s History after it is false.” was one of the most popular books in Wait a second: Monmouth’s fiction? the Middle Ages, particularly among We’d barely been in Cardiff a day and British monarchs like the Tudors. It a half, and this man with the nose of was accepted uncritically well into the The small country of Wales, with more than 600 King Arthur as depicted in a life-size wood a prize-fighter and glare that’d cut 16th century, and it inspired the work of castles ranging from full structures and ruins (like carving in “The Circle of Legends” near this one in Monmouthshire) to mere mounds, is Tintern Abbey. through a thousand false witnesses had many other writers who extended the considered the castle capital of the world.

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 46 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 47 Winter 2011|20122011|2012 River Valley near the present day site were many holy wells in 5th-century in 1881, they discovered the bones of “There’s an island just off shore Avalon to be healed of his wounds. At Meurig and grandson of Tewdrig—was WALES of Tintern Abbey. Wales. And there really was a well a very large man who died of a head called Flat Holm. A holy place. I that point, of course, Arthur disap- Geoffrey’s King Arthur.” It was a lot “Tyn-Deryn refers to Seat of the here for hundreds of years. I don’t wound. It doesn’t wrap up the case believe Tewdrig wanted to be buried pears into legend, perhaps to return more plausible than versions locating King in Welsh,” John tells us. “It’s a know why they replaced it with this on its own, but it would certainly be there.” John grabbed me by the shoul- when needed: the “Once and Future Arthur in England. Later most writ-

direct reference to Tewdrig. Geoffrey when it collapsed.” strong enough to make it into a court der and pulled me three steps down King,” as he is so often referred to ers based their stories on Geoffrey WALES would have seen the building of The old king died nearby, and of law.” the road. “In Meurig’s time, the sea in folklore. But things like that don’t of Monmouth’s book. And one writer Tintern Abbey in his own lifetime, and was buried beneath what is now St. We stepped out of the sacred would have been much closer than it is happen in real life. Bodies leave traces getting his information from another he would’ve been intimately familiar Tewdric’s Church in Mathern (Tewdric dimness, back into the today. In fact, it would have been just and stories leave trails. And so I think is not evidence. Geoffrey’s version is, with these stories.” The religious life being Tewdrig), our next stop on the gentle daylight road. beyond that house. And the route we might have just found our Avalon. indeed, the key to the mystery. But it’s was much to Tewdrig’s liking, but trail of clues. This was a very old site, The whole story we followed—from Tintern, to the John continued. “Meurig had a a key that works on an oblique angle. these were turbulent times. He was indeed. The churchyard wall was round sounded vaguely fa- village of Pwllmeyric and the well, son called Athrwys, who also went The rulers of the time needed a soon recalled to lead his old army rather than rectilinear, indicating that miliar, though I’d to Mathern Church—would have on to be king. This would have made plausible myth of ancestry to increase against an invading Saxon force. the existing 15th-century church had never heard of Tewdrig been the most direct route to the him the grandson of Tewdrig, and it their legitimacy. Even better if that “Tewdrig won the battle,” John said, been built over a much earlier Celtic before, and had no idea sea and Flat Holm Island.” explains why those two figures were ancestry included descent from an “but he was mortally wounded. His settlement. John led us straight to a what our detective was The hair stood up on the back of placed together in the window of original hero. John Wake believes son Meurig carried him here, to this plaque on the wall near the altar. leading to. my arm. The parallels to Geoffrey’s Llandaff Cathedral.” Geoffrey created the story of Arthur spot, where he washed the dying king’s “We have a plausible evidence trail “So why did Meurig legend of Arthur were unmistak- Each element of the original from known people and places. He wounds in a spring.” John pointed to pointing to the fact that Tewdrig bring his father here to able: a final epic battle where the Arthur story was falling into place. added spice from real locations and a coffin-shaped concrete box where really was buried here. The name of die?” he asked—rhetori- hero, a great king, was mortally John fixed us with a glare that would established Welsh legends, and he stagnant water trickled through a pile the nearby town in Welsh is “Merthyr cally, really. Court was in wounded; and a dying king taken wilt a hardened criminal. “I think wove in the propaganda of his patrons. of fading litter. Teryn”—Martyred King. And when session, and I sensed he by sea to the magical island of this man—this local chieftain, son of Exactly the way any present day “It’s now called Meurig’s Well. There the floor of this church was dug up was going in for the kill.

Construction on St. David’s Cathedral began in AD 1131 and became a focal point for pilgrims from all over Europe.

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 48 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 49 Winter 2011|20122011|2012 novelist builds a work of fiction. You the family legend, and built what is Baskerville Hall wasn’t the only WALES write what you know, and you draw perhaps his darkest Sherlock Holmes place John Wake pulled a Merlin, and characters from real life. tale around it. But the novel was ac- conjured up images from my childhood. It fit my own experience as a writer. tually set on Dartmoor in Devon—in We made another roadside stop that

And the evidence trail was based on England’s west country. day, at a ruin called The White Castle, WALES verifiable facts. But several important “I’ve heard two different stories to hidden down a narrow winding detour questions remained unanswered. And explain it,” John said. “One was that just off our Arthur route. so, on we went. the family asked him not to set it here It started as so many of John’s stories because they didn’t want notoriety and did. “Would you guys like to see an out ur journey through Wales was uninvited guests.” of the way castle no one ever goes to?” Oa walk through the landscape “If that’s the case, then why use their And we were off chasing the thread of of my childhood imagination. It was name?” I asked. another unexpected adventure. like travelling through the fragments “Exactly,” he said. “It’s not very plau- Set on a low hill not far from the mid- of dreams barely remembered, with sible. The other story, which I believe, Wales village of Llantillo Crossenny, a constant haze of déjà vu hovering is that Conan Doyle’s editors advised The White Castle might just be the over my shoulder. him to move the location to England area’s best kept secret. The outer The day after tracing the story because no reader would be interested bailey is largely intact and the main of Tewdrig, we were driving to the in a story set in Wales.” He turned to fortification—six round towers joined town of Hay-on-Wye, site of a famous Simon and said with a wink, “Another by a high curtain wall—is surrounded literary festival, and home to more example of you English stealing our by a deep moat complete with wooden used bookstores than any place on the stories for your own use.” drawbridge. Judging by the state of the planet. It was a selfish detour forced I think the truth remains, it never suf- by myself with threat of pen-point, and might have had more “You’ve got to fered the demolition not even Arthur himself could stand in to do with landscape. visited on most Welsh our way. Conversation naturally shifted Baskerville Hall was remember that castles after various to books, and that’s when John pulled imposing but it didn’t civil wars and revolts. Retired police detective John Wake, the 12th century another one of his conjuring tricks. standing on the remains of a Roman wall. lack warmth, and the Despite its military “Did you guys know Baskerville Hall rolling green beauty was a very purpose, the castle is in Wales?” of the Welsh hills was corrupt time,” was a peaceful place I nearly slammed on the brakes, and the farthest thing one protected by birdsong. I heard Simon’s jaw hit the back seat could imagine from John continued. I climbed the stone and bounce off. murder and evil deeds. steps of the gatehouse “Yeah, it’s only a few miles from here. At least, it looked that “The Kings of tower, where the sun We can go if you like.” way from the front. A Britain needed warmed a summer- Wales was proving to be one bizarre caretaker tipped us off vacation scent into surprise after another. We were both to a cluster of graves a back story, the air. On the grass avid fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s on a forested hill something of the outer bailey, Sherlock Holmes, and The Hound of the behind the Hall. One three children were Baskervilles scared the bejeezus out of of the older stones to legitimize completely absorbed me the first time I read it. It didn’t take read: “Our well loved in an inner adventure long to locate the gate. As we pulled in little doggie, Died 23rd their rule. And of their own. the long winding drive and made our January 1838.” Could Geoffrey wanted “Okay, you be Lord way towards the manor house, Simon this be the grave of the Voldemart. And I’m spotted a man walking a little white dreaded hound? to please his Hermione.” Yorkshire terrier. Even by day the patron” In my day it would “My God, it’s the hound!” he cried, forest cast a strange have been knights and a fit of giggling nearly sent us gloom. The hillside was alive with in armour—today, it’s Harry Potter. careening into some sheep. Baskerville shadows, and the emptiness of the path I was struck by how naturally they Hall has been transformed into a tickled our backs with phantom eyes took these props for granted. They hotel, but the atmosphere could have as we crouched beside the little circle didn’t just have imagination, they had been copied from the book. The coat of of stones. At night this would feel like a castle to set it in. For a brief mo- arms above the door showed a hound’s a very different place. The three of ment The White Castle transported head with a spear driven through us vowed to return here next year to me back to vacation days spent next to it, and blood dripping from the end. investigate the legend—and to read an open window reading Enid Blyton’s Inside, the massive double staircase The Hound of the Baskervilles in the Famous Five stories. I dreamed of high and cavernous entry hall were true to very house that inspired it. By night, adventure and my very own ruined Conan Doyle’s description. The author of course, with the wind moaning low castle on a private island in a lake. Of knew the Baskervilles well, and was a and a sound in the forest of footsteps course, The Famous Five novels weren’t The medieval White Castle, constructed in the 11th century and originally known as Llantilio regular visitor to the house. He’d heard Castle, was renamed when the structure’s outer walls were whitewashed in the 13th century. coming closer. set in Wales. But it didn’t matter.

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 50 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 51 Winter 2011|20122011|2012 The landscape and ancient stones For a moment I pictured Wales ales was magnificent in its WALES conjured up the visions just the same. as a place of watery maidens who Wtreats. We explored the remote Simon and John climbed the spent their time chucking swords at ruin of Carreg Cennen Castle, on tower to survey the defences and passing knights. its windswept limestone crag, and

earthworks, and our conversation “The ancient Celts worshipped wandered through the perfect speci- WALES once again turned to King Arthur. water,” he continued. “They placed men of Kidwelly Castle, haunted “The seeds of Geoffrey’s story their weapons in lakes as offerings. by doves and the camera click of make sense,” I said. “But there are It was such a common practice. tourists. And as the pennants of still unanswered questions that Lake beds are actually one of the forgotten armies snapped in the trouble me. Merlin, for example. best places to find those sorts of breeze, the soaring battlements Where did he come from?” artifacts.” He laughed at the clear always brought our conversation “Geoffrey again,” John replied. disappointment on our faces. “Sorry back to Arthur. “There was a wizard, a sort guys. You won’t find any cute girls in If what John Wake uncovered was of prophet and madman, these lakes.” true—and both Simon and I believed who lived in the 6th century The sword in the stone is an it was—then what value does Arthur and became a figure in me- easy legend to trace, said John. In have today? Can we still accept him if dieval Welsh legends. He Arthurian legend, a sword (called the entire story is founded on a lie, a was called Myrddin Wyllt Excalibur) had been magically complete myth? So many writers built in our language—Merlinus embedded in a stone, and only the on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account Caledonensis. No connection true-born king could retrieve it. of what Wake calls “the world’s first at all to Arthur, of course. That king, of course, was Arthur. superhero.” And each author added Geoffrey made it all up. He “Stones were used as molds to cast strands of their own. would have grown up on metal,” John said. “The molten liquid The Norman-French poet Maistre these stories, and he used was poured into the mold and allowed Wace (circa AD 1155) added the Round them as material like so to harden. Of course it would have Table. Chretien de Troyes added much else.” taken a strong man to pull it free!” chivalry and courtly romance. Robert “What about the Lady in In his book Geoffrey had once de Boron developed the quest for the the Lake? Excalibur, and all again drawn his details from the Holy Grail, bringing these tales into that?” Simon asked. practices of the times, padding out a Christian era. And Thomas Malory, “They find old swords his narrative for authenticity just as in his Le Morte d’Arthur, pulled all the in lakes all the time!” any good novelist would do. The key, threads together into a complete nar- John replied. “They’re once again, was stories. And it’s a key ration. Victorian writers like Walter a dime a dozen.” that’s particularly Welsh. Scott and Tennyson had their say, too.

You can’t throw a stone without hitting a 13th-century church, hilltop castle, or Roman site. Every square foot of the land has a story to tell, and in Wales, these legends are

right around the corner Kidwelly Castle dates back to the 12th century and although it boasts a long and colourful history, today it is perhaps best known by some as the castle from the opening scenes of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 52 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 53 Winter 2011|20122011|2012 Ryan surveys Three Cliffs Bay from the 12th–century Pennard Castle,a popular spot for Dylan Thomas to reflect. WALES WALES

Left: Ancient flags and standards hanging in Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. Right: The tombs inside Llandaff Cathedral include that of St. Dyfrig who crowned King Arthur.

They painted on a layer of their own inspired me to see my life in larger “You can’t have a tale of wizards and ideals and values, using the chivalric terms. To go out and do things that dragons and mystical kings without past to educate the present. Today these frightened me. And to hold firm to my mist, fog and hidden valleys. The land- legends of wizards and knights serve an truths, no matter what fantastic mon- scape of these legends is the landscape age intent on escapism and fantasy. sters I encountered along the way. of Wales. It is Wales.” The story of Arthur transcended its In the end it doesn’t matter if Arthur And that, I think, is the constant place in the kingdom of Gwent, at first was a small Romano-British chieftain, here. The green rolling hills, the torn- intentionally, when it was co-opted by or the Once and Future King. It’s the off coast, the music of place names, ru- Cwmdonkin Drive the English to enhance the lineage of story that’s important, and what it ined castles and Roman hill forts, and At his childhood home in Swansea, the spirit of Welsh poet their kings, and later unintentionally. teaches us about ourselves. above all the mist which conceals and Each writer placed Arthur in his own transforms. These things are constant. time, and projected his own ideas and e came to Wales in search of the Everything else, pliable. Dylan Thomas Comes to Life values onto the characters. And, I be- Wman behind King Arthur, but Wales taught me that the future lieve, it’s that essence—that story—that we found so much more: friendship, is vague and uncertain, but the past Story by Ryan Murdock Photos by Simon Vaughan really holds the key. childhood memories, mystery, and is fluid. Events from the past are not John Wake summed up my feelings many layers of the past. On the last just cold hard facts, because we can tories have always been important Despite the strong development of his word usage was intimidating on it precisely: “The way the entire night of our trip we shared a pint interpret them. And, quite simply, they Sto the Welsh people. They linked of prose storytelling traditions, the and sometimes difficult to approach. narrative developed tells us more with John Wake in a quiet Cardiff change over time. 5place names together, and served as Welsh did make a major contribution He was also a poet whose facade of about the times in which the author pub. We’d covered a lot of ground a reminder of the legends connected to English language poetry that chal- unruly drunkenness could overshadow lived, than the era referred to.” together, and that, in itself, seemed ong a lover of literature and to them. The longer we travelled, the lenged the way we manipulate and the importance and uniqueness of his The Arthur of legend doesn’t have to to be the final clue. Ltravel, Ryan Murdock is more it seemed like every square foot use words. Or rather, a particular work. So much of his life is shrouded be real—any more than the protagonist “How much does all this have to do Outpost’s editor-at-large for Europe of ground had something to tell us. Welshman did. His name was Dylan in myth that it’s difficult to see the of your favourite novel does. For me, with landscape?” I asked him. “Not just and requisite book reviewer. His boyhood Welsh literature is unusual in another Thomas. person behind it. it’s always been a story of adventures the story of Arthur, but all of these fantasy at playing knight morphed into sense: its construction. According to We took time out from our Arthurian Thanks to John Wake, we were able and castles and saving the girl. I didn’t stories?” a manhood fascination with martial Sioned Davies, Chair of Welsh at Cardiff investigation to visit sites associated to visit the house at 5 Cwmdonkin care about grails and Christianity—and “It’s terribly important,” he said, arts, which he teaches to...undisclosed University, verse was not used for ex- with Thomas’s life. For writers, it’s a Drive, Swansea, where Thomas spent especially not chastity. Instead, Arthur setting his glass carefully on a coaster. clients...at undisclosed locations. tended narratives in Medieval Wales. sort of pilgrimage. the first 23 years of his life, and where “The preferred medium, unlike most To me, Thomas has always been a he wrote two-thirds of his published Indo-European countries, was prose.” monumental figure. The originality work. The home has been carefully

Thomas was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Ryan gazes through Drive, Swansea in 1914 and the window that remained in the house with his inspired some of parents until he was a young man. Thomas’s best poems It was here that he wrote many of his best-known works

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 54 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 55 Winter 2011|20122011|2012 restored to its 1914 condition by cur- so simple to Thomas then, before the WALES rent owners Annie and Geoff Haden. coming of fame and admirers, and the Outposting “It isn’t the original furniture, of struggle to support a legend no one course,” Annie told us. “But we spoke could have lived up to. with the Thomas’s cleaning lady and Walking through these scenes of Full Name: Wales (Welsh: Cymru) tried to get the same type of furniture, Thomas’s early years humanized him in • Location: Western Europe, in the same places, and the same co- a way a biography never could. I began southwest British Isles, bordered by lours on the walls. She cried the first to relate to his life, and it opened a new England to the east and surrounded by time she came here because it was so gateway into his work. It was another the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea close to what she remembered.” of Wales’s unexpected gifts. Annie showed us the room at the • Capital: Cardiff (Caerdydd) front of the house where Thomas was • Area: Land, 20,540 sq. km; water, born, and the tiny bedroom where he 259 sq. km spent so many nights dreaming up his lyrical verse. But the greatest surprise • Population: 3,006,430 (2010 est.) awaited me at the back of the house, • Ethnicity: Caucasian, 95.9%; Asian, from a window in his parent’s room. 1.8%; other 2.3% When I leaned my elbows on the • Languages: English and Welsh sill and put my nose against the glass, (both official) the row houses at the bottom of the hill formed a level horizon against the • Religion: Christian (mostly waters of Swansea Bay, revealing the Presbyterian, Anglican, Roman origin of that strange line in Thomas’s Catholic), 72%; no religion, 18.5%; poem about boats bobbing across the undefined, 8.1%; non-Christian (primarily Islam), 1.5% rooftops. (Welsh: Cymru) “No one could figure out where in • Currency: Pound Sterling (GBP) Wales the house it was written until we found • Time Zone: GMT/UTC+0 this window,” Annie said. “It had been Ryan sits at a desk in Thomas’s childhood home blocked up by later tenants, but one • Climate: Wales has a maritime Auto rentals in the U.K. are pricey, as is fuel, so book Known as the castle capital of the world, Wales day a piece of plaster fell out. It was climate, characterized by rain, wind in advance. Also, be aware that most vehicles have is perfect for castle-hopping. Cardiff Castle has me- like the house wanted it to be found.” and overcast skies. An extensive manual transmission, and that you must be 21 dieval charm and offers visitors a Welsh banquet fit The key to so many of Thomas’s coastline, which brings in warm years-old to rent a car. While driving from London to for a king. Less than 12 kilometres north, Caerphilly The town of Hay-on-Wye in Powys is referred images came to life there, in a middle Atlantic currents, and a hilly terrain can Cardiff takes almost three hours, the Welsh-English Castle is another must-see. The largest in Wales, it to as the world’s largest bookstore because of its annual literary festival and its many bookshops class neighbourhood on a steep hill in cause daily fluctuations and localised border is less an hour from Manchester. is purportedly the home of the Ghost of the Green what he called his “ugly lovely town.” The key to so many of differences in temperatures, which The region’s extensive rail system, which con- Lady—Princess Alice of Angoulême. The next morning Simon and I hiked Thomas’s images came to overall are balmy and mild year-round. nects major U.K. destinations with hubs in Wales, is Wales’s rugged terrain and cliffs lend themselves out to Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower life there, in a middle class also a great option. Operated by First Great Western, to many an adventure, including coasteering, an Peninsula, where a broad sand beach neighbourhood on a steep When to Go: the London-Cardiff line takes two hours, while extreme-sport that involves scrambling over rocks, is guarded by a triple-pointed crag of Though there isn’t a distinguishable wet or dry Arriva trains from Manchester to North Wales take jumping off sea-cliffs and swimming through nar- rock. We climbed the hill to the ruins hill in what he called his season, October to January are generally the wettest an hour. If more a seafarer, consider the ferry from row bays. There are three national parks, including of Pennard Castle, where we talked “ugly lovely town” months. The best time for water sports like kayaking Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Rosslare and Cork, Ireland. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the only coastal about life and literature just as Thomas is early spring (December to March), when levels in Getting Around one in Britain, found along the rocky western shore. and his friends did in a vanished age of inland waterways are higher. April and May are per- Travelling by car is most ideal in Wales. Buses are Brecon Beacons National Park has dozens of country bygone lives. The only thing we didn’t fect for trekking and walking the Welsh countryside. well priced, but driving at your own pace offers the inns, such as Peterstone Court, an 18th-century have was a bottle. With the sunniest weather, July and August tend to best opportunity to explore Wales’s rural heartland. Georgian manor in the Welsh countryside—perfect The wind blew across the sand and be the peak travel season, but May and September The winding back roads are great for cycling, as for walking, trekking and horseback riding. Further ruffled the tendrils of a textbook oxbow are also climatically inviting. they’re often wide open and accompanied by strik- north, scale Snowdon—the highest mountain in river far below, carrying with it the Getting There ing backdrops of limestone crags. Travelling by train, the British Isles outside of Scotland—at Snowdonia Thomas’s grave smell of horses. I thought about how The only international airport in Wales is in Cardiff. however, offers the unique experience of traversing National Park. in Laugharne many times I did the same thing in my While there are no direct flights from Canada, most the Welsh highlands by heritage lines—steam A visit to the Llechwedd Slate Caverns, in small-town youth. major airlines, including Air Canada, Delta and trains, tramways and cliff-side railways. Gwynedd County, is a must. Explore inside the Like Thomas, my friends and I KLM, offer flights with stopovers in European cities What to See and Do Welsh mountains via an underground slate mine sometimes hiked to a quiet spot and sat through their affiliates. Famed for its rich Celtic history, Wales boasts a that has been active since 1836. When you’re back up all night, sharing secrets in gentle A more affordable and scenic option is to fly into distinctive blend of old-world nuance and modern on land, hop aboard the Ffestiniog Railway as it voices and talking about how one day England, then travel overland to Wales. Air Transat experiences for the 21st-century traveller. In Cardiff, chugs along the steep gradients of the Cambrian we would escape this life that caged us. has several flights each week to Manchester and try the Centenary Walk—a 3.6-kilometre route Coast. Split by tumbling rivers and dramatic ravines, We burned with a desire to journey into London—both of which have excellent highways that weaves across the city and follows its grandeur this rocky western fringe has seascapes that are The bedroom where Thomas gazed across the a wider world we hadn’t even begun DiSilvestre Elizabeth Illustration, Map AsadSiddiqui; By that lead into North and South Wales, respectively. through cathedrals and medieval marketplaces. uniquely Welsh. rooftops and watch the ships on the sea to understand. Life must have looked

2011|20122011|2012 Winter 56 www.outpostmagazine.com www.outpostmagazine.com 57 Winter 2011|20122011|2012