August 9

I’d had a couple of dud hotel-picks the first two nights and was a bit flat by day 3. I thought “I don’t want to get the wrong impression of the quality of the Welsh tourism offering” – so I downloaded the Michelin guide and looked for the best restaurant within range. I headed to Eglwysfach for lunch at Ynyshir Hall.

I was suspicious about how good this would be as I crawled along a narrow gravel road looking for the house – but I perked up when I arrived into the beautiful gardens of Ynyshir Hall. I had one of the most wonderful lunches of my life here; and after looking at some of their rooms I can tell you that I’d drive 5 hours from London to eat and stay here.

The drive from Eglwysfach to Anglesey though the Snowdonia National Park has to be one of the most beautiful drives the world has to offer. Alarming at times in a big car as the road is so narrow. There are many places you can’t pass. Or if you can it’s only by the hair of your chinny chin chin. And returning Mr Avis’s car with The Stink is one thing – but gouged sides from the strong stone walls on either side of most of this very narrow road would be a whole other issue.

In Anglesey it was the Anglesey Show. I went to the pub and met a fun group of people. In this part of Wales English is firmly their second language. I was to learn that 25% of the 3m people of Wales speak Welsh, but 550,000 speak it as their first language. I spoke to many people of my age who regretted not paying it enough attention at school. Some have now decided to send their kids to Welsh schools, where all the classes are taught in Welsh. This was the case with the group of mid-twenties people I met.

The Welsh are proud. Their flag is the Welsh flag. The Union Jack is the flag of the government as in Northern Ireland. It led me to wonder if the people of Northern Ireland needed a new flag; their own flag – a flag that unites both Protestant and Catholic with a national pride like the Welsh have.

For me Wales is the land of the unpronounceable – from Bwlchgwyn to Ysbyty Ystwyth. Lots of Welsh town-names are devoid of vowels – the handy little things that make English words work,

Did you know Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a town? Yes, that’s a town – and that’s its real name and it’s the longest town-name in the world and it’s just near Anglesey. It means Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.

Wales. It’s the first place I’ve seen in the UK with a big open sky like in Australia. The West Coast and the North are immensely beautiful and it’s full of sometimes shy, but proud, hard-working and well-meaning people.

I look forward to returning.