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NORTH WALES-The Celtic Connection

Three-days / Two Nights

This tour departs from Dublin and can be combined with our four-day Classic Southern Ireland or Heart of Ireland tours, or with both!

Breathtaking is a word that is used far too often in describing tourist destinations.  However, it was probably first used to describe Snowdonia! This North Wales Explorer is the perfect complement, and a wonderful way of completing your Irish tours. It is doubtful where there’s a single other region in the whole of the British Isles that packs so many attractions into so relatively small an area. On your full three days you’ll experience over 5000 years of history, seeing prehistoric tombs, Roman remains, 12^th century castles, steam trains slate mines and even a Victorian gaol. Then there’s the scenery; mountains, waterfalls, lakes and dramatic coastline.  And the final gloss is provided by the people themselves and their local culture. They are descended from the original inhabitants of the British Isles and you’ll hear Europe’s second oldest language still be spoken as the primary means of communication.

If this description of the region excites you and you think you’d enjoy a longer stay the see our 4-day tour, Wales: Moutains & Lakes, that departs from Manchester.

DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR 2008

Tour Code	Departs Dublin	Returns Dublin
SNOW	Wednesday	Friday
SNOW 01	30 Apr	02 May
SNOW 02	14 May	16 May
SNOW 03	28 May	30 May
SNOW 04	11 Jun	13 Jun
SNOW 05	25 Jun	27 Jun
SNOW 06	09 Jul	11 Jul
SNOW 07	23 Jul	25 Jul
SNOW 08	06 Aug	08 Aug
SNOW 09	20 Aug	22 Aug
SNOW 10	03 Sep	05 Sep
SNOW 11	17 Sep	19 Sep
SNOW 12	01 Oct	03 Oct
SNOW 13	15 Oct	17 Oct

Cost: $789 USD per person in a twin share room. Single $849 USD

What your tour price includes: Your accommodation for 2 nights while on the tour including both full breakfasts and dinners. Your price also includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide.

Airport transfers and accommodation pre and post tour is not included but can be reserved at a specially discounted price.

Tentative Itinerary

Day One Wednesday

A very early morning ferry return takes us across the Irish Sea to Ynys Mon, known in English as the Isle of Anglesey, and part of Wales.  You’ll be met at the ferry terminus in Holyhead, by our Back-Roads touring vehicle.

This ancient and mystic island offers an astounding wealth of attractions including prehistoric burial chambers and monuments, Celtic and Viking settlements, fabulous flora and fauna, to the village with the World’s longest name; Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerchwyrndrobwllllandysilliogogogoch,

There’s the fabulously pretty harbour of Beaumaris with its Victorian gaol (it has the only working tread wheel in Britain), a magnificent 12^th Century Norman castle, and a Roman Army museum, in addition to a 900 year old pub!

The island’s geography is a natural haven for birds, with its wildly contrasting variety of sheer cliffs, sheltered coves, estuaries, dunes, heaths, wetlands, lakes and woodlands. Along the coast you will discover major breeding colonies of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, terns and cormorants – among many other species. Spring and summer turn the Isle of Anglesey into a giant rock garden, carpeted with flowers of every hue. Seal colonies are a common sight on the rockier stretches of the coastline, whilst dolphins can sometimes be glimpsed from shore.

We’ll spend the full day exploring this unique corner of the British Isles and see its Irish connections including  St Patrick's church and cave, one of the oldest Christian sites in Wales, possibly dating from 440 AD, and from where it is said Patrick set off to Ireland.

Finally, we cross the Menai Straits to Bangor on the Wales mainland by Thomas Telford’s famed suspension bridge – a wonder of the age of the industrial revolution.

Accommodation: Conwy

Day Two Thursday

Snowdonia: A leisurely day absorbing the stunning mountain scenery of the Snowdonia National Park. The National Park covers 823 square miles of the most beautiful and unspoilt countryside in northwest Wales. Snowdonia has some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in England and Wales with Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) in the North and Cadair Idris in the South. In all there are more than 90 summits over 2,000 feet and 15 0ver 3,000. Inevitable, set amidst the sheep covered hills, there are waterfalls, mountain lakes and fairy glens to discover.

In addition to stunning scenery the area abounds with sites evocative of Celtic myth and legend unsurprising in a region where over 65% speak the ancient Welsh language as their first tongue. This is home to the legend of the two dragons; the white symbolising the Saxons and the red, the Britons. According to the legend, the two dragons fought; the red was victorious, and was adopted as the symbol of what was to become the Welsh nation. Again according to legend, King Arthur was the first to carry the red dragon into battle, and there are many stories about Arthur's life and death associated with Snowdonia.

Then there are the slate mines, the woollen mills, and mountain villages such as Betws-y-Coed, Llanrwst, Beddgelert. There are early Christian sites where Welsh princes lie buried, castles built by original Welsh princes (before the English came…), and no visit would be complete without a ride on one or Wales’s great little trains – narrow gauge steam railways with a history spanning well over 100 years. All of them have in common the charm of old-time steam trains with plenty of polished paintwork and brass.

Accommodation: Conwy

Day Three Friday

Towns and villages along the North Wales coastline is the subject of today’s visit.

Edward I built a ring of mighty castles in the 1300s to subjugate the Welsh tribes. We’ll visit Caernarfon and the walled town of Conwy as amongst the best examples. Then there’s the elegant Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno with its lovely promenade and pier.  We’ll take a train to the top of the Great Orme, and enjoy a spectacular view. Finally, we’ll visit the famed Bodnant Garden. Covering over 80 acres, Bodnant Garden is one of the finest gardens in Britain, let alone Wales, with magnificent rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias in the spring followed by herbaceous borders, roses and water lilies in the summer and good colour in the autumn.

Alas, we must depart and take an afternoon ferry returning to Dublin.

Note: Those returning to Dublin can join the four-day ‘Heart of Ireland -The Midlands, Galway and Aran Isles’ tour, departing on Saturdays.

This tour also combines with UK tour of England’s Viking North departing Manchester on Saturdays. Tour participants wishing to join this will not return to Dublin but take the 60-minute train journey to Manchester from Llandudno.

This tour also combines with our ‘In Search of Arthur: Dorset, Devon and Cornwall tour’ departing Saturdays from London. Participants will take a mid-afternoon train to London from North Wales on Friday.

This tour is operated by Back-Roads Touring Co Ltd