| Countryside Wales UK |
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Featured Article
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A Walk in the Park by Roger Thomas
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"Everything from high peaks to huge beaches, wooded valleys to open hillsides..."
For a nation of co-called couch potatoes, we don't do too badly. Walking is now - officially - our number-one leisure and activity pastime, with millions taking to the woods, hills, mountains and seashore for a bit of outdoor therapy.
It's not surprising that Wales is a favourite place in which to wear those walking boots. Within its borders you'll find an amazing variety of scenery - everything from high peaks to huge beaches, wooded valleys to open hillsides, rolling borderlands to spectacular peninsulas.
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 This variety of terrain translates into an endless choice of walks. It's fair to say that Wales has something for everyone. The challenging high country of Snowdonia hasn't become any tamer since the days when the team that first conquered Everest trained on its rocky pinnacles and screes. Yet within a handful of miles, there are gentle meadow paths suitable for all the family beside the River Glaslyn in the picturesque little mountain resort of Beddgelert.
Wales is like that. One minute, you can be up in the clouds with all your hiking gear, the next you can be strolling along a beach with sand between your toes.
And - another great advantage - it's all so close. You sometimes have to pinch yourself when soaking up the scenery in the soaring Clwydian Range, or the wild Cambrian Mountains, or the grassy Brecon Beacons, to recall that you're only an hour or so from the cities and crowds of the Midlands, South and North-West.
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You'd have to go a long way - the Scottish Highlands to be precise - to find a mountain higher that Snowdon, the rocky peak that gives its name to the Snowdonia National Park. You'd also have a long way to go to match Wales' beauty. Snowdonia, along with the Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire, is one of three National Parks in Wales. Add on the official 'Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty' (five in all), countless Nature Reserves and many miles of Heritage Coast and you have a country where over one-quarter of its area is in some way protected because of its special qualities.
 Wales is one big park. And it's all exceedingly walker-friendly. Enthusiasts can follow long-distance route such as the 177-mile Offa's Dyke Path along the historic Welsh border. Families and casual walkers are spoilt for choice with a vast network of easy, well-surfaced and waymarked paths that lead from visitor
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centres, car parks and picnic sites the length and breadth of the country.
The authorities even lay on buses like the Snowdon Sherpa, Beacons Bus and Pembrokeshire Puffin so that walkers can forget all about the car during their stay. Relaxing, refreshing and convenient, it's a walk in the park.
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Associated Features
National Nature Reserves in Wales
National Trails in Wales
Countryside Escapades
Welsh Wildlife Reserves; RSPB
The Countryside Code-Yr Côd Wledig
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