Chasing the sun

The British public spend millions of pounds each year holidaying in the South of France, Majorca, Crete, Italy and the other popular European destinations.

Yet on their doorstep are rugged mountains, sandy beaches and imposing castles which attract hundreds of thousands of foreigners travelling in the opposite direction. Even with the recession in full swing and the resulting increasing in “staycations” (vacations where you stay at home and do day trips) Brits still rush across the channel into Europe.

Today Polly and I got into the car and in less than an hour we were standing on top of a rocky outcrop looking over the North Wales mountains and the Mawddach estuary. “There are adders up there” said the man walking his dog as we headed towards the footpath onto the top, “I wouldn’t go up there without walking boots on”. As Polly was getting on with her snake induced hysteria, I strode on ahead and, as only a sister can do, told her to pull herself together and catch up when she had calmed down.

Up up up we went, walking on the old drovers’ road from Harlech to London passing horned rams, ruined cottages and rocks home to vast numbers of poisonous vipers ready to strike at passing walkers. Up up up we went past a backdrop of bare mountains dotted with specks of white sheep, small twisted trees clinging on to thin soil and clumps of rock covered with moss and bracken harbouring nests of adders with hungry eyes and forked tongues searching the air for their next human meal.

With Polly following closely behind me stamping the ground in the belief that it would scare any snakes away, I was relieved to reach the top without witnessing any more hysterical outbursts. Once we had found a spot where no snake could possibly slither to, we sat down to take in the stunning view down the estuary to the sea and across to the mighty Cader Idris (Idris’s Chair).

So why don’t more people holiday in the UK? On a sunny day there is nowhere to match it, the majesty of the hills, the kites soaring on the thermals high above, the purple heather, yellow gorse, bumble bee covered thistles and nothing but the birds and the wind to break the silence. But that’s it isn’t it…. “on a sunny day”, that’s the problem indeed. There are many more of them in what we quaintly call “Europe” than there are ever likely to be here and the thought of committing a quarter of your annual holiday allowance to a place where even one sunny day cannot be guaranteed, is enough to get you reaching for your passport and checking the cross-channel ferry times.

The UK and especially North Wales, has so much to offer as a holiday destination but maybe only for those on a “staycation” who can pick and choose their days. For those of us who don’t mind sharing a mountain with an adder, who enjoy being in the hills and can get home quickly for a change of clothes and a hot shower when the weather turns nasty there’s nowhere quite like North Wales.

Blog sponsored by the Welsh Tourist Board.