Surprisingly it’s not the same everywhere as there are some isolated areas of Britain where broadband looks to be many moons away. For instance one of the b&b’s that we use for those of our guests that want to get away from the pressures of the mobile phone and the PC Is The Lion Hotel in Gwytherin.

Gwytherin is a village of 200 people in situated near Llanrwst in Snowdonia, North Wales and is the setting for Ellis Peters’ first Cadfael novel “A Morbid Taste for Bones”. The Lion, a classy 6 roomed b&b and restaurant is also the village pub so a great place to meet up for a pint with the locals after a hard day’s walking or visiting the castles of Conwy, Caernarfon and Beaumaris .

The thing about Gwytherin is that not only does it lack broadband and a mobile phone signal – the normal phone reception suffers when more than a handful of the villagers use their phones at the same time. Little wonder that the red public phone box is also a meeting point for villagers. It’s also conveniently close to the pub and the only phone box that I know that always has a vase of fresh cut flowers.

This lack of signal must be a little annoying for the villagers but for the rest of us this is just perfect for a few quiet days.

The build-up is very much the same both sides of the pond and will remain so until a few minutes prior to kick off when it’s time for the National Anthem. In Colorado the crowd will unite with Jordin Sparks (sorry I don’t know her either but she won “American Idol” if that means anything to you) and stand proud in the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. In the rugby matches a sub competition occurs at this point when each nation involved sings its own anthem. It’s a proud moment with the power to bring tears to the eyes. I know I’m not the only one.

For instance take the match between England and Wales at Twickenham, London tomorrow afternoon. This is the one match that every Welshman wants to win. Wales beating England at “Twickers” (say this in a posh English accent) the home of rugby. As the Wales rugby coach Warren Gatland summed up “It’s not just a game of rugby. It’s nation against nation and bragging rights – not for a few days, but for a whole year”. Over in the USA I can imagine that Patriots supporters will have bragging rights for a lifetime if their team wins!

In Twickenham, when the brass band hits the opening chords the thousands of visiting Welshmen will, as one, launch into “Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau” (“Land of our Fathers”) with all their hearts . Then, they’ll be respectfully quiet as the English sing “God Save the Queen” knowing full well that the Welsh Anthem wins hands down with its power to stir the soul. This respectful scene on the playing of the Anthems will also play out in Croke Park, Dublin where Ireland entertain Italy and in Murrayfield, Edinburgh where Scotland play France.

In the singing of the Anthems in all of the above matches I’m sure of one thing – most of the crowd will not know more than one verse of their own National Anthem.

C’mon Wales…… and Go Patriots.

Dwynwen was the prettiest of the Celtic King Brychan Brycheiniog’s 24 daughters (he also had 11 sons!). At one of the parties that King Brychan held regularly Dwynwen fell in love with a handsome prince called Maelon Dafodrill. However her father refused her permission to marry him as he’d arranged for her to marry another. Maelon was so angry that he raped Dwynwen and left her.

Dwynwen was distraught and fled into the woods. Here, through her tears and grief she prayed to God to help her forget Maelon Dafodrill, before falling asleep under the trees. In a dream she was visited by an Angel with a potion to help her forget her cruel lover as well as turn him into ice. God also granted Dwynwen three wishes. Her wishes were 1.That God thaw Maelon Dafodrill 2. That he met the hopes and dreams of true lovers 3. That she would never marry.

All her wishes were fulfilled and Dwynwen devoted the rest of her life to the service of God and established a church on the small island of Llanddwyn just off the west coast of Anglesey, near the village of Newborough. The remains of the church can still be seen today and the tidal island can be reached on foot.

The popularity of St. Dwynwen’s day seems to have increased greatly over the last ten years in Wales and you’ll find Welsh speakers celebrating it with parties and concerts, although not to the same level as St Valentine’s Day. Why it’s celebrated on January 25^th I really have no idea. Here’s a card to all you romantics from all of us here at myguideBritain Cerdyn Santes Dwynwen

On the way we stopped off for morning coffee at Llangoed Hall, a country House hotel owned by Sir Bernard Ashley, widower of Laura Ashley. It was either that or The Little Chef in Builth Wells. No competition. Sorry Little Chef. There’s no reception desk at Llangoed Hall, so you really do feel that you’re walking into your very (very) rich uncle’s house. We wandered into the drawing room that looked out over the croquet lawn towards the farmland beyond, introduced ourselves to one of the staff, and ordered a coffee. I could have easily spent the rest of the day being waited on hand and foot reading the latest Grisham novel, but Lake Vyrnwy beckoned so off we set.

The rain didn’t stop on the journey north through the undulating Welsh hills giving them a mystical appeal as we headed towards Lake Vyrnwy and the hotel of the same name that sits overlooking this lake. This area of mid Wales if sparsely populated with no large towns so a great area for driving, where you can easily venture off the beaten track onto one of the side roads to find some amazing spots. No need for sat nav – just follow your nose.

Lake Vyrnwy is man-made and has major political significance in Wales as it was the first valley to be flooded to supply water for the industrial towns of England. The recipients of the water were (and still are) Liverpool and coincidentally on the day we visited, the dam was celebrating 111 years to the day since its taps (if that’s the right technical term) were closed to allow the water to start building and drowning the valley behind. As part of the project the inhabitants of the son to be flooded village of Llanwddyn were moved lock, stock and barrel to a newly built village a few miles below the dam. The iconic tower in the picture is part of the dam’s workings.

The hotel has an enviable position overlooking the lake and is a great base for exploring mid Wales. Anthony Rosser, General Manager had kindly invited us to lunch and as I sat there discussing Spa and Activity packages I could not help thinking that I was a very lucky fellow indeed to make a living doing this. The view over the lake from the hotel was stunning even though the weather was wet. Surprisingly there were still quite a few Gore-tex clad ramblers around. I guess that when you’ve got the right clothes there’s no such thing as bad weather.

This is a great hotel that make you feel immediately comfortable and at home – the sort of place in which to spend a few days to recharge one’s batteries. They have a fabulous newly opened spa with some amazing treatments and can offer a good range of outdoor activities ranging from walking tours to clay pigeon shooting. With enough dollars in your pocket they would also arrange some pheasant shooting for you. I can imagine that the shooting party made up of wealthy industrialists that were staying at the hotel when we visted would keep the hotel in pheasant meat for weeks to come as well as paying a handsome bill for the privelege

So two great hotels in one day that I would no doubt be seeing again in 2008 (with wife in tow of course). So it was that I set off on the journey home in a particularly good mood. In fact it was one of those “wonder were that road leads to” moods that meant, of course, that I got lost twice and reached home about an hour and a half later than expected. However on the up side I found myself in the small town of Montgomery, on the Wales England border, for the first time. With its bow windowed Georgian houses and cobbled pavements and dominated by a ruined 13^th century castle it was certainly worth getting lost for. If I’d had Sat Nav I never would have seen it. Thanks nose!

You may not get points on your license, as we natives do, but you will get fined through your rental company who will legally pass the fine on to you through your credit card. As the majority of roads in Britain have signs telling you that there are speed cameras ahead (whether there are some or not) please take this warning seriously. Do not become contributors to the British Government’s coffers. STICK TO SPEED LIMITS. You never know when one of these yellow perils will appear to take an unwanted photo of you on vacation.

There’s one thing for certain – we don’t want to see any of these photos appearing in our great $1400 January photography competition. Drive safely!

Once inside the Entrance Hall I was immediately stunned by the high ceilings and just the general feel of the place, so welcoming and relaxed. My room was particularly large (I think they may have made a mistake as my Manager, Darryl was given a smaller room than me!) with a king sized bed, original fireplace (not operational) and a huge plasma screen TV. Probably the favourite part of my room was the huge Chandelier that hung above my bed, dominating the room. Completely fantastic and I must say MUCH better than I expected.

I have got to say the highlight of my stay in the Castle was the evening meal. You start off in the Library Bar where you can relax in the comfort of the leather seats provided and take a sneaky peak at the dinner menu before you are shown through to Bertie’s Dining Room. If I had to think of one word to describe Bertie’s Dining room it would have to be ‘Amazing’! As soon as you enter your eyes immediately dart upwards towards the huge chandeliers that provide lighting in this room, once I had time to adjust to my surrounding I focused in on the Dinner Menu. The service of the Waitress on duty was great; our coats taken away to the cloak room, our drinks were carried through to the dining room from the bar and our napkins were broken for us and placed on our laps at the start of our meal. I finally decided (after much deliberation) on the Chicken Parfait to start with the Toasted Brioche, having the Local Rump of Lamb with Red wine Jus for my main meal and Wow! That’s all I can say- everything was just perfect.

After a very relaxing night sleep it was time for a little tour around the castle. They offer four feature rooms in the main castle area, all named after famous people from history who have stayed here. I have got to admit it was amazing to view all the different rooms especially the Prince of Wales room which was by far the largest hotel room I have ever seen! We were shown around all the different styles and Standards of rooms and I was very impressed! We were told that the standard rooms were in the new Annex of Ruthin Castle, but as we were led through the corridor you would never be able to tell you were entering a newer part of the Castle, which is great. Furnishings throughout were traditional and kept in line with the theme of the Castle, real suits of Armour could be seen in the main castle areas. We were also given a tour around the Mediaeval Banqueting Halls inside the Castle. Here you travel back in time, enjoy a traditional Mediaeval feast in the dungeons of the Castle, followed by mead served in clay cups and wine in Pewter goblets. No Knife and Forks allowed!

I very much enjoyed the walk in the grounds of the castle. Now in the early morning light, we could see just how impressive Ruthin Castle is. There was so much to explore in the grounds alone. Alot of the Castle’s old ruins can still be seen and explored in your own time, and the wild peacocks that roam around in the grounds are just incredible. You can just imagine in the old days the Knights pacing around the gardens, looking out on to the local village, guarding this castle. What an amazing last night stay to an incredible 5 night Trip around the UK!

Here’s a synopsis: Handsome farmer falls in love with a beautiful lady that appears to him sitting on a stone in the lake as he’s grazing his cattle around Llyn y Fan Fach. She keeps disappearing back into the cold waters of the lake but after a few days he finally gets his girl … on one condition. If he strikes her three times for any reason she’ll return to the lake (The “three strikes and out” rule goes back a long way baseball fans). They marry, have three boys and live happily but over the years and with no malice intended he strikes her a total of three times. She disappears back to the lake and he’s left to bring up the three sons who grow up big, strong and multi talented and could have been the richest men in Wales if they so wanted. That’s what having some fairy blood does to you I guess. They however turn their hand to being Physicians and their medicines were known throughout Wales for their healing powers. I do the story no justice so it’s worth doing a bit of further reading to get the full romantic angle. Try and get hold of “Welsh Legends and Folk Tales” by T. Gwynn Jones or “Myths and Legends of Wales” by Tony Roberts both of which I’m sure you’ll find on Amazon

Back to Prince Charles. The reason he was speaking Welsh was that he’s just recorded a Christmas message in Welsh and English for the local Camarthenshire talking newspaper for the blind that has 150 subscribers in the area. There’s a lot we can say about our monarchy – some good and some not so good – but I’m sure the 150 people who’ll be receiving their talking newspaper this week will have a very positive view of their soon to be new neighbour Prince Charles.

Anyway, last week I was pinned down by our marketing team to come up with a list of specific locations that I would class as my real honest favourites for some clever project on which they were working. Go and ask Darryl, I say……… No, they say! ***$£&% ***! , I say………. No, they repeat! They were very determined to get their list. So we came to a compromise. I’d list places that I’d visited this year that had impressed me. Their smiles suggested they’d got what they wanted.

So here’s my list with some comments.

1. Snowdonia, North Wales: I’ve travelled the world extensively and have yet to find a place that compares to it. Confession: I was born here, visit regularly, and this will always be #1 (and justifiably so).

2. North Norfolk coast: Wide open sandy beaches; Fantastic bird life; Sandringham, the Queen’s country home (open to public); Mix with the English country set in the village of Burnham Market.

3. London’s Soho district: Great pubs, Restaurants, Theatres and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club in Frith Street.

4. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard: Big boys’ toys. Play pirates on real ships.

5. St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales: Wild surf, Whitesands beach and coasteering in the smallest city (read big village) in Britain.

6. Bath, Thermae: Took long enough to build but now a great Spa. Pretend you’re Roman for the day -but don’t forget your swimming trunks.

7. Clovelly, Devon : Just a cool, cobbled street fishing village. Note: It’s perched on a 400ft cliff and narrow streets are steep. A Land Rover will take you up/down if your knees are not what they were!

8. Islay, Scotland: Malt whisky mecca. See my previous blog

9. Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland: Lose yourself here on deserted windswept white sandy beaches. Callanish standing stones rank up there with Stonehenge and what’s more – you can touch them.

10. Wembley stadium: If you’re a sports fan this place has the “Wow” factor.

Next year’s list will be totally different of course (apart from Snowdonia!). You see how clever these marketing bods are. It looks as if I’ve agreed to a list for 2008 without them having to ask!

If anyone out there has some 2007 favorites that they wish to share then feel free to post me as I’m already in the planning stages for next year’s travels.

I used to live in Louisville, Kentucky and my first daughter was born there so it holds a warm place in my heart. It was in Loretto, Kentucky on a bright autumn day of that year that I discovered hard liquor ….. and Maker’s Mark is still my whisky of choice. Try it and be convinced.

With an increasing number of our Guests looking for whisky tours of Scotland I decided that a bourbon drinker from Wales should really see for himself if these Scottish malts really compared to the smooth elixir from Loretto.With only a few days to sample as many malts as possible I headed for Islay (pronounced I-la not Iss-lay) and Jura where you’ll find the greatest concentration of malt whisky distilleries in Scotland namely Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Caol Ila, Bunnahabhain and Jura in a few square miles. So I boarded a flight from Bristol to Glasgow before renting a car to drive to Islay. There is a 35 minute flight from Glasgow to Islay but unfortunately it was full on the day I wanted to travel. Not to worry as any drive in Scotland is worth it for the scenery. Glasgow airport is located on the west side of the city and very convenient for a quick getaway northwards on the A82. I travelled along Loch Lomond before turning west onto the A83 and over the “Rest and be thankful” towards Inveraray. “Rest and be thankful” is the highest point along this stretch of road and so named by the old drovers who were thankful that they had made it up the steep climb when they sat down to rest. Nothing complicated about these old Scots. The route has been changed a little these days, it’s not as steep but still a good climb.

Onwards through Lochgilphead and Tarbert on Loch Fyne to Kennacraig for the ferry to Islay. Kennacraig is no more than a jetty on West Loch Tarbert with a Caledonian Macbrayne Ferry ticket office so be warned if you’re expecting a town when driving to the terminal. The journey from the airport will take two and a half hours but it’s difficult to drive this road without stopping for some sightseeing so estimate three hours to be on the safe side. By the time you check your car in for the ferry and get settled to wait for the boat to arrive your metamorphosis will have started. By now you’ll have ceased to be a tourist. You’ll now be an Islay whisky pilgrim chatting enthusiastically to fellow pilgrims from all over the world, that will be also waiting for the ferry with you, about whisky – the fact that you may not be an expert will not matter. You’re all there for one thing and one thing only – malt whisky. In my case I befriended a group of five Swedes who seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Islay whiskies and came over on their pilgrimage every couple of years. On this occasion they were attending the Bruichladdich Academy were they were going to learn about the whisky process by working alongside the distillery craftsmen, getting hands on experience and staying in the distillery manager’s house. They were paying around $1500 each for this unique experience. Paying to work – these guys were serious pilgrims!

The ferry takes a couple of hours- just enough time to get some pie and chips with a mug of tea and take in some of the scenery on deck before getting to Islay. It will take you to either Port Askaig or Port Ellen depending on time of year and time of ferry. It doesn’t really matter as the island is small. I stayed in the small 7 room Harbour Hotel in Bowmore but there are some other good hotels (Port Charlotte, Bridgend and Machrie) as well as numerous good B&B’s on the island as well. None are very large so booking early is a must.

Islay is also a mecca for birdwatchers as it has an amazing number of geese that winter there as well as Golden eagles, peregrine falcons and many other species. So if you’re a bird watching whisky drinker you’ll be in your seventh heaven.

How to plan the whisky sampling day (or days if you’re lucky). Although it’s a small island a car is by far the most practical way to get around if you have a limited amount of time. Biking would be fun as the island is relatively flat apart from the hill up from the ferry terminal at Port Askaig. The bus is OK but you’ll spend a long time waiting around for it. The only problem with the car of course is that whisky sampling and driving don’t mix. This is where a wife who dislikes the taste of whisky comes in useful. I’d convinced mine to come with me based on the following promises(A) We’d be staying in a nice Hotel with good food (B) there was great scenery (C)there were excellent craft shops on the island and (D)I’d be paying.

I’ll not go through a description and events in each distillery other than to say that all the tours are very good and that they market themselves very well. Make sure that you check visitor opening times on the distilleries’ web sites as not all distilleries are open to the public for the whole year. I did not get onto Jura to visit that distillery but if you do go it’s a very short ferry crossing from Port Askaig.

A financial warning: You’ll end up buying some limited edition bottles of whisky that you would have never dreamt of buying if you had not just been on a distillery tour (Great for sharing with friends when you get back home though). My favourite distillery was Bruichladdich. My favourite whisky was Laphroaig with its seaweedy taste. By sheer coincidence Laphroaig mature their whisky in barrels that they import from the USA. Yes folks you’ve guessed it…… in charred American Oak barrels from Makers Mark in Loretto, Kentucky.

As for “whisky” and “whiskey”; in Scotland it’s whisky, in the USA it’s whiskey. Apart from in Loretto where they use the word whisky, in deference to the Scottish malt.

If you want to take part in a live on-line whisky tasting then head on over to Laphroaig Live at 8.00pm GMT tonight where friends of Laphroaig are hoping to host the world’s largest on-line tasting. Should be fun…..see you there!

And what of Makers Mark and Laphroaig? I’d say that the the Americans do excel at some things!….Now where did I put that Mint Julep?

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.