Red Dragon Tour of South Wales
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Red Dragon Tour of South Wales from only
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920
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Red Dragon Tour of South Wales
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This superb, four-day, three-night tour of Wales will introduce you to the very best of South Wales, while affording you a glimpse of West Country England. It's the ideal tour for those who really want to get down the back roads on the discovery trail. The group size is limited to just eleven people, travelling by comfortable mini-coach and staying in a traditional Welsh country farmhouse, vineyard or manor house. You'll see fabulous history, wonderful scenery, and visit with local people.
Departs London every Wednesday from April 16th 2008 to November 5th 2008 inclusive. The TourDay One – WednesdayLeaving London early, you shake off the city dust using the M40 freeway to speed our journey to wonderful Wales. Your route will give us a glimpse of the beautiful English Cotswolds as you head for the Royal Forest of Dean, bordering Wales, and the stunning Wye Valley, with a lunch stop beside the river Wye. What better introduction to Wales, "Land of Song", than the imposing 12th century Norman castle of Chepstow and the romantic Tintern Abbey (inspiration for one of William Wordsworth's loveliest poems). Your accommodation is at a 17th century working Welsh Farmhouse, imposing country manor or vineyard depending on the time of year.
Day Two - Thursday The civic centre of the Welsh capital - Cardiff - is magnificent by any standards. It will be the showpiece of a panoramic city tour which will also feature the Millennium Stadium, a Mecca for the millions of Welsh Rugby Football fans worldwide. Then its on to the superb cathedral at Llandaff before arriving at the open-air Museum of Welsh Life in the nearby village of St Fagans. This fascinating mirror of hundreds of years of Welsh life embraces dozens of authentic buildings, removed from all corners of the country and painstakingly and faithfully rebuilt and refurbished here. In the afternoon you'll explore the verdant Vale of Glamorgan, choosing from the market town where Sir Anthony Hopkins went to school, the Valley of Kings where the wizard Merlin was schooled, or the rugged coastline where smugglers lured ships to the rocks, and you'll cross a river by 13th century stepping-stones. Day Three - Friday According to your accommodation stop, today will either begin or end in the once grey and hard world of a Welsh mining valley, now transformed, but a time so memorably captured in the great novel of industrial Wales, 'How Green Was My Valley'. You'll climb the rim of the saucer of the coal-seam bearing, Rhigos Mountain to view the sole surviving deep Welsh coal mine and the breathtaking scenery of the Brecon Beacons, our next calling point. 'There'll be a welcome in these hillsides' as the Welsh sing. The market town of Brecon could be your lunch stop (where there's an interesting military museum), or perhaps Wales's oldest inn, used by the infamous 'Hanging Judge' Jefferies as a court room. You'll also view the remote and atmospheric ruins of Llantony Priory and a historic 'hidden' rural church. Depending on time, you'll also be visiting Abergaveny and its cattle market or the historic town of Monmouth, with connections to Admiral Nelson, Mr Rolls of Rolls Royce and Henry V.
Day Four - Saturday
On your way back to London we'll visit the mysterious ancient standing stones of Avebury and the amazing Silbury Hill. But this will only be after a final memorable morning in Roman Wales. The now small village of Caerleon was named after the camp of the Roman Legions - perhaps up to 6000 Roman legionaries were based here almost 2000 years ago. The imposing remains of that camp remain and can be visited and include the barracks, the only complete amphitheatre in Britain, the Roman baths, and the remains of a Roman port. You'll take your leave of the land of the Red Dragon, crossing the river Severn over the stunning Severn Bridge and experiencing a spectacular exit from Wales. Your drive back to London sees you passing through some of England's timeless West Country scenery and you'll arrive back into London in the late afternoon. Whats Included?
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