Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

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Cyril Haearn
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Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Cyril Haearn »

1.3 is the Welsh national day

I love Wales because many of my best cycling memories are Welsh, and many of my best non-cycling memories

I love Wales because it is not too big or too small

I love walking in Wales, weather air and views

I love Wales because it is both familiar and strange. Everyone can speak English but..

I love the Welsh language

Why do you love Wales?
Last edited by Cyril Haearn on 25 Feb 2017, 8:56am, edited 1 time in total.
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landsurfer
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by landsurfer »

Because it's far away from me !!! :)
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Si
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Si »

Some of my best cycling memories are frm wales, especially mtbing....it just seems more 'wild' and less manicured than england, least ways the bits of wales ive been riding in.

And its friendly...first time i went bikingnthere the locals were most welcming, draggngme into the hotel bar and teaching me a smattering of welsh over several pints of the loca brew.

I tend to favor the berwyns and bits of the cambrians beyond bilth for mtbing...and the area next the the shropshire marchesnfor audaxing.

Someone once told me that they liked it because it was still a little more like england in the 1970s....leastways the good bits......which i guess in some ways is right.
pwa
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by pwa »

From a cycling point of view Wales has the best roads I know. I prefer quiet backroads, with just the occasional tractor or post van to negitiate my way around. I prefer roads to be up and down, with not too much flat. I prefer twisty roads to straight roads. I like hedgerows, woodlands and birdsong. I know places in Wales where I can get all those things, mile after mile.

But the best thing about Wales is the people. Not all of them, of course. But the general feel is friendly. A couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of a large council estate in one of the South Wales valleys, late at night, looking for a hard to find address. There were groups of noisy teenagers all over the place. But no feeling of danger. Some of the kids helped me to find the address I was looking for. That's what it is like there. Even in the poorest neighbourhoods you assume people are friendly unless you have reason to believe otherwise.

I'm English but I live in Wales and I brought my kids up to consider themselves Welsh and support the Welsh rugby team. These days I feel torn. When England narrowly beat Wales recently I felt a pang of regret. Maybe I'm "going native". Maybe I should.
landsurfer
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by landsurfer »

Born in England ?..... you should thank god every morning you wake to be born in such a beautiful land ..... and never consider assimilation .... it's the Welsh ... not the Borg ....
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Spinners
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Spinners »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
Why do you love Wales?


Because it's part of the UK.

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Heltor Chasca
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Heltor Chasca »

And I like the Welsh. Pretty good people. Very proud. Amazing accents and a great language. I like dragon eggs too
pwa
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by pwa »

landsurfer wrote:Born in England ?..... you should thank god every morning you wake to be born in such a beautiful land ..... and never consider assimilation .... it's the Welsh ... not the Borg ....


I was born in England but always considered "British" to best describe how I feel about my national identity. I spent most of my childhood summer holidays in Wales. I love parts of England too. North Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cumbria, parts of Shropshire. But Wales has been my home for about 26 years and I'm not inclined to change that. I know Wales does not have a monopoly on friendly people. There are friendly communities all over the British Isles. But Wales is pretty consistent in that.

In terms of population Wales is small. So someone identifying themselves as Welsh is a bit like someone identifying themselves as being from Yorkshire. It is a lot more concentrated and focused than identifying yourself as being from a land as diverse as England, with its complexity of regional identities. Not better, just different.
700c
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by 700c »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Why do you love Wales?


Newport Girls.
landsurfer
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by landsurfer »

700c wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Why do you love Wales?


Newport Girls.


Valley Commandos ..... Thursday night discos at RAF St. Athan . . :D :D
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Vantage »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
Why do you love Wales?


Because unlike northwest England, it's nice. The air is nicer. The water is nicer. The land is nicer. The people are nicer.
Even my fiancée agrees that coming back into Manchester after a week camping/visiting my dad in Wales it feels 'dirty'.
Both my daughters also say when they're older, they're moving to Wales.
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Valbrona »

Wales ... a badly ruined country.

Native woodland has all but disappeared on account of sheep farming. And the bits unsuitable for sheep farming have been turned into non-native forestry plantations.

And to think, many a sheep farm only survives because of EU subsidies. In fact, as much as 70% of the income of some sheep farms is EU subsidy. Why pay Welsh sheep farmers to ruin the natural environment?
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by MikeF »

I went to university there and that included the freezing winter of 62/63 when nearly all the water pipes except the larger mains supply ones in the middle of the road weren't frozen. Happy memories of Wales. :D
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Username »

Cyril Haearn wrote:1.3 is the Welsh national day

I love Wales because many of my best cycling memories are Welsh, and many of my best non-cycling memories

I love Wales because it is not too big or too small

I love walking in Wales, weather air and views

I love Wales because it is both familiar and strange. Everyone can speak English but..

I love the Welsh language

Why do you love Wales?


Wales, geographically speaking is tidy like. However our rugby team is turd. Never mind tho, we still got Snowdonia, The Brecon Beacons and that bit inbetween where you find some dams, lakes and a very wierd group of bridges.
Ben@Forest
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Re: Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

Post by Ben@Forest »

Wales may or may not be nice - and I can't say I've noticed the Welsh to be friendlier than the Scots or English - in fact of the home nations I'd say the Northern Irish were the friendliest but that's from the perspective of a tourist - and I was having a holiday at the time the Northern Irish definitely weren't being friendly to each other!

But as anyone who works in forestry or land management knows the Welsh (especially South Wales) have a great problem with arson and firesetting. So the 'all the people are nicer' type comment is hardly informed. The link below is old but you'll find loads of firesetting prevention strategies that the Welsh government and Fire Services have to put into place.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/SERG_Wildfire_in_Wales_summary.pdf/$FILE/SERG_Wildfire_in_Wales_summary.pdf
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