A Walk Through Wales

by Anthony Bailey

The author describes his three-week-long trek through Wales, including the country's Roman roads, mountain paths, coastal cliffs, beaches, local inhabitants, merchants, and workers

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir

290 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1992

About the author

Anthony Bailey (born 1933) was a British non-fiction writer, and art historian.

He was evacuated to Dayton, Ohio, in 1940 during World War II. For many years he was a writer for the New Yorker magazine.

He died of corona virus in Colchester, Essex, which he contracted whilst in hospital for hip surgery after a fall at his home.

He lived in Mersea Island, near Colchester, Essex, with his wife Margot. They have four daughters: Liz, Annie, Katie and Rachel.

His obituary in the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/bo...

Reviews

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1992 so at this date 24 years old. The terrain descriptions are interesting and the history is amusingly written.

I liked a number of passages very much, but didn't mark them all. This is one written from a youth hostel toward the end of his journey:

"There was still a hazy silver light at nine-fifteen, though all the colour had been washed out of the landscape. The lower part of the wood ridge on the far shore, a section of Beddgelert Forest, was intensely dark. The lake itself, under that brooding mountainous brow, was like a gleaming grey eye slowly closing with sleep."

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have Welsh ancestry (7% according to Ancestry DNA, considerably less than my Scottish and Irish percentages, but still, I'll claim all the Celt I can) so I approached this book with some interest. Alas, it was difficult for me to sustain my interest. The writing is fine and very detailed, but therein lay some of the problem with this book, in that much of the detail is...well, boring. The uncharitable precis of this book would run something like: an Englishman walks most of the length of Wales from south to north, and nothing much happens along the way. I found the most compelling parts of the book had to do first with the relationship between the Welsh people and the mining industry, particularly his harrowing account of the 1966 Aberfan disaster, in which 144 people, many schoolchildren, lost their lives; and second with the struggles of the Welsh people to hang on to their language. What was missing from this book was any strongly communicated sense of national character, contributions in literature, music, etc.(no these were not totally absent, but were brief and muted). I felt I learned more about Wales from the wonderful documentary Dark Horse than from this book which is not much more than an ambler's journal.

[Annette]

Even if I weren't one quarter Welsh, I'd be so charmed by this writing.

As he hears distant voices: "Similarly invisible were the ghosts of passengers on the platform of a little station of the dismantled line, waiting for trains long past."

Five roads come into the town "in a disjointed fashion, as if they hadn't quite meant to arrive there at all."

Fears of being left out vs. fears of being overrun, absorbed....

"A sign useful for passers-by -- like me -- whose curiosity about natural history exceeds their ability to retain botanical and ornithological knowledge."

Toward the end, a Welsh speaker bemoans the trials of protecting and expanding the use of the Welsh language, fearing that ten years hence perhaps only five percent of the population would speak Welsh. Well, the promotion has been a vast success! The most recent statistics I found listed 28.8 percent who can speak Welsh. An astonishing accomplishment!

What a pleasure to read, and thank goodness for the wonderful map! -- and the route I traced on our map, so many years ago!

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chronicles a pleasant three-week amble through Wales, which the author took over thirty years ago. Contains a lot of history, some beautiful descriptions of the landscape, and the movement (back in 1992) of the Welsh to reestablish their language in schools and public life.

[Nancy Noble · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it took me longer to read this book than it did for the author to do the walk. I did like it, but found it a slow slog. Still, I would love to walk through Wales someday - or at least part of it.
An unexpected delight was finding a Maine woman, Leigh Verrill Rhys, in the book, who had this great quote: "I think heaven must be a small-town in Maine, with tree-shaded streets."

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Bailey is not funny, like Bill Bryson, or filled with angst, like Paul Theroux. I tend to look for travel books by writers who experience a profound personal journey while on the road, but Anthony Bailey is not giving himself away. "A Walk Through Wales" is just that: The story of a walk from Cardiff to Bangor. It records his journey and includes landscape descriptions, conversations, and history of the places he passed through. It was written 20 years ago, so the urgent issues he discusses don't feel urgent to the reader, though they may very well still be so. Nothing about the book feels urgent, which may be why other readers report occasional boredom. Don't expect this book to be something it's not, and you'll have a peaceful, pleasant walk with Anthony Bailey.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of walking through a nation or any comparably long stretch has always fascinated me. This book was much less introspective than others I've read about such journeys. I enjoyed how the writer tied in history with his walk. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, something about the writing made it hard for me to maintain a consistent pace. It was a good read for frequent picking up and putting down, and I tended to read it mostly while traveling.

I was most interested in the concept of losing one's language and identity. He discussed this throughout the book, but somehow the gravity, at least personal gravity, of the loss was lost on me. Perhaps it would have been easier to engage from the perspective of a Welsh writer.

[Leila · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and educational book. Bailey is a good writer although I found his writing to be a bit boring at times. I like that he interjected his experiences with the history and legends of the country. He also discusses his impression of how the Welsh feel about the influx of people from England to Wales. Unfortunately, this was written about twenty years ago and is probably not an accurate representation of what Wales is like currently, although my guess is that their feelings about the English have most likely not changed.

[Stirling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but I agree with other reviews that it's dated and slightly boring at times. But even the boring parts made me think of Wales as extremely peaceful. As a portrait of Wales today it might not be completely accurate, but it does give me a sense of what it would be like to walk across the countryside.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read when you are actually walking through Wales and even if you're not!

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

some good info about history and myth, but too much dull description of terrain.

[Mary]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14225671

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Bailey walked from the south of Wales to the north over the course of three weeks or so. I read his book from the front to the back over the course of three weeks or so. It is a book to read a section or a chapter at a time rather than straight through.

Subjects discussed at length (chattily, not didactally) are the Welsh language, the coal industry in Wales, poverty in Wales, and the country's educational system.

I know much more about Wales than I did previously and I feel greatly enlightened on this beautiful country.