Heading Back Home: Traveling Through Wales

I was born in Wales in 1969 and lived there until 1984, when I moved with my family to the United States. I’ve returned to Wales several times on vacation, but my journey there during the past few days was my first trip to my homeland in over 8 years. Consequently, I was on a mission to visit the Liberty Stadium, home to Swansea City, the club I’ve supported since I was eight years old.

Incredibly, this would be my first visit ever to Swansea’s “new” stadium. On my last journey to Wales, I hadn’t stopped in Swansea, but this time I was on a mission to finally reach the hallowed stadium — after spending most of my youth on the terraces of Swansea’s former ground, Vetch Field, which has since been demolished.

Traveling from England to Wales by car is always an adventure. The major motorway going into Wales is the M4, which starts in the east near London and goes all the way to the west, to west Wales. However, along the way, vehicles have to cross the Severn Bridge that flies over the Severn River.

There’s no toll to leave Wales via the Severn Bridge, but the toll for those traveling into Wales by car is £6.40 (roughly $9.00).

Once the toll was paid, the car descended into Wales and headed past Celtic Manor, the famous golf course in Wales. The day we drove was the final day of the NATO talks in Wales, so all along the motorway — for approximately 20 miles — there was increased security with police officers stationed at nearby roundabouts, standing on bridges crossing the M4 and peppered along the emergency lanes, just in case they were needed to be deployed into action, as well as watching for any suspicious activity.

After passing Newport, we continued west on the motorway, past Cardiff and the industrial town of Port Talbot and into the outskirts of Swansea. You can’t see the Liberty Stadium from the motorway (you can from the railway line), but we decided to continue heading west past Swansea because that particular afternoon the Swansea Ospreys were playing their opening rugby match of the season at the Liberty, so we didn’t want to get stuck in traffic to spoil our visit to the home of the Swans.

By avoiding the headaches of traffic congestion, our journey continued west to the end of the M4 in Cross Hands, and then we headed north to our final destination of the Welsh market town of Llandeilo. The distance from Cross Hands to Llandeilo is only 15 miles, but it’s a slow and meandering trip up and down hills and past numerous speed cameras that limit how fast you can drive. However, there are some sights along the way, as you can see castles such as the majestic Carreg Cennen Castle in the distance as well as Dynevor Castle, as well as the beautiful green valleys and rolling hills.

After three hours of driving from Devon, we finally reached our final destination of the tiny village of Cwmifor, deep in the heart of the beautiful Towy Valley. It’s been 30 years since I left the area to move to the United States, and the area hasn’t changed at all. There are pros and cons for that. The pros of not changing are that the area retains its beautiful charm including ancient Roman ruins, wonderful nature walks through enchanted woods, adventures to and from historic castles and the wonderful scenery that envelopes the area. The cons are that if you live there, there are few jobs, not much adventure and life can get incredibly boring. Hence the reason why my family left there in 1984.

The following day, my uncle, mother and I headed to Swansea for our first-ever visit to Liberty Stadium. From a distance, driving along on the carriageway from the M4, the stadium jumps out at you all of a sudden. It’s not the enormous monoliths that you see leaping out from cities such as the way St James’ Park does in Newcastle or how Old Trafford can be seen from miles. Instead, from the east, Liberty Stadium simply emerges quietly and reservedly from behind the trees, and fits in with the area without appearing overbearing.

The unassuming stadium resembles the team in many ways. The stadium isn’t flashy. It’s simple, practical and effective. As I walked around the outside of the stadium, the most striking element of the modular design is the steel girders, painted white, that spring from the roof and end at the back of the stadium. The effect looks like dozens of ribbons encircling the ground; a perfect marriage between aesthetics and stadium design. The net result, inside the ground, is that every seat in the stadium is unobstructed.

Unfortunately, the club doesn’t offer tours of the Liberty Stadium, so I was unable to get inside the stadium. But in the four corners of the ground, there are large steel gates that allow nosy fans such as myself to get a good view of the opposite corner of the stadium. Again, the stadium from the outside, looking in, appeared unassuming. The simplicity of the design seems to be more focused on creating an environment that is a conduit for an excellent atmosphere. The rest is left to the fans.

On non-matchdays, such as the one that I was at, the main activity at the Liberty Stadium was focused on the club shop. Of course, I headed inside and bought a Swansea home shirt. The shop featured clothing and memorabilia for both the Ospreys and Swans, so rugby and football fans mixed together as they browsed through the store. Even the club shop was unassuming. The selection of memorabilia items available wasn’t excessive. It didn’t feel like the club were trying to extort fans out of large sums of the money for plastic items emblazoned with the Swansea City name or logo.

Outside of the club shop and near the ticket office were two nods to the past. The first was a life-size bronze statue of Swansea and Wales legend Ivor Allchurch. Just meters away from him is the Robbie James Hall of Fame, where the names of Swansea legends of the past have plaques attached to the stadium wall.

As we drove away from the Liberty Stadium, the last thought in my head was how soon it’d be until I’d see a match at the ground.

After spending a couple more days in Wales with my family, my next destination was the county of Shropshire, a scenic area of the country across the border from North Wales. Instead of driving, we decided to use our BritRail passes again and this time travel on the Heart Of Wales railway line that runs from Swansea in South Wales all the way through the middle of Wales and up to Shrewsbury in Shropshire, near where more of my relatives live.

The Heart of Wales train service is one of those hidden treasures of Great Britain. The train runs through the beautiful green valleys of Wales, through Sugar Loaf Mountain and past bucolic Welsh villages such as Dolau (with its train platform adorned with beautiful flowers) and Victorian towns such as Llandridnod Wells. As the train moves closer to Shropshire, the terrain changes. In the summer time, you can expect to see golden fields of hay outside both windows as the train hurtles towards its final destination of the ancient city of Shrewsbury, with its castle peering over the train station for a unique blend of architectural designs.

Read the whole series:

Traveling through England
Traveling through Wales
Traveling through Scotland
How trains are the best way to travel to see Premier League games in Britain