Bog Snorkeling and Other Quirky Events in Wales

The peculiar is commonplace in Wales. For instance, there are four times as many sheep as people in the country, and more castles per square mile than any other country in Europe. How about bog snorkeling and humans racing against horses and trains? Quirky indeed.

World Bog Snorkeling Championship

August 25, 2008 marks the 23rd anniversary of this international sporting event, with competitors coming from as far away as Australia. Bring your snorkel and flippers and see if you can beat the fastest time of one minute, 35 seconds to plough your way through two lengths of a 60 yard trench cut through a peat bog without using any conventional swimming strokes.

Man vs. Horse Marathon

The first ever human winner in 2004 walked away with a $50,000 prize for winning the 22 mile race that wends its way through some of the most spectacular scenery in Mid Wales.

Race the Train

Racing against horses not your idea of a good time? How about racing against a train? This year’s fifteen mile race to beat the Talyllyn Steam Railway on its journey between Tywyn and Abergynolwyn, will be run on August 16, 2008. Britain's smallest town, Llanwrtyd Wells in beautiful Mid Wales, is home to both races.

Europe's Longest Place Name – 58 letters!

Linguists get your tongues tied. How do you pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch? And what does it mean?

"St. Mary's Church by the white aspen over the whirlpool and St. Tyllio's Church by the red cave."

Portmeirion – Southern Italy? Or North Wales!?

Set in sub-tropical gardens and woodlands and tucked away on its own peninsula overlooking mountains and sea, Portmeirion, the fascinating fantasy village built by architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis with its turreted pastel Italianate villas, defies description. It was the ideal setting for the 60's TV cult classic "The Prisoner" and its resulting Annual Prisoner Convention. Noel Coward wrote Blithe Spirit and the late George Harrison celebrated his 50th birthday here.

The Sheep Oscars

Ewe-phoria Sheepdog Centre Llangollen in rural North Wales provides a fascinating insight into the work of the shepherd and his sheepdog. You can learn how to handle sheepdogs, cheer on your favorite sheepdog at sheepdog trials, cuddle sheepdog pups, bottle feed pet lambs and, most importantly, judge the entrants in the Ram Parade.

The World's First Entirely Carbon Neutral City

Wales's spiritual capital is in Pembrokeshire, the United Kingdom's smallest city with only 1800 inhabitants. St. David's, its cathedral, has been drawing pilgrims for a millennium and a half and Edmund Tudor, father of Henry VII, is interred there. This petite locale may be ancient, but it is on track to be the first carbon neutral city in the world.

Hay Fever

Hay-on Wye, a compact 'town of books,' is both a bibliophile's paradise and a charming market town. Nestled in the Brecon Beacons National Park, it is the most southerly of Wales' border towns. Great thinkers, poets, and writers converge annually for the Hay-on Wye Festival of Literature. Bill Clinton famously called it "the Woodstock of the mind" when he addressed a packed Hay tent in 2001. Not just for book lovers, the festival is a great base from which to build a wider Welsh experience, with countless galleries, antique shops and clothes shops and easy access to some of the best walking trails in the world.

Coal Miner for a Day

Visitors don helmet and cap lamp for a 300-foot descent in a pit cage down a mineshaft into the endless darkness of a former working coalmine at Big Pit National Coal Museum. The Big Pit is the focal point of the South Wales Blaenafon Industrial Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized for its pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution.

visitwales.com | walesinfo@visitbritain.org | 1-800-959-2537.

Edited by Ellen Schofield