Route 66 Wales – South Wales, the South West and the Cotswolds
Our ‘’Route 66 Wales’’ transfer tour is a great way to link a few days in the southwest of England or the Cotswolds with your stay in North Wales.
Instead of taking the direct route via the motorways of the industrial heartland of England, we take a tour of Wales from south to north, passing through some of the best scenery that Wales has to offer.
The gateway to South Wales is via The Prince of Wales bridge. At just over 3 miles long, the bridge crosses the treacherous Bristol Channel which has the second-highest tidal range in the world.
After skirting Cardiff, we head north passing towns made famous by the coal and iron. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, in the late 1700s, 4 of the largest ironworks in the world operated in this valley.
Continuing north we cross the Brecon Beacon mountain range before dropping down into the Wye Valley and following the river to Builth Wells, home of the annual Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.
Next, we head into sparsely populated uplands, through dense forests, over mountain roads and alongside valleys flooded to create the great reservoirs of Mid Wales. Soon we arrive at the little town of Machynlleth, site of the first independent Welsh Parliament during the last great Welsh uprising led by Owain Glyndwr.
We continue to head north past disused slate mines towards the giant bulk of Cadair Idris, watch out for fighter jets overhead – this area is one of the main low-level training grounds in Europe.
We now head west to take in a beautiful section of Cardigan Bay with beaches of golden sand stretching as far as the eye can see and the mountains of Snowdonia looming in the distance. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Harlech Castle appears perched on a clifftop overlooking the Irish sea. We then turn back inland to drive through the high mountains of Snowdonia towards the north coast and the completion our Celtic odyssey.
Use this transfer day to get you to or from Cardiff, Bath, the South West or the Cotswolds.
