Anthony Bailey went for a long walk in Wales. He shouldered his backpack one spring day and set out from south to north to look at the land and talk to people. As is his way, in the course of enjoying the terrain and encountering native Welsh and incoming English, Bailey discovered a past country, too - out of which hymns, poems, and legend still reverberate and a tradition of resistance to invaders continues to inspire allegiance.Bailey followed no set route. In the warm Welsh sun and wet Welsh rain he sauntered and strode along city streets, Roman roads, mountain paths, country lanes, and coastal cliffs and beaches. He stayed in B-and-Bs, small hotels, and hostels. Whether in primary schools or village pubs, hill farms or mining communities, in conversations with sheep shearers or professors, with Welsh patriots or refugees from urban England, Bailey gets close to a land which has both a tantalizing foreignness and endearing familiarity.For lovers of the elements at their most exhilarating, for enthusiasts of the small-of-scale (whether in mountains or railways), and for readers simply curious about Welshness today: a book to be informed and enchanted by. Read Less