Wild Wales Tours: Guides
Wild Wales Tours, LLC
Greetings Friends!
Wild Wales Tours has been created to educate North Americans and others interested in experiencing Welsh history, culture and heritage from a Welsh perspective. I was born in Wales and Welsh was my first language until I entered high school. After high school, I joined the Royal Air Force, travelling in Asia, Europe, North Africa, the West Indies, and I arrived in the United States in 1975. I have lived in Maine, Rhode Island, California, Washington and, for the past twenty-six years, in the great state of Minnesota.
Hywel "Taff" Roberts
Hywel is the Director of Wild Wales Tours & Walkabouts is a Storyteller, Adventurer, Sailor, Film Director, Naturalist and an avid hiker. One of his most recent documentary films “Attempting the North West Passage” can be viewed here under media-documentary button. Hywel is a native of Wales, speaks fluent Welsh and is passionate about his homeland and the Welsh culture. He lives in rural Minnesota on the Mississippi river.
Elen is a fully qualified Blue Badge Wales guide. After graduating in Zoology, she taught Biology and a became a Teacher Trainer in science. She has worked as a tour guide in the British Isles and all over Europe. A keen mountain walker, she holds a Mountain Leader qualification, and is a volunteer warden on Mount Snowdon during the summer months. She is completely fluent in English and Welsh, and is also a French speaker. Elen is married with three children and lives in the north west of Wales, a stronghold for Welsh culture.
Elen Huws
Twm Elias, Storyteller, naturalist, historian, academic, and author of many books from the Trail of the Drovers, Marsh & Mountain flowers of Wales to Smugglers of Wales Explored will be joining us for our ten day trip around Wales, September 14-23, 2020!
The 2019 prestigious National Eisteddfod Science and Technology Medal was awarded to Twm Elias, Nebo, Gwynedd, for his lifelong contribution to science through the medium of Welsh.
Mair Tomos Ifans
Scott Lloyd works for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales at the National Library of Wales. He has served on the committee of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society. In his recent book "The Arthurian Place Names of Wales" he traces associations back to their original sources for more than a hundred and fifty sites in Wales, dating back from the 9th century. Scott lives near Aberystwyth in Mid Wales.
Mair Tomos Ifans is a storyteller, singer, scriptwriter and harpist. The harp is the National instrument of Wales. Mair weaves her Welsh legends and myths with folk songs and airs played on her triple or lap harp. She has won awards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and was awarded the prestigious Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship in 1992.Mair and her family, two dogs and three chickens live in Dinas Mawddy in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park.
Gareth Roberts
Gareth is a Photographer, Writer, Walk Leader and Storyteller who has published over 50 history maps of Wales. He also contributes photographs for astronomy magazines and his book of night photography ‘The Stars in their Tenderness’ was published in 2011. Gareth regularly appears on radio and TV programs in his native Wales. He and his family live in the midst of the Snowdonia National Park.
These tours have been created for people who hate tours. The focus of our trips will be to visit Wales at a slower pace. We will be supporting the local economy and promoting the Welsh language by working with businesses that promote all things Welsh. You will not have large buses, nametags, large groups or hurried stops, but you will have rich and meaningful experiences. Along the way, guides and experts in all things Welsh will join us. Most afternoons we will be stopping for a cup of tea, coffee and some locally baked goods, with no more than two hours on the bus.
During the day we will take in incredible sights, including Snowdonia National Park, castles, abbey ruins, Roman structures, Pryseli Hills, antique shops, rugged coastlines with crashing waves and sandy beaches. Many of the woodlands will be carpeted with Bluebells in June, and September will bring purple heather on the mountains. By night we will wine and dine in pubs and inns, taking in the sounds of local choirs, traditional folk music and storytelling. With us you will not be another face in the crowd; you will have the opportunity to mingle with the locals.
I will be your tour director. Our bus company is a Welsh business, and our driver is also a Welsh speaker. If you are not careful, you might learn some Welsh along the way! The tours will be relaxed and intimate. Our small group of around 20 will make it possible to be open to the unexpected, such as an unplanned concert, a local festival, market day or a fair. We can keep some options open since not everything will be set in stone.
I hope you will join us on at least one of these memorable 10 day/9 night tours in 2019 or 2020. Attached is the basic information for the tours being offered.
Since our limit is twenty people per tour, reserve your seat early!
Please contact me at 1-507-458- 8637.
Very sincerely,
Hywel “Taff” Roberts
Tour Director, Wild Wales Tours LLC
