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Rock Band Cardinal Black Recommends Welsh Travel Sites
Welsh rock band Cardinal Black poses triumphantly after their first concert in New York City at a sold-out Gramercy Theatre. Cedric Perrier
Most American travelers are unfamiliar with the riches of South Wales Valleys in Wales. They are very familiar, though, to the members of Cardinal Black, a Welsh rock band that performed a stellar debut concert in New York this month before a sold-out audience at the Gramercy Theatre and then embarked on a U.S. and Canadian tour that ends Aug. 30.
'It's a picturesque part of the world with a strong national identity and an abundance of character, history and heart,' says Chris Buck, Cardinal Black's super-talented guitarist who, like all the band members, hails from the region. 'There'll be a welcome (for Americans) in the hillsides.'
There are several can't-miss sites in South Wales Valleys, Buck says. The region, located north of the English border and Welsh cities Cardiff and Swansea, extends about 60 miles from Carmarthenshire in the west to Monmouthshire in the east.
'Even though I've been there innumerable times,' Buck says, Big Pit, our national coal museum in Blaenavon, always has a profound impact to see the dangerous, claustrophobic conditions that my grandfather and great grandfather worked in for most of their lives. There's also the Roman fortress in Caerleon, one of the best-preserved examples of a Roman amphitheater in the United Kingdom.'
The South Wales Valleys, according to the Welsh tourism website offer 'big green spaces that are perfect for walking and mountain biking.'
The website suggests a visit to Aberdare, a town dubbed 'Queen of the Hills' that sits 'at the base of a wide and grand valley.' The town has quaint cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars and is 'the cradle of the British film industry,' where filmmaker William Haggard produced more than 30 films.
Members of the Welsh rock band Cardinal Black take in the sights at Newgale Beach in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Lewys Mann
About 23 miles south of Aberdare and just south of South Wales Valleys, Buck recommends a visit to St. Fagan's National Museum of History in Cardiff, Wales' capital and largest city. The museum is located four miles west of the city center.
'It has dozens of meticulously relocated historic Welsh buildings,' he says, 'including a cenotaph commemorating, amongst others, my great uncle who was shot down and killed over Berlin (in World War II) in 1945.'
Cardiff Castle is 'a notable part of Cardiff's history and skyline, reportedly first commissioned by William the Conqueror and with remains from the Norman and Victorian eras,' Buck says. 'It's also a pretty epic place for a first gig, as we found out in late 2021! Maybe we should go back!'
Caerphilly Castle, about a 20-minute drive north of Cardiff Castle, is the biggest Welsh castle and worth a visit, Buck says. It also was a good place for a high school prom, he adds.
Buck and his wife had their wedding reception at The Skirrid Inn in the Brecon Beacons mountain range adjacent to South Wales Valleys.
'At nearly a thousand years old, it is Wales' oldest pub and one of my favorite places in the world,' he says. 'It has a slightly macabre history, having been frequented by the infamous Hanging Judge Jeffreys, who presided over the execution of seemingly every petty criminal in Wales in the 17th Century. The subsequent rope burns are still visible on the wooden beam in the pub's stairwell, and, perhaps not surprisingly, it's reported that the pub is prodigiously haunted. Granted, it's not your typical tourist destination, but it's fairly indicative of Wales' varied and sometimes dark history.'
Brecon Beacons National Park includes four mountain ranges, according to and is 'full of grassy moorlands, heather-clad escarpments and old red sandstone peaks, softened by weather and time.' The park has more than 2,000 miles of footpaths and is a favorite of mountain bikers.
Outside his home region, Buck has other recommendations for travelers to Wales.
'West Wales, particularly Pembrokeshire, has always been a firm favorite for family holidays, not just my own, but pretty much every family east of Swansea!' he exclaims. 'Joking aside, it's an extremely beautiful part of the world and home to St. David's, the U.K's smallest, quaintest city.'
Members of Cardinal Black (left to right), vocalist Tom Hollister, guitarist Chris Buck and drummer Adam Roberts, stand behind the Welsh flag in West Wales. Lewys Mann
Since starting his own family, Buck has a newfound appreciation of Tenby, a town known for its harbor and beaches about a tw0-hour drive west of Cardiff.
'Although fairly touristy, it's a quirky, incredibly pretty little seaside town,' he says. 'Further north (more than a three-hour drive from Tenby), Snowdonia National Park is stunningly beautiful and home to Wales' highest peak. The Wye Valley on the Wales-England border is also incredibly scenic and home to Tintern Abbey. For all its beauty, Tintern Abbey will always make me think of overhearing someone in an adjacent pub inform children that the Luftwaffe was responsible for its state of disrepair, despite Henry VIII having beaten them to it by some 400 years.'
Laugharne, about a 90-minute drive northwest of Cardiff, was the home of poet Dylan Thomas, and visitors can see the Boathouse where he worked.
'I'm convinced that, at some point on the drive into Laugharne, you pass through a portal that takes you back into 1950,' Buck says. 'You're transported to a simpler, bygone era replete with charming cafes, bookshops, pubs and Dylan's Boathouse and writing shed. Browns Hotel may not be the dingy, smoke-filled boozer of Dylan's era, but Laugharne still has a character and charm uniquely its own.'
Browns Hotel was Thomas's favorite local pub. When he lived in New York, he loved the White Horse Tavern, which apparently reminded him of the Laugharne pub.
Cardinal Black's visit to New York was brief—the band headed to Toronto a day after its sold-out New York concert—but Buck noticed some similarities between the Big Apple and Cardiff.
'Obviously, they're world's apart in terms of scale,' he explains. 'New York's a global metropolis; Cardiff's a small capital city of a country with half the population of New York City. I only had a few days in New York City, but I got a feel for a similar sense of local pride in its identity.
'I spoke to no end of New Yorkers excited to tell me about their city and offer advice on where to visit,' Buck continues. 'You'll encounter a similar enthusiasm for their city from someone from Cardiff, especially around (soccer) match days or gigs in the stadium. Oasis recently opened their comeback tour at Cardiff's Principality Stadium, and the atmosphere in Cardiff around that show was electric. There was definitely a vibrancy and energy around Cardiff that I sensed, however fleetingly, in New York.'
Cardinal Black concludes its North American tour Aug. 30 in Camino, California, and, heading back to the United Kingdom, Buck will have fond memories of New York City.
'I fell head over heels in love with it,' he says. 'Admittedly, a truly memorable sold-out show at the Gramercy Theatre probably predisposed me to like the place a little more, but there's something so impactful about rounding a corner and being confronted with buildings and places that you've only ever seen in films. It's truly iconic and awe-inspiring. I'm looking forward to going back when we have a little more time to actually soak in the city and not run around collecting backline (equipment needed for a live show). First dates of a tour are always a little hectic, and it's a shame those dates fell while in a city that I'm so desperate to see.'
