Wales is rolling moorlands, glaciated mountain areas, mellifluous male-voice choirs, very long place names, Rugby Union, 'Bread of Heaven', romantic castles, people with querying lilts, cheese on toast and old mining towns. Wales is also rampant deforestation, marching power lines and the gradual replacement of 19th-century mining ugliness with late 20th-century industrial playgrounds. The backbone behind this strange mixture of beauty and ugliness, poignancy and affliction is Welshness - a strength of spirit and character which despite centuries of neglect and attempted assimilation remains defiant.