Walking Wales the smart way

Hike, News — By Outdoor Adventure Guide on May 4, 2012 at 2:15 pm

The new Wales Coastal Path is already clocking up a number of firsts: the only path to cover an entire country’s coast, longest trail in the UK and now one more; the first to use QR barcodes to gives walkers with smartphones more information on the path.

The Conwy section of the path features hundreds QR barcodes in 37 locations on waymarkers, walls and buildings along the length of the trail.

History points has installed the codes, know as HiPoints, to allow visitors to receive instant information about the features or landscapes around them. It’s also very helpful for non-welsh-speaking visitors, can pronounce the tongue-twisting Welsh place names such as Pen Llithrig y Wrach and Dwygyfylchi!

Rhodri Clark, founder of HistoryPoints, said: “Our initial project was designed to provide historical information via QR codes on all kinds of interesting features in and around the town of Conwy, from buildings and feats of civil engineering down to individual trees and memorials.

The feedback and enthusiasm we encountered have encouraged us to expand the project along the coast. We hope our project will enrich people’s experiences as they walk along Conwy’s beautiful and varied coastline ”

Highlights of the Conwy section include:

Britain’s smallest house – and its smallest church
The place where the first book in Wales was printed – in a cave, illegally
The headland where King Richard II was ambushed
Wales’ longest pier
A prehistoric stone circle, near a quarry which produced axe heads for people across Britain around 3000BC
A haunted pub where the smell of vanilla is said to be a bad omen

For more information on Conwy’s Coastal HiPoints,visit HistoryPoints.org