Wales

Griff Rhys Jones returns to the land of his forefathers in the first of his series exploring the mountains of Britain.

According to Welsh legends, the mountains of Snowdonia were created by angry giants, inhabited by dragons and made battlegrounds by King Arthur. Now, the battle being fought isn't between legendary creatures but between mountains and man.

With a railway taking visitors to the summit of Snowdon, it would be easy to assume these hills have already been lost. But Griff discovers that the mountains continue to protect a fragile ecology despite the best efforts of us humans. This beautiful corner of Wales is the most southerly home of rare arctic plants and wild horses, whose ancestors have roamed Snowdonia for 2,000 years. Griff meets people who respect the mountains' fragility, including an extraordinary climber of the old slate quarries, entrepreneurs making paper from sheep droppings and a member of the 1953 Everest expedition, who began climbing long before millions of pairs of feet took the mountains for granted.