The National Park is providing generous help for the Festival by enabling its rangers to lead some of the walks. One pub walk offers an experience which will be especially memorable. In past years some visitors have described it as unique. The pub walk for welsh speakers and learners includes a visit to Bessie's in the Gwaun Valley. Bessie has become the stuff of legend, a link to a vanished or at least a fast disappearing rural past. The practices and rituals of country life in the hills and outlying areas survive but they are under threat. Bessie reflects the reality of that past. "We drank beer, ate some crisps, sat in the sun and it is an experience we won't forget," said a visitor from the U.S.A. "The beer is better than all this junk lager they serve up in cans." There are stories about Bessie and visits to her pub which now reach around the world. With them goes an affection for Bessie, her pub, her beer and for the the uniqueness of the personality that lies behind them.