Holywell, United Kingdom

A place of pilgrimage for thirteen hundred years, HOLYWELL (Treffynnon) comes billed as "The Lourdes of Wales" – but without the tacky souvenir stalls. The cause of all the fuss is St Winefride's Well (daily: April– Sept 9am–5.30pm; Oct– March 10am–4pm; 60p), a calm pool capacious enough to accommodate the dozens of the faithful who dutifully wade through the waters three times in the hope of curing their ailments, a relic of the Celtic baptism by triple immersion. The spring was first noted by the Romans, who used the waters to relieve rheumatism and gout. The traditional legend, however, states that in around 660, the virtuous Winefride (Gwenfrewi in Welsh) was decapitated here after resisting the amorous advances of Prince Caradoc; the well is said to have sprung up at the spot where her head fell. Richard I and Henry V provided regal patronage, ensuring a steady flow of believers to what became one of the great shrines of Christendom, and James II came here to pray for a son and heir. St Winefride's Chapel (key from the ticket office; Web: www.cadw.wales.gov.uk ), built around 1500, encloses three sides of the well. On St Winefride's Day (the nearest Sunday to June 22), a couple of thousand pilgrims are led through the streets behind a relic, part of Winefride's thumb-bone.