lying off the main road, but approached by a lane, appears on the left. It contains a church well worth visiting, inasmuch as the superb rood-screen is among the finest in the British Isles. It is of early Perpendicular work, and the loft above is quite perfect except for the actual rood and the figures of saints. A good roof and an interesting Norman font should also be noticed.
THE BIRD ROCK
may be seen from this point, an isolated crag of peculiar shape standing up black and dour against the mountains beyond. The weird beauty of the landscape can hardly be overpraised. The road leading straight onwards passes almost underneath the rock, but the main route to the right descends to the bridge over the river, draining the Dysynni Valley, and Tal-y-llyn. Here are some sharp turns, but presently the very narrow road is reached, leading directly to the lake. Passing another vehicle is not an easy matter. The scenery increases in beauty as one progresses, the little railway to the right having scarcely the smallest deteriorating effect upon the valley. The ruins of Castell-y-Bere, formerly one of the largest in Wales, and once visited by Edward I., lie in the adjacent valley to the left, to which the narrow road leads, coming into Abergynolwyn on the left.
TAL-Y-LLYN
Tal-y-llyn is a quarter of a mile in width, and a little over a mile in length. It lies under Cader Idris, although the summit is not visible from it; two great craters, however, carved in its rocky flanks, form a fitting background on the left. In front lies a valley, by ascending which the Cross Foxes Inn is reached, and subsequently Dolgelley. Extravagant praise has been lavished upon the lake by many travellers, but one misses some essentials to claims of exceptional beauty. No quality of mystery appeals to the imagination; the lake does not lie in an appalling neighbourhood of black riven rocks or in a glen of surpassing beauty. All is open, and the whole is seen at one vision. Anglers, however, find Tal-y-llyn an ideal spot. At the farther end of the lake the road, after a branch track to the right by a cottage has been passed, turns to the right up a steep ascent, from whose summit a retrospective view of the lake is perhaps the best obtainable. The road to Corris through Nant Gwgan is pretty, with occasional waterfalls and stone slides from the shoulders of mountains towering hundreds of feet above the pass. The rich browns and greens and subtler shades of grey form charming contrasts of colour. Unfortunately, the lower end of the pass is disfigured by many slate quarries. Upper Corris is strongly reminiscent of Bethesda. A monument is erected here on the left side of the road to Alfred W. Hughes, F.R.C.S., who died in 1900 of fever during the war in South Africa. A quarry railway, with a miniature station and a gauge of 2 feet 3 inches, runs by the side of the road. At Corris, which is a slate-mining town pure and simple, the road trends to the right, and the view becomes less circumscribed as the vale of Afon Dulas widens out. When the Dovey Valley is reached a wide expanse of alluvial land comes into view, through which the river meanders westwards towards its estuary.
MACHYNLLETH
Machynlleth is a spacious and well-built market town and borough with two main streets, wide and pleasant, with well-kept shops, thus forming a marked contrast in that respect to the majority of Welsh towns. It forms one of the centres of the woollen industry of the county, and indulges somewhat in the tanning business as well. The clock-tower is a prominent object; the church has no features of interest worth recording; the Market-house dates only from 1783, and of antiquarian curiosities there are but few. An old black-and-white cottage at the end of Maengwyn Street, which branches off to the left at the chief main street, has 'OWEN PUGH O VXOR 1628' for 'Owen Pugh and wife.' The 'O,' however, is baffling as a conjunction. Opposite are portions of the old Senate-house, the reputed building in which Owen Glendower succeeded in persuading the nobles and commons to acknowledge him Prince of Wales in 1402. Upon the hills surrounding Machynlleth remains occur which appear to indicate that the town was a Roman station, and coins have occasionally been found to confirm this. A good road up the Valley of the Dovey leads to Cemmaes, where the trunk route is again reached.
(For a description of the road from Cemmaes to Dolgelley, see [Section VII].)