The route to Llangurig commences in Aberystwyth, in Northgate Street, and runs through Llanbadarn. At Pont Erwydd a road leads south to the Devil's Bridge, fifteen miles, a feature which should not on any account be missed.
An alternative route, eleven and three-quarter miles to the bridge, is a part of the direct road to Rhayader.
(a) First Route, the Pont Erwydd.—Road level for first six miles, then rise to 1,027 feet; hilly.
Llanbadarn.—Church much restored.
Bangor to Goginan.—Lead-mines have destroyed scenery. A wild country around Pont Erwydd, where the route turns to the right.
(b) Alternative Route.—The direct road to Devil's Bridge commences in Bridge Street, crosses the harbour, and passes under the railway.
About five miles out Cader Idris appears, twenty miles away to the left. The view afterwards into the Rheidol Valley is very fine. The highest point of the road, 989 feet above sea-level, commands a fine view of the two peaks of Plynlimmon. Castell-fan-Crach is a prehistoric earthwork.
The Devil's Bridge is situated in what is probably the finest and most picturesque glen in the British Isles; the approach to it by either of the roads described gives only a slight idea of its merits. The monks of Strata Florida Abbey are supposed to have built the arch in the time of Rufus; the second bridge dates from 1814. The Devil's Punch Bowl, the Robbers' Cave, and the Falls of the Rheidol, should be seen.
The road to Llangurig from Pont Erwydd leads through a bare valley containing a large number of abandoned lead-mines—the dead hopes of thousands of sanguine speculators. The highest point of the road, 1,368 feet, is only two and a half miles from the summit of Plynlimmon (2,469 feet high), about two miles from the source of the Wye, and four miles from that of the Severn. The mountain is dull and uninteresting, being more of a flat spreading lump than a peak, and has extensive tracts of bog-land and marsh. Descending towards Llangurig, the Wye is crossed near an inn, and accompanies the road down the valley, which is cultivated to a certain extent in its lower portion. At Llangurig the main route is reached between Llanidloes and Rhayader.
(For a description of the 30½ miles between Llangurig and Cemmaes, see [Section VII].)