There is very good fishing in this neighbourhood, at a lake called Llyn-y-Dinas, about two miles from Beddgelert; the fish are good for the table, of the weight of about half a pound; however, trouts of five or six pounds weight have been taken. There are two boats kept by Robert Roberts; the flat-bottomed one is considered the better and safer for angling. Another lake appears, somewhat smaller, called Llyn Gwynnant, which has been injured by being netted, but still affords fair sport for the angler.
BETTWS-Y-COED,
(Caernarvonshire.)
| Capel Curig | 5 |
| Cerniogau Mawr | 9½ |
| Llanrwst | 4 |
Bettws-y-Coed (or Station in the Wood), a small village, pleasantly situated on the Shrewsbury and Holyhead road, not far distant from the junction of the Llugwy and the Conway. The church stands in a little cemetery in the centre of the vale, enclosed by a few stately forest trees, and forms a venerable and interesting object. It contains an old monument in memory of Griffith, the son of David Gôch, who was a natural son of David, brother to Llywelyn, the last prince of Wales. He died in the fourteenth century, and is here represented by a large armed recumbent figure in a recess in the north wall. On one side of the figure, there is yet left this inscription,—“Hic jacet Gruffydd ap Davyd Gôch: Agnus Dei, misere mei.” Within a mile distant is a bridge, consisting of a single arch of iron, of 105 feet in the span, and called the Waterloo Bridge from the circumstance of its having been erected in the same year in which the battle of Waterloo was fought. It carries the Holyhead road over the Conway.
Near Bettws-y-Coed is also Pont-y-Pair, a most singular bridge, flung over the Llugwy, consisting of four arches, placed on the rude rocks, which form most durable piers. These rocks are precipitous, and in high floods exhibit to the passenger most awful cataracts below the bridge. The scenery beyond, composed of rocky mountains fringed with woods, is very striking. The river Conway affords good salmon and trout fishing. The remarkably picturesque character of this district is particularly attractive to artists who delight to make sketches from scenes of natural beauty and grandeur.
CADER IDRIS,
(Merionethshire.)
| Dolgelley | 5 |
| Dinas Mowddwy | 11 |
| Machynlleth | 13 |
| Towyn | 15 |
These distances are computed from the summit of Cader Idris.
The mountain of Cader Idris, in height the second in Wales, rises upon the sea-shore, close upon the northern side of the estuary of the small river Disynwy, about a mile from Towyn. It proceeds with almost a constant ascent, first northward for about three miles, then for ten miles further runs E. N. E., giving out from its summit a branch nearly three miles long in a south-westerly direction, parallel to the main ridge. It is very steep and craggy on every side, but the southern descent, especially to the border of Tal-y-llyn lake, is the most precipitous, being nearly perpendicular. Its breadth bears but a small proportion to its length, a line passing along its base, and intersecting the summit, would scarcely equal four miles and a half; and in the other parts it is a mere ridge, whose base hardly ever exceeds one mile in breadth.
Cader Idris is the beginning of a chain of primitive mountains, extending in a N. N. E. direction, and including the Arrans and Arrenigs. It is much loftier and more craggy than the slate and secondary mountains which surround it. Dolgelley is the place from which the ascent to this mountain is usually made.