Llanberis

“ Travelling towards Snowdon by rail to Llanberis, the scenery changes rapidly from pretty woods and pastures to that of rugged heights, crags, and rock-bound lakes. The mountain valley in which the village lies is commanded by the very ancient Welsh castle of Dolbadarn, once the prison of Owen, the brother of the ill-fated Llewelyn, Lord of Snowdon. Below is the great lake, and beyond the wild Pass of Llanberis, bounded by a “tumultuous chaos of rock and crag, as if Titans in some burst of fury had been rending cliffs and flinging their fragments far and wide.” ”

“ After staying about an hour at Caernarvon we started for Llanberis, a few miles to the east. Llanberis is a small village situated in a valley, and takes its name from Peris, a British saint of the sixth century, son of Helig ab Glanog. ”

“ The vale here contracts, and the grand mountain masses rapidly close in, forming the hollow of “Cwn Llan,” where Snowdon is observed to tower with greater majesty than in any other position. Beneath his darkening front, and encompassed by a noble amphitheatre of mountains, is Plas Gwynant, the truly romantic seat of Mr. Vaudrey. At this precise spot the beauty of the scenery increases wonderfully, and the spectator is lost in an endless variety of rock, and wood, and flood, and mountain. Llanberis Vale may be more sublime, no valley in Wales is equally beautiful. ”

“ But if few speak of the Seiont, there has been unlimited eloquence concerning the grandeur—what the descriptive writers of the last century would have considered the awfulness—of the Llanberis Pass. The point of view has changed whilst the century has been passing away. Where our great-grandfathers spoke of “horrid scenes” we find nowadays glory of colour, and magnificence of form, and all the finer characteristics of mountain beauty. ”

“ By their advice we ascended to the summit of the mountain, the view from which was grand and extensive. To the eastward, a vast country lies beneath, bounded by Cader Idris, the two Arrenigs, and a long range of mountains. Immediately under the lofty eminence upon which we rested, was a small round lake and the pass Ardudwy, which exceeds even the celebrated Llanberis in rugged grandeur. The way by which our new companions ascended was both laborious and dangerous; but they would not have sacrificed the prospect now presented to them on any account. ”

“ Old Llanberis, beyond Llyn Peris, is more picturesque than the new, and contains a church, which is chiefly interesting on account of the graves in the churchyard of those who have lost their lives on Snowdon. The entrance to the famous Pass of Llanberis, between Glyder Fawr and Snowdon, is very impressive, and the narrowness of the valley gives it a distinct character compared with Nant Ffrancon. It is probably the finest mountain defile traversed by a carriage-road in the Principality. A huge mass of rock, which in falling has produced a natural cromlech, is to be seen on the left. ”

“ Llanberis (i.e. 'Church of Peris') , being a station on a railway which has a good service from England, is the most accessible of all the mountain resorts in Wales. As a consequence of these facilities the place is often intolerably overrun, especially during the late summer and autumn. The true lover of the mountains flees the spot, for the day-tripper is a burden and desire fails. Whether the railway will have the power to make things worse in this respect we cannot yet decide, but it seems unlikely. ”

“ The church of Llanberis was, at this time, about a mile from the castle of Dolbadarn, and the road, upon the bridal morning, resembled a mosaic pavement, when viewed from the mountain, it was so thickly studded with the fantastic dresses of the company, spectators, and gay flags and streamers waving in the air. The minstrels struck up their boldest notes of war, or delighted the ears and hearts of the female holiday makers with the soft songs of love. All was mirth, feasting, and jollity, while the air p. 273rung with the combined names of Margaret of Dolbadarn and William of Montgomery. ”

“ It was all very well to be a Llanberis of Cwmgwilt, with twenty generations of ancestors behind him, very well to take pride in the doings of the race when it had been a power in the Welsh Marches, but there was no getting away from the fact that, when Hugh turned his back upon it all, there was very little left beyond the old house and some few thousand barren acres of sheep pasture and some miles of excellent trout-fishing. ”

“ The parish church (Llanbeblig) is some half-mile out of the town, the institutions of which include a town and county hall, a training college, and a gaol for Anglesey and Carnarvonshire jointly. Manufactures in the town are scanty, but Llanberis and Llanllyfni export hence slates, “sets” and copper ore. A steam ferry unites Carnarvon and Tan y foel, Anglesey, while a summer service of steamers runs to Menai Bridge, Bardsey, &c. The borough forms part of a district returning a member to parliament since 1536. ”

“ The tourist is, however, amply gratified, if it happen to be tolerably clear weather, on his arrival at an ancient stone bridge which crosses a stream that tumbles over some black rocks on the right, and winds its way in graceful variety, forming a pleasing spot to rest upon. Looking back towards Llanberis, the mountain scenery is very fine; and I here took my farewell look of Snowdon and Snowdonia.
CAPEL CURIG
Is in the parish of Llandegai. It derives its name from a man who was canonized, and founded a chapel in this mountainous region. He was the son of Llendden Llenddog, of Edinburgh. ”

“ This and the one along the side of Cwm Brwynog, in the Parish of Llanberris, (which we shall hereafter more particularly describe) are considered the two easiest and safest ascents; and along either of which, any person, who is a tolerable horseman, may ride a Welsh Pony, as far as the spot above mentioned.
We shall now conduct the Stranger to the Village of Llanberis, which on account of its singular situation, at the end of a Lake, in a narrow Vale, nearly at the foot of Snowdon, is well worth his attention. The distance from Carnarvon is about ten miles ”

“ SNOWDON (Wyddfa, view-place, Eryri, eagle-place) , the highest elevation in N. Wales. It is formed chiefly of slates, grits and porphyries of the Cambrian and Silurian systems. It consists of five “ribs” converging at the summit, 3560 ft. above sea-level. Between these lie such depressions as Cwm Glas (blue or green vale) to the N., and Cwm y llan (clearing, town or church vale) to the S. Snowdon is demarcated from the surrounding hills by passes famous for their scenery, such as that of Llanberis (q.v.) ”

“ For one thing, I like to watch the Welsh and Lancashire folk together; that's been very amusing. And then, it's not often you get the chance of seeing a whole development quite so concisely epitomised as we've had it here. Llanyglo started from practically nothing, and it's grown to this before John Willie Garden has a single grey hair on his head (though, to be sure, that cowslip colour doesn't show grey very much) . ”

“ After a delightful day’s ramble amongst this wild and sublime scenery, I returned to the inn at Capel Curig, and on the following morning took the road to Llanrwst, which in a short time becomes particularly interesting. The dark and comfortless sterility is exchanged for a delightful valley, with luxuriant woods, which stretch to the summit of the hills upon either side; and near the two mile stone is one of the most picturesque cottages imaginable, placed on the side of a hill above the bridge, which crosses the river Llugwy, and gives additional beauty to the romantic dell. ”

“ Yesterday I came here by the ferry over the Severn. Lady Llanover’s old ramshackle carriage met me at the Nantyderry Station, and brought me to Llanover. I had received endless solemn warnings about what I was to say and not to say here, what to do and not to do; but with a person of whom one is not likely to see much in after life, one never feels any alarm. Lady Llanover is very small and has been very pretty. We have a mutual bond in our love for her sister, whose memory is enshrined in her inmost heart with that of her mother, Mrs. Waddington, to whom she was quite passionately devoted. ”

“ At Llanidloes we leave the banks of the Severn, and, climbing all the way, pass through a prettily wooded gorge into the valley of another famous river—the river that is more renowned for beauty than any other in England—the Wye. But here at Llangurig the Wye has few charms, for we are at the foot of bleak Plynlimmon, and the river flows through a somewhat dull [Pg 140] country that is neither fertile nor wild. Llangurig itself is a desolate, chilly little place, but it has a nice inn; and I believe the fishing is good. ”

“ The Viceroys of the p. 7sister kingdom, as well as the nobility, seem to regard Llangollen as a favourite resting-place, in passing from one country to the other.
Mountains and hills enclose the town on every side. On the south, the Berwyn Mountains raise their lofty heads. On the north, Castell Dinas Bran, vulgarly called Crow Castle, seated on its conical summit, frowns over the town in ruined grandeur, and is backed with the vast and wonderful range of lime-stone, which forms a ridge stratum super stratum, and is called the Eglwyseg Rocks. ”

“ If the poets had spared it their fine speeches, and their compliments fledged with suave metre, Llangollen could be appraised with a fresher eye and admired to the utmost of its mild deserving without antagonism and without disappointment. Also, if it is seen on the way into Wales instead of on the way out of it, it will occupy with fitting distinction its place in the crescendo of Welsh scenery, undiscounted by the coming fortissimo: to be one of the last notes in a diminuendo is quite a different thing. ”

“ The attraction of North Wales, by its romantic scenery, the antiquity of its language, and the well authenticated records of its desperate struggle for independence, renders every part of the Principality interesting, and perhaps none more so than the beautifully picturesque town and neighbourhood of Llangollen, which have deservedly excited the attention and admiration of a vast number of strangers and antiquarians. ”

“ Had Llanyglo remained a hamlet, or had it grown merely reasonably and within measure, the death even of Belle Lovell would have been an event; now, with towns in Lancashire half-emptied (he had seen it that morning, Llanyglo black and boiling like a cauldron of pitch with the people of the Wakes) —now such simple happenings passed unnoticed. Belle had died a year before, but that was not the reason Ynys wore black. She wore black because black was the livery of Philip Lacey's Liverpool flower-shop girls. Black showed up the flowers to better advantage. ”

“ We collected the cup and some other scattered valuables, and then, while the flies closed in round us, we began the long strife with straps and buckles. The Tommies sidled, stamped, and snapped ungovernably; while the flies devoured us and them impartially, the girths were dragged to their last holes, the hold-alls repacked and strapped on again, and the reign of suffering that ceased not till our journey’s end was fairly inaugurated.
Cannoffice was our destination, Llanfair was to be our stopping-place for tea. I almost hesitate to mention that Llanfair is but seven miles from Welshpool ”

“ At the foot of the crag on which Dinas Bran is perched lies Llangollen—a little town that owes its charm entirely to its position. Only a few miles away, in Shropshire, an ugly house is an exception: in Wales it is unfortunately the rule. A town or village that is really pretty in itself, apart from its surroundings, is almost unknown. ”

“ But this, though the modern reality of South Lancashire, is not what the tourist [83] goes out to see. From Liverpool to Furness Abbey is his natural and joyful route. He steams at full speed up this richest, most prosperous, and well-nigh most unattractive part of England; he has left the Mersey, the county's southern boundary, far behind; he crosses the Ribble, which flows through the centre of Lancashire, and the Lune, which enters it from Westmoreland on the north and soon empties into Morecambe Bay. ”

“ Llandudno (6) , a fashionable watering-place at the foot of Great Ormes Head, Carnarvon, frequented by people from Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Llanelly (32) , a manufacturing seaport in Carmarthenshire for shipping coal, iron, and copper.
Llanos, vast level plains twice the size of Great Britain in the N. of South America, in the basin of the Orinoco, covered in great part with tall grass and stocked in the rainy season with herds of cattle; during the dry season they are a desert. ”

“ There from miles around—and if you wish to see a Welsh market you cannot do better than to go to Llanrwst, for during centuries it has had a great reputation as a place of barter—there from miles around, the Welsh peasants gather, and there you will see [181] Welsh household articles which you could not find in any shop. There is much in Llanrwst worth taking a glimpse at, the old bridge built by Inigo Jones which would be enough to send a well-regulated motor car to the madhouse, but from the artist point of view is still useful ”

“ There are a good many things about Llanyglo now that I've had to keep out of my Guide, you see. But I'll tell you what I can.
"And I don't want to give you any false impression. Don't forget that scores and hundreds of families come here and bathe, and picnic, and dance, and go for drives, and enjoy themselves, and go away again without a notion that everybody here isn't exactly like themselves. And there's no harm in the Wakes people either. ”