The Cambrian Directory [1800]; Or, Cursory Sketches of the Welsh Territories.: With a Chart, Comprehending at One View, the Advisable Route, Best Inns, Distances, and Objects Most Worthy of Attention. — John Shaqi
The Cambrian Directory [1800]; Or, Cursory Sketches of the Welsh Territories.: With a Chart, Comprehending at One View, the Advisable Route, Best Inns, Distances, and Objects Most Worthy of Attention.Anonymous
History
The Cambrian Directory [1800]; Or, Cursory Sketches of the Welsh Territories.: With a Chart, Comprehending at One View, the Advisable Route, Best Inns, Distances, and Objects Most Worthy of Attention.
Anonymous
Wales -- Guidebooks
Our intended route for this day being very short, we did not leave
Tan-y-bwlch till after breakfast, and even then lingered through the
valley, to take one last adieu of this paradisiacal spot; the Dryryd
serpentizing through the meadows, and the lively green of the swelling
declivities on each side, beautifully contrasted with the ripening corn.
From the vast quantity of ore we discovered, I am inclined to believe,
that any spirited speculator would find it amply repay him for the
expences and labour attending his speculations. The vale of Festiniog,
not exceeding three miles long, and one in breadth, is a very rich tract
of land.
An extremely rough, rocky, and unpleasant road, with nothing to engage
our attention; and the country uncultivated, and diverted of every thing
that gives, even the shadow of civilization, brought us to the far-famed
Pont Aber-glaslyn, or, _The Bridge of the Harbour of the Blue Lake_; and
not uncommonly styled, the _Devil’s Bridge_. This last appellation has
very frequently misled strangers, who, confounding it with the well-known
bridge at Havod, have been much disappointed, their expectations being
raised very high, from the general descriptions of that place. Of this,
indeed, we found an instance on the very spot. This bridge connects the
two counties of Merionethshire and Caernarvonshire; being, from the
parapet to the water, forty feet. From the description of former
tourists, it did not answer our expectations; but the salmon-leap is an
interesting object from the bridge: the height is about fifteen feet; and
though we observed very many attempt this surprising feat of agility, not
one succeeded. Some fishermen below soon excited our curiosity, and
salmon was here offered for sale at three-pence per pound.
An intelligent man here offered himself as our guide to the rich
Copper-mines, in the vicinity of Pont Aber-Glaslyn. This miner, having
worked both here and at the Paris mountain, confidently asserted, that
one pound of this ore was now esteemed equivalent to twice the quantity,
produced in Anglesea. Stupendous cliffs, by the road side, literally
rise eight hundred and sixty feet perpendicularly, and hang in the most
capricious forms over the torrent, which, straggling amongst the recesses
of stone, is hastening forward to disembogue itself into the estuary of
Traeth Mawr. The pass is not more than seventy feet; after much rain it
is entirely inundated by the overflowings of the Glaslyn, which
reflected, as in a mirror, the blackness of the impending cliffs. On the
Caernarvonshire side are several lead mines; but they have not proved
sufficiently rich, to reward the labour of working.
The situation of our Inn at
BEDDGELERT,
is very romantic, and would form an interesting drawing, by taking in a
small bridge of two arches below the house. It is completely encircled
by lofty mountains, which may be considered as subject to the “cloud-capt
Snowdon.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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