The London Welshman

IN LOVELY WALES. VII.—DOLGELLEY AND CADER IDRIS. Christopher North once said to a friend, Did you ever see anything so beautiful as a Welsh valley? We have higher mountains in Scotland, finer scenery about the more beautiful English lakes, though the mountains are not quite as high as in Wales, but neither the North DOLGELLEY AND CADER IDRIS. -1 'Of England, nor Scotland-no, nor all Switzer- hl,nd-can exhibit anything so tranquil, romantic, Snug, and beautiful as a Welsh valley. There is Pithing like it, I believe, in the whole world." ^ovv, if there be any valley in Wales that more han another deserves that high praise, it is the /alley of the Wnion, in which, about ten miles j^land from Barmouth, stands the old, irregular, ut historic town of Dolgelley, and it happens ftat this is the very valley he had in his mind. The architecture of the town has been escribed very quaintly by some one who took a andful of pebbles and threw them up into the air, and, after they had dropped, said, "Suppose house grown wherever a pebble fell, you will ave a very fair idea of the style of Dolgelley." +K ^e' Perhaps, a little more regular now n it was years ago, some new houses having tlfen and some new streets made, but, on e whole, the description holds good still. It Worth a visit on account of its unfashionable- ess- And the visitor there will hear the curfew .t, ng in the evening at nine o'clock—a custom does not survive in hardly any other town in Wales. ^Many well-known persons besides Professor fo1 nn' already referred to, have shown partiality r Dolgelley, such as Tennyson, Mark Lemon, Charles Kean, and Mrs. Piozzi, to name only a few. And all these have left behind them testi- monies to the loveliness of the place. To mention all the beauties of the district of which the town is the centre would require not a page, but a volume. The chief attraction is Cader Idris, perhaps, the most convenient ascent to the second mountain in Wales being from there. Cader is almost three thousand feet high, and not at all difficult to ascend. As for grandeur, it ranks second to none. Many enthusiasts will have it that Snowdon must give prece- dence to Cader Idris for majestic ruggedness. Whether Idris was a warrior, a philoso- pher, or an astronomer, we cannot say but whichever he wanted, a fortress, or a chair, or an observatory, he could not have chosen a better situation. There is a tradi- tion associated with a stone near the summit, that if a man sleeps on it for a night he will either die before morn- ing, or, if he lives to awake, he will awake either a poet or a madman. Mrs. Hemans has made the tradition the subject of an exquisite poem. ihe view from the summit in. every direction is in- describable, but we venture to say that no one who has climbed the six miles from the town to the great cairn on the top will ever regret the toil. He will look down upon practically the whole of North and Central Wales. Hills and valleys, rivers and lakes innumerable will greet him. Of the almost number- less delightful and romantic walks within easy reach of Dolgelley, the two most famous are the Torrent Walk and the Precipice Walk. The Torrent Walk begins less than two miles from the town in an easterly direction. It is about a mile long. it runs through a wood, and mounts, sometimes by steps and sometimes by path, up the side of the Clywedog stream. The sight of the torrent, especially after heavy rain, bounding over and between the immense boul- ders beneath is very fine, ders beneath is very tine, and the sound, on a hot day, most delightful. Every step and crevice are adorned by ferns and wild flowers. The Precipice Walk is northerly direction, and should on no account be missed, unless the visitor is subject to giddiness. Even in that case, he ought to go as far along it as he can. It makes the circuit of Moel Gynwch, about three miles from the town. The Walk is altogether another three miles, though the Precipice proper is not more than a third of that length. Though the path is broad and even, still it is so high up, and the slope to the bottom of the valley beneath so precipitous in some places, that many people cannot do the whole circuit. But the view is simply magnificent. Below and on towards the north for seven miles runs the narrow but most beautiful valley of Ganllwyd, and beyond are the lofty hills and mountains, rising gallery upon gallery, cul- minating in Rhobell Fawr, 2,400 feet high. Through the passes between the mountains glimpses of the hills of Festiniog may be had. In the other direction there are Cader Idris and the Mawddach Estuary as far as Barmouth. We do not think there is in Europe a finer view than that to be obtained from that end of Precipice Walk over opposite the village of Llanelltyd. We must not omit the waterfalls. These are in the upper Ganllwyd Valley. They are three in number, Rhaiadr Du, Rhaiadr Mawddach, and Pistyll Cain. We have no space to dwell upon their beauties, but the walk of every one is as full of delight as the wildest imagination may wish. Close to Rhaiadr Mawddach and Pistyll y Cain are the gold mines that have become so well-known during recent years. The district around Dolgelley is dotted NEAR FESTINIOG.