(The Pool of the Fort), a lake about a half to three-quarters of a mile
in extent, is spread before you. It is entirely surrounded by lofty
mountains, the tints of which being of a deeper and browner shade than
the generality of Welsh hills, gives a peculiar richness to the confined
valley. The road runs close along the shore, overhung by one of the
magnificent buttresses of Snowdon: to the right the eye stretches across
the lake to the hills which rise from the water’s edge, above which a
second tier of mountains appears, the great chain which separates you
from the vale of Ffestiniog. The river which feeds the lake winds
through the verdant and undulating grounds which spread themselves, a
miniature park, between the cottage and the lake. A romantic pass,
affording space for the river and road only, leads to a valley totally
different from, though not less beautiful than that of Llyn Dinas: the
valley forms a bowl among the hills, the bottom is a small grassy plain,
here and there dotted with trees, through which the river winds; the
sides are magnificent mountains: it is beauty sleeping in the lap of
terror.—On the left, the eye is led to
Cwm Llan,
among the deepest recesses of Snowdonia. The immediate boundary of the
valley is succeeded by heights rising successively above each other.
Immediately above this deep and gloomy gorge towers the monarch of hills,
sublime and terrific in his precipitous height, yet presenting in its
conical summit, its cairn and landmark, a graceful object, filling up the
mountainous gap, the sides of which form a suitable frame to this noble
picture. You follow up the course of the stream, through the same
enchanting scenery, the road gradually ascending, till you catch through
the plantations on the left a view of
Llyn Gwynnant,
stretched below at your feet. This lake and valley are deeply set among
the loftiest mountains of Wales or England, and form one of the loveliest
pictures in this country. Two or three gentlemen’s residences render
this valley cheerful, without destroying its character of seclusion.
Shortly after leaving the lake, the most striking view of Snowdon
presents itself; you look across the valley on a huge precipice, over the
edge of which, through a wide sweeping dip in the hill, a very
picturesque waterfall, Rhaiadr cum Dyli, is projected. Plain indications
of its source,
Llyn Llydan,
a highly elevated mountain lake, are apparent; above this rises a dark
perpendicular wall of rock, towards the summit of which craggy and sharp
ridges run up, and at the junction the towering peak of Snowdon rises:
shortly after, you join the road from Capel Curig to Llanberis. Let no
inconvenience induce the tourist to relinquish this route.
In the vale of Colwyn, and nearly two miles from Beddgelert, is a small
pool, about the size of a good horse-pond, called