blog

Dyffryn

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:11:00 +0100

DYFFRYN GLYN-CUL WALK

1. From the car park go on to the beach and walk towards Tywyn. In about two miles, just before the third pill box, climb on to the golf course and walk along the fence towards the main Aberdyfi-Tywyn road (A493). Climb over a stile and keep following the fence which is now on your right, to another stile. Go over it and follow the sign-posted footpath over the railway line to the main road.

2. Turn right and in about 100 yards turn left to walk along a metalled road to the farmhouse of Dyffryn Glyn-cul. Carry on past a small pond and continue through a gate on to a track (often very wet). Go over a stile and continue to a metalled lane at the next gate. Here you will find an old signpost for Panorama and Aberdyfi; follow it up to the farmhouse of Gwyddgwion.

3. Just before the farmhouse turn left and at a public footpath sign turn right to follow the fence through some trees. Head across the next field towards the left, climb over a stile, cross a small stream and walk up a very steep hill along the fenceline.

When you get to the fence corner, pause to recover your breath and admire the view around you. Immediately below is Cwm Maethlon and about half a mile away lies the small chapel of Maethlon and its little cemetery. (See Llyn Barfog Walk). To your left you can see Tywyn and in the far distance Beacon Hill guarding over the Dysynni estuary.

Maybe it was here that another version of the legend of the bells was born. It may be that it was among these hills that Menna, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, used to watch over her father’s sheep. As she roamed the hills in all weathers she thought of her lover, a young sailor. In order to soothe her longing for him, she used to sing to the accompaniment of the bells tied around the necks of her flock.

Os wyt ti’n fy ngharu i

Fel rwyf fi’n dy garu di,

Mal un, dau, tri, pedwar, pump, chwech,

Meddai clychau Aberdyfi.

(If thou truly dost love me

As I truly do love thee,

One, two, three, four, five, six,

Say the bells of Aberdyfi).

Another story tells of the giant, Idris Gawr, who used to carry a huge bell as he roamed the hills and mountains of the district. This is the Idris who lent his name to the highest mountain in the area, Cadair Idris. One day, a storm blew up as he was wading in the river Dyfi and he was drowned. The giant’s bell is said to sound over the sands at certain times.

A more recent tragedy was that which occurred on Wednesday, February 27^th, 1839 when seven people, including four local girls, were drowned while trying to board the ship, “Favourite”, moored nearby.

4. Carry on straight ahead across the field to a gate; go through and walk with the fence on your left until you come to a stile by a double gate. Climb over the stile and continue along a track past the holiday chalets of Bwlchgwyn and through two gates until you come to a metalled road. Turn right and walk a few yards to the Panorama road.

5. Turn immediately right to follow a sign posted track past a small cottage on your left. Go through a gate and when you come to a metalled road turn left to walk past the old reservoir that used to supply Aberdyfi with its drinking water. Go through a gate and when the road bends left just before another gate turn right to follow a public footpath signpost past a house (Mynydd Bychan) on your right to a stile. Go over the stile and follow the path around the base of Pen yr Horon until you come to another stile. You are now at the top of Gwelfor Road.

6. Cross the road and walk past some bungalows to a track. Follow the track to a footpath, walk down some steps and when you come to a T junction turn left to proceed down to Copperhill Street. Turn right down the main road and right again back to the car park.

Bearded Lake

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:22:00 +0100

BEARDED LAKE WALK (Llyn Barfog)

1. Starting at the Tourist Information Centre turn right onto the main street and then immediately left into Copperhill Street. Shortly after crossing under railway bridge turn left at public footpath sign and then right uphill until you come to a broad track. Follow this track until you emerge on a metalled road (Gwelfor Road). Opposite, you will find a stile and two public footpath signs; climb over the stile and follow the right hand footpath. This brings you to a sunken lane which you follow to another stile. Continue past a house (Mynydd Bychan) to a metalled road and follow this road as it swings left, ignoring the gate on the right. Go through another gate, past a disused reservoir and then turn right at a footpath sign. This track brings you out on the Panorama Road.

The reservoir was built at the end of the nineteenth century to provide the village with a new water supply scheme to replace the old village pump. Its holding capacity was three million gallons.

2. You leave this road almost immediately to the left at a footpath sign and go left again just before a cattle grid to go through two gates along another sunken lane. As you leave this lane you will see the gentle mountains of Corlan Fraith and Trum Gelli in front of you. When you come to a double gate climb a stile by the gate on your left and then follow the fence on your right. You are now looking down on Cwm Maethlon (Happy Valley). Go through another gate and continue to bear right with the fence until you meet a track. Follow this track to the left downhill, through another gate, into some trees. (The track you will follow up to Llyn Barfog is clearly visible in front of you). Go through a gate into the trees until you come to a stream.

3. Immediately before the stream follow a footpath sign to the right and head across a field to a gate and then follow a fence on your left. Go through two more gates and then bear right diagonally uphill to a sign posted stile. Go over the stile and follow the fence on your left. At the fence corner turn sharp left and make your way downhill to another stile. Go over the stile and head right towards another stile, crossing a small stream before you reach it. Cross this stile and another one almost immediately. You will find yourself now on a broad track. Follow this track uphill. Cross a stile, keep on the track and where it bends left, leave it to keep straight ahead to yet another stile. You are now in full view of Llyn Barfog.

The Legend of the Lake

Once, a poor farmer and his family lived at a farm not far from the lake. One day, a very old lady called at the farm begging for food and although the cupboard was practically bare the farmer’s wife offered to share what they had with her. On leaving, the old woman thanked them for the meal and promised from that day forward the farm would prosper. That evening, the farmer found a milk-white cow grazing with the others. The white cow followed the farmer’s herd to the milking shed and was milked with the others. Her milk was rich and foamy and she yielded as much in one day as all the others in a week. Things began to improve for the farmer and before long he was a rich man.

The farmer, however, became greedy. When he realised that the white cow was growing old he decided to fatten her up for the butcher. The day of the slaughter arrived and all the neighbours gathered to see the kill. The farmer raised his axe to strike the fatal blow but, suddenly, his arm was paralysed. There followed a terrible cry and lo, on a rock above the lake stood a woman dressed in green with her arms raised. It was one of the Elfin dames come to reclaim her white cow.

As soon as the cow heard the cry she ran towards the lake, plunged in and disappeared for ever. The farmer never prospered again and soon he was as poor as he had been before.

4. Skirt the lake to the right, go through a small gate and soon you will come to a slate slab with the words To Echo written on it. In a few yards you will find yourself looking down on a swampy plateau. Here, bellow to your heart’s content and listen to your own voice echoing among the rocks opposite. Directly opposite you will see one of the two stone cairns on the summit of Trum Gelli; the second cairn is out of sight.

5. Retrace your steps round the lake to within 100 yards of the last stile. Then turn left to follow a path that meets up with the Panorama track. Turn right and follow the track uphill. Soon you will come to another slate slab with the words Carn March Arthur on it.

Carn March Arthur

How did Llyn Barfog get its name? Possibly the “bearded” refers to the rushes that grow around it. However, there is another possible explanation. It is said that a very large hairy monster lived in the lake and that the name “bearded” refers to this creature. Legend has it that this monster was dragged out of the lake by King Arthur’s horse, and in doing so a mark was left in a stone at the side of the track which can still be seen today. This is Carn March Arthur – Arthur’s Horse Hoof. Another tale explains that this mark was left when Arthur and his horse leapt across the Dyfi – highly unlikely though!

6. Continue on the track and soon you will be looking down on the river Dyfi and across to Ynys Las and Borth. On a clear day the eye can follow the Welsh coast right down to Pembrokeshire. You will soon come to a solitary house (Bwlch) and the beginning of a metalled road. You go through a gate and follow the road all the way back to Aberdyfi.

Copper and Lead

Before the gate there is a track that leads back down to Cwm Maethlon. If you were to go down this track (there is no right of way) you would see the remains of copper and lead mines that operated in the area in the 18^th century. Copper and lead were found here in 1752 but by the 19^th century the mining industry had petered out. This explains the name of the street at the beginning of your walk – Copperhill Street.

Normally, a walk along a metalled road can be quite tedious especially at the end of your journey. Not so this one. As you walk along this high road you will be looking down on Cwm Maethlon (Nourishing Valley) and you will soon realise that the Welsh name is much more descriptive than the mundane English name of Happy Valley. You will notice the little chapel at the bottom (erected in 1885) and alongside it is the cemetery where Aberdyfi people buried their dead before the new cemetery was founded on the main Tywyn – Aberdyfi road. After today’s walk you will appreciate that the journey from Aberdyfi involved a long climb up the mountain behind the village and a steep descent on the other side. A horse bier was used to carry the coffins along the paths. You will also notice the narrow road snaking its way along the valley floor. In the old days, this was the main road between Tywyn and Machynlleth.

7. As you continue on your way back towards the village you will see Tywyn peeping at you through a gap in the trees on Llechwedd Melyn and in the far distance you will see the Lleyn Penninsula and Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island). The more spectacular view, however, is on your left as the Dyfi estuary and the sands of Ynys Las and Borth come into view once again. As you approach the village, turn right a few yards beyond the farmhouse of Tyddyn Rhys y Gader into Mynydd Isaf and at a T junction further down turn left to go down Copperhill Street. Once on the main street, turn right back to the car park.