|
Tours > Wales > Betws Y Coed
Betws Y Coed (Bettus Uh Coyd)
Betws Y Coed, the most popular of all destinations in Snowdonia National Park, and certainly the most crowded on a summer's day, this village could be in the Lake District. Surrounded by its great green, wooded hills, it mainly consists of one long street full of souvenir shops, craft centers, hotels and guest houses. The rock-filled River Llugwy (Thligwee) runs merrily through the centre of the village, crossed by the highly-ornamented Waterloo Bridge, constructed entirely of iron in 1815 by Thomas Telford to take traffic along the A5 to Holyhead.
Other bridges are the gracefully arched 15th century stone bridge called Pont y Pair (Pont Uh Pyre) the Bridge of the Cauldron, from which until quite recently small boys from the village would leap into the dark waters below for tourists' pennies; and the aptly-named Miner's Bridge, a footbridge used to take the miners to their daily work in the nearby quarries. Nearby Fairy Glen, on the River Lledr (Thledurr), is best visited in Spring, when the rushing waters form the cataract known in English as Swallow Falls. (a mistranslation of the Welsh words that signify foaming waters).
Just beyond Swallow Falls, on the A5 west to Capel Curig (Kappel Kirrig), a former overnight stop for Irish drovers taking cattle to English markets, is the so-called Ugly House (Ty Hyll: Tee Huth) built of irregular boulders. Local legend tells that if a house could be put together between sunset and sundown, and occupied that first night, the house and the common land upon which it stood could be claimed as freehold by the builders. At Capel Curig, the National Mountaineering Center occupies Plas y Brenin, offering course in mountain climbing, hiking, and water sports including canoeing and white water rafting.
Next Stop: Beddgelert
|
|
|
