Llandegley, a neat little village celebrated for its medicinal springs of sulphureous vitriolic water, lies on the way to Rhaiadyr, and is well worthy a brief sojourn, for the sake of its attractive scenery. A very singular range of rocks, abounding in quartz crystals, nearly joins the churchyard, and is much visited both for the views it commands, and the glittering treasures which may be won from its clefts and sides. CHAPTER V. WYE SCENERY FROM RHAIADYR TO BUILTH-ABEREDWY-GLASBURY-HAY. Now a little onward, where the way To see it stretch in peace, and mark the rocks Unfolding their wild reaches, here with wood As if it strove with emulous disdain To tower in ruder, darker amplitude. Bowles. GENTLE readers, we will now return to the Wye, and pursue our journey from Rhaiadyr. Would that ye could all behold the scenes to which my pleasant wanderings conducted me; would that ye could see them, as I did, arrayed in their brightest and loveliest garb. The fairy sovereigns of the 66 skyey influences" never bestowed a more heavenly morning on mortal pilgrim, than they vouchsafed to me for my journey to Builth. The bend of the Wye below Rhaiadyr was a picture ready arranged for any prince of landscape painters. The broad quiet river, skirted with rich woods in GWASTADEN-VALES OF THE ELAN AND WYE. 73 dicating the course of the stream by their curving direction; the distant town, half hidden beneath its light smoky mist, the bright meadow foreground, with a group of idle, happy boys basking in the warm sunshine, and pulling flowers among the grass, while near them a lusty white horse, which would have done well for the pencil of Wouvermans, slowly and enjoyingly forded the clear brown stream-these were the near objects in the landscape, all engirt by the high hills, standing out in bright relief against the pure blue sky, their cwms intersecting them with lines of shadow, and meadows and corn fields bordering the slope, with their cheerful patchwork of enclosures; it was a scene which deserved to be immortalized by one of the noblest sons of the noble art. Wending onwards, my road lay along the side of a gigantic, craggy, woody mountain, Gwastaden by name, on whose lofty summit are some of the largest carnau in the county. Opposite the abrupt turn which the road makes over this promontory-shaped hill at Aber daw ddwr, the vale of the Elan opens to view, and its fair river joins the Wye, after passing under a light, simple wooden bridge, which, with one or two finely-situated farm-steads on the river's bank, adds a sort of living, social beauty to the scene. The wooden bridges in Wales particularly please my fancy; they are so evidently built for use and not ostentation; and where one of the cumbrous, hump-backed brick affairs, we so abound in here, would shut out all of beauty beyond it, these more simple and suitable fabrics add to a fine scene, by their picturesque and unobtrusive forms, without hiding one other charm. Still passing on, round the grand Gwastaden, the scene is constantly varying on the right, as we view the two vales of the Wye and Elan in different positions, ever lovely, ever new, while on the left, rude massy crags in picturesque disorder maintain their stern harsh features, gradually deepening in tone from the clearly-seen rocks and heather, L in the foreground, to the dim, yet rich, purple of the o'ercrowning and distant peaks. The vale of the Wye soon expands into a considerable flat, where the rock-chafed river murmurs between broad turfy banks, tenanted by large flocks of geese, who were most industriously picking their living among the swamps and rushes. Swans had been more classical adjuncts to the scene; but all travellers have not the power of transmuting homely into honourable things; and for my own part, I deemed the snowy geese very pretty and entertaining personages, parading their grassy realm, as if they conceived nothing on earth more lordly than themselves, and stretching their sapient heads disdainfully and contemptuously in the air, at the approach of so mean an animal as a poor pedestrian wanderer-verily these geese strongly resembled bipeds of another class. About four miles from Rhaiadyr, the small village and tiny church of Llanwrthwl, look out from their mountain nest of wood and heather upon the broad river below, whose course we now pursue through the woods skirting its eastern bank, which only allow occasional peeps of the opposite towering hills, also belted with avenues and groups of fine trees. Numerous residences are erected in this vicinity, blending the cultivated and beautiful with the wild and stern most harmoniously. Proceeding along the road towards Builth, I occasionally diverged to the right, and walked along the banks of the sparkling river. Fresh vales, and hills, and streams opened in all their loveliness as I advanced. On my left lay the hill called Rhiw Graid, and two or three miles beyond, the high and frowning peak of Dôlevan hill, a huge, cone-shaped "monarch of the upper air;" surrounded by a number of farms. Regaining the high road, I soon reached the little village of Newbridge, opposite to Llys-dinam, where, as intimated by the name, a bridge crosses the Wye. |