The Oxford and Aberystwith Road page 2

In nine miles past Cross Gates we come to the small town of Rhayader, on the Wye, from which the place takes its name-Rhaiadr Gwy-" the Falls of the Wye." Those falls, which never have been very spectacular, were destroyed when the existing bridge was built, about 1800, replacing an older. The rocky bed of the river was then blown up and cut, so that the water, instead of falling over the still existing ledges, flows round by a channel. The ledges remain dry, save in exceptional seasons of flood. A lonely road conducts in nine miles or so to Llangurig, with the infant Wye flowing along in the valley to the left. The route continually rises, and goes over the shoulder of the mountain Plynlimmon; thence descending to Pont Erwyd, where those torrents the Rheidol and the Castell join forces in thunderous cascades and flow off to the left, on the way to that gorge where the "Devil's Bridge" attracts tourists. Here are two bridges spanning the narrow chasm: the single-span arch, thought by some to be Roman, and the modern bridge above it.

From Pont Erwyd it is twelve miles to the end of the road, at Aberystwith. The descent is almost continuous from these great heights, and at a point nine miles short of the town, where the road goes through a narrow cutting, a sudden distant view of the sea makes a glorious effect. On either side of the road lovely little vales, enclosed by large mountains, appear. Thus, we come, past Goginan, down to Capel Bangor, and finally to the levels at Llanbadarn Fawr, rather more than one mile from Aberystwith. This is a neat and clean-looking town on Cardigan Bay; a favourite seaside resort, and the seat of the University of North Wales. That modern institution, the National Library of Wales, is housed on a remote hilltop. From a distance it has much the appearance of a fort.

Aberystwith is not a large town, but it has grown and been much modernized of recent years. Of its ancient castle, overlooking the sea from a rocky wall, a few fragments only are left. Here is a very fine War Memorial, with a bronze figure of Victory, surmounting an obelisk. The terminal railway station, rebuilt, is exceedingly handsome.