Beddgelert

We visited the wonderfully pretty village of Beddgelert in north Wales a short while back.

Beddgelert means 'the grave of Gelert' in Welsh. Gelert was a hound belonging to Prince Llywelyn the Great of Wales and is the stuff of legends.

We got there via the Welsh Highland Railway, a steam narrow gauge line from Caernarfon where we were spending a holiday.

You arrive to mountains in the background. Beddgelert has been voted one of the most beuatiful places on the planet in an online poll recently.

It was once a copper mining area:

The village inn, the Prince lLywelyn:

And carvings outside the craft shup:

And a dragon (of course)

The village church:

Clouds banking down on the mountains:

The village is surrounded by mountains:

Gelert's grave. The story is that the prince went hunting and that Gelert, by then an elderly dog, stayed home. When he got back his baby son was missing and Gelert greeted him covered in blood. The prince assumed he had killed his son and slew him. They then found the child alive and a huge dead wolf which Gelert had killed protecting the boy. It was said that the prince never smiled again. The words are in English and Welsh.

Having both Jewish and Romani ancestry I love that people leave stones in memory as this is a tradition in both peoples.

And in a ruined cottage, you meet Gelert still on guard! :o)

More mountains:

The footbridge over the river (Afon Glaslyn)

A view down the river:

And the old bridge:

The churchyard:

And another view of the river::

More cloud over the mountains:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kazzy_cee

Fabulous photos!

cmcmck

Thankee! :o)

yourlibrarian

How wonderfully scenic. Those clouds obscuring the hilltop! And I loved the owl bench.

I'd have taken that bench home like a shot!

full_metal_ox

I’m not even remotely surprised that Gelert’s bronze hue is showing where his coat of verdigris has been rubbed through; that happens when public statuary of Very Good Doggies is within easy reach.

We did give his nose a rub, I have to admit! :o)

Did somebody gift Gelert a dog toy, or is the pink-and-white object atop his gravestone a fancy geode?

It's a decorated stone.

Fair enough, and thank you.

(And I’m envious of your present cool green-grey weather; where I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida, Wednesday it peaked at 38°C/100F°; evening thunderstorms have brought brief respite, but then served to pour water on the sauna stones.)