| Description | "Recapitulation of their movements and excursions in North Wales; and plans of the party."
Llangollen 30th Septer.
Here we are my dear Papa at Llangollen thus far arrived safely on our journey; and I am going to give you an account of what we have done to day. We fully expected from the appearance of yesterday evening, that it would have been fine to-day, in this however we were sadly disappointed, and instead of starting early we delayed our departure till 11 o’clock, in the hope that it might clear, which it only did very partially; there have been showers all day, & the sun has never shone once, so you may suppose, we have had no good view of the distant country. On leaving Chester we enquired at the Lodge whether we might drive through the Park at Eaton but were not allowed to do so, & went on to Gresford, where we got out, and went into the church which you know, is a very good one, also walked to look at the view over Gresford Vale. We then proceeded to Wrexham, and walked in a pouring rain to the church, which we admired much particularly the tower, the interior is rather disfigured by an organ & galleries; we could not leave Wrexham without paying a visit to Heaven & buying some Gingerbread which was very dear. Starting again, we went through Erthig, & past the House to Plas Grono, where Mr Dickens the owner being absent we were allowed to go over the house which Aunt Bessy was very glad to see again, & which is in good order, having been done up recently. We drove through the grounds at Wynnstay which are beautiful, the garden round the House was quite gay, and the woods down towards the Dee lovely; I longed to scramble about in them. What a beautiful ride it is from Wynnstay to Llangollen, but we wanted the sun sadly, for the mist and smoke from the lime kilns filled the valley & it was no use getting out at Pont y Cyssyltan for we could not have seen up the valley. We reached Llangollen about 5, and while dinner was getting ready, walked to the Bridge, & then to the church, which contains nothing remarkable, except the roof which is curiously carved; the clerk was a Welshman who spoke of ‘The Venerable Ladies’ with great respect, & showed us their monument in the churchyard, he said he could teach us to read, write & speak Welsh in one week! so what an opportunity we have lost of adding to our acquirements. The Town was all alive with a meeting of a Benefit Club. Our Inn (The Royal Inn is near the bridge & the sitting room overlooks the Dee, which is roaring famously beneath. A Blind Welsh Harper greeted us on our arrival and has been playing nearly the whole evening. The Inn is very comfortable & we have had a good dinner with Dee Trout. Notwithstanding the wet weather, they have had more visitors here than ever this summer. They brought us a book in which to inscribe our names & among the visitors were Mr & Miss Symes last year.
Capel Curig 1st Octer 1839
Having proceeded another day on our journey I shall finish the account of our travels to this place. You will have received a letter saying how unfavorable the morning appeared & that in consequence we delayed our departure. We started at 10 o’clock & drove to Valle Crucis, though we hardly expected to see much of the surrounding scenery the mist was so thick; but while we were walking about the sun gradually appeared & the mist cleared from the mountains like a curtain being drawn up. The effect was most beautiful, & the ruins much more interesting than we had imagined from Mr Jones account. The ride to Corwen was delightful & the country was beautiful till within a few miles of Carnioge where it is very bleak. We got out to look at the waterfall at Pont y Glynn & also at Bettwys Coed, which were both most Splendid, but are not to be compared with the falls of the Rhaiadr y Wenol near Capel Curig, where the rush of water is magnificent amongst rocks covered with beautiful woods. The whole drive from Carnioge to Capel Curig is one of ever varying beauties every turn of the road presents something new & the situation of this place is wild & romantic in the extreme: The day was glorious to the last and the shade of evening on the mountains beautiful. We saw Snowdon when we arrived here but he had on his nightcap, & I know not whether he will choose to take it off to-morrow. I hope dear Papa you will excuse tautology, for really in this scenery, splendid & beautiful must be chief words in my vocabulary. The Inn here is a large one, & very full to-night, the landlord says this is the finest day they have had for a long while, the Harper as usual is playing away. The Warwick family are at the Penryhn Arms, their groom is following them, & was at Llangollen. Katharine & I rode outside by turns to-day, we sent James on by the Mail from Llangollen. The Harvest is got in much better than was expected about Llangollen, & at the Farm at Valle Crucis they said their corn was secured in good order but in these parts none of the corn seems carried instead they are only cutting it in some places, the situation is I suppose partly the cause of the harvest being so backward We have passed a number of Welsh Women in beaver hats & knitting. Mr Jones begs his kind remembrances to your party, please to give my best love to Ned & my brothers, and accept the same dear Papa from yr affectate daughter
Anne R. Boulton
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