St Mary's Church in the village of Tal-y-Llyn stands on an ancient site. Part of the present building dates back to the 13th century, with interest in old painted panels above the altar. There are also two very old fonts and some interesting graves outside.
It is the site and the name of the church that are the most interesting; the Cadair Idris and Tal-y-Llyn Lake area is magical, with stories of strange lights, and enormous skeletons found near here in 1684 giving substance to tales of giants.
Hazel rods were found with the bones. It is not clear whether these were for dowsing and the skeletons the remains of dowsers who surveyed ley lines in prehistoric times. Dowsers now find that ley lines have male and female lines coiled around them. Female lines are marked by churches dedicated to St Mary, as here, and not far away is St Michael's, marking the male line. The two cross at Devil's Rock, once famous for fertility rites.
The proper Welsh name for Tal-y-Llyn Lake is Llyn Mwyngil, which means 'pleasant, enjoyable lake with a maidenly sense', and Tal-y-Llyn means lakeside in English.
Look out for common sandpipers, dippers, grey wagtails, and little grebes at the west end of the lake. Above the tree line, you may see buzzards, kestrels, sparrowhawks, and red kites. The marshland at the east end is noted for tufted ducks, coots, pochards, goldeneyes, great crested grebes, and cormorants.
While walking, the natural silence may be broken by low-flying aircraft soaring overhead. Tal-y-llyn lies on the Mach Loop (also known as the Machynlleth Loop, Welsh: Dolen Mach), which is a series of valleys in west-central Wales notable for their use as low-level training areas for fast aircraft. The system of valleys lies 13 km (8 mi) east of Barmouth between the towns of Dolgellau to the north and Machynlleth to the south, from the latter of which it takes its name. The training area is part of the United Kingdom Low Flying System and lies within Low Flying Area 7 (LFA7), which covers all of Wales.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
