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THE SNOW-CLAD VAN.r

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE SNOW-CLAD VAN. r A FIELD FOR SWANSEA I I ADVENTURERS. From t he office roof the other day the adventurer caught a glimpse of snow-covered heights in the north. The sun shone out a moment upon the white uplands, and then the vision was gone. But the mountains, in every cold blast they sent over Swansea, shouted an invitation to their solititudes. The winds that swept the streets stentoirlously sang of the shin- ing fields that stretched isilently to dark horizons; of the uplifted sanctuaries where they worship. The glimpse worked its will. The adventurer thought of the mighty rock barrier below the great Van, of its snow-filled precipices, of the torreots that leapt from crag to orag. His heart turned longingly to those vast spaces on which man's foot was not frequent. He knew their milder summer joys; had seen the clouds gather and break, in August, upon their summits. The &un's revela- tion of their snow-dressed ridges filled him .with a yearning to leave the streets and to experience their sterner winter moods. Then heigho for the mountains! For a few hours let us, my friends, deserve the wise reproof of friends. They said that the anventurer was mad, that it was cold enough, goodness knows, in Swansea, and what must it be like up there? However, mad or sane, niv masters, as the adventurer may be he will try to tell you of a winter after- noon spent amongst the snows that Ia." thick upon the barrier guardingFanioel. Cirhirych or Fan Foel ? At the little and windy station above Oraig-y-os, a fine view may be ob- tained of Van Girhirych, which is in the Cray watershed—the mountain THE SUN ON THE VAN. I which breaks the clouds and scatters the rain for the good of Swansea rate- payers. Van Girhirych sits heavily upon the plain, and tiiis day it was a wonderous sight. The sun gleamed upon its snowy sides; it turned into dazzling purity its broad back. Across the top or anotHer mountain, filling in the other side of the valley, one saw the barrier which leads to the Carmar- thenshire giant. The head of Fan Foel was hidden in a cloud. The stationmaster at Craig-y-Nos shook his head when the adventurer spoke of an attack upon Girhirych. It was a long way. The evenings closed in quickly. He looked at the towns- man and then at the mountain—and shook his head. Was he, too, wonder- ing whether madness was at his elbow? For behold the slopes of Girhirych seemed this winter day to be very steep, and the boots of the townsman spoke of streets; there was no naily clatter under them. But, whatever he thought, he pointed to tlie left, where was the barrier, and the Foel just discernible in the mist sweeping over t^e sharp summit. The barrier, and the Foe], then, let it be, and might fate be kind. The way, for the first part of the journey, was through a mysterious wood, and over a rough track that led straight through a ruined farmstead; down the other side of the hill, through a lane and fields, and a church- II yard, until the high road to Trecastle was gained. Then straight on to Tavern-y-Garreg, where a Mr. Skeats presides, and provides for the traveller. Crossing the Tawe. For the sake of any adventurers tempted to follow this narrative prac- tically some fine February day—and one hears of some other Black Moun- tain tramps having had emulators-let what follows be closely noted. If a little innocent-inking boy be met just where the road divides for Trecastle and Cray, never heed him? If this Welsh cherub declares that the turbulent Tawe is fordable hereabouts, that there arc plenty of stones in the river, ignore him and walk on to the farmstead near which the Tawe can be comfortably crossed by bridge. For Can you get 'cross by here, I sir?" said he; "yes, sure, there are plenty of stones in"" the river." What he meant was that one could have waded through the Tawe, for alas [although the stones were pleittiftil there were ugly gaps between, through which the lvlifl r- svi- itid dismayed one. That little Welsh boy was rponsible for balf-a-mile of perilous scrambling along the river-edge until at last, D^ar the junction of the Tawe with an angry rivulet which takes a s horter course from Llyn-y-Van Fawr, there was a risky chance. The rock barrier is not in sight at this point. Its continuation is a grass- covered RIOTW. steep as Kilvev at its worst. It may be six hundred feet ,hjgb or even mort. Upon this day it was sppek" wiLh pockets oi snow and ice. It did not look hard to climb. But its conquest was breath tess work. In the smooth boots of the town nearly every step was uncertain. The snow was frozen hard; to tread it here meant a fall and a roll. And once start upon the rolling pastime, and it would take you into the valley.' The rocks that stood out black upon the brow of the ascent appeared very far off to the scrambling, slipping, adventurer. The higher he got, the more distant they seemed to be [this is one of the mysteries of the moun- tains]. And the wind, gentle enough in the valley, commenced to be trouble- some. It came in stormy gusts, laden with thrills which tingled the ears. The snow and ice were thicker on the upper slopes. The adventurer began to wonder if his friends were not right; if there were not something in the doubting look of the stationmaster. The slope was scarred by many a tiny stream. But these ran under covers of ice. Where one stream jumped the precipice which marked the top of the steep ascent, there was a spectacle. worth all this climbing; a waterfall of thirty to forty feet. frozen over, with long icicles that glittered in the sunlight. The Barrier. And next the long, steady march over the shoulder of the mountain, and an ever-widening prospect to the south and west. Swansea-wards gloomy clouds hung low, and mists filled the valley. Across, over Cefn Cul, was Girhirych, now less impressive in appearance, but still a very fine sight on which to rest the eyes. In the bhie distance, there was a faint suggestion of the Beacons. The way was steadily upward to where the snow lay thick, and the black uncovered rocks marked the sharp edge of the barrier. The going grew heavier, the snow deeper. One was now above the two thousand feet level, and tho air was keener and rarer. The sharp ascent to the rocks had heated one until the perspiration ran—how many of you in Swansea have perspired since summer left! — but here, where one was upon the snowfield, walking now and then over frozen ponds, where ice rang under the feet, the wind was cruel in its coldness. The adventurer recalls, however, the odd sensation of walking out of this realm of gusts into an intense calm—caused no doubt by the peculiar roIlfiuration of the moun- tain it was as if one had escaped from the street into the cosy shelter of home. The barrier of the Van has been little written about. It is described in no" guide book one has seen; and it is worth describing. It commences in an overhanging three-hundred-f eel-high precipice, doubtless a volcanic wall, above romantic Llyn-y-Fan Facb. It surrounds two sides of the lake, and runs out, less precipitously to the va-st, rocky bluff that dominates the land- scape of Carmarthenshire. Then it falls sharply, only to rise again at the sides of the Van, which jnts. out like a great cape to the north. The precipices com- mence again on the Swansea Valley side, and run, above the big lake, some- times sheer, and sometim^in terraces; for nearly two miles—at all point:" diffi- cult to climb, at some a real trial, one would think, for the cragsman. Above the Lake. It is along the edge of this barrier that the quickest journey lies to the top of the Foel; how near the edge one can walk depends on the strength and direction of the wind, which is never idle in this region. On this day. it blew dead off the cliffs, and so one pro- gressed as quickly as the rocks and the frozen ponds and the tricky snow- covered hummocks allowed, towards the gleaming whiteness of themollntain top, which was now clear ahead, un- embarrassed by cloud, a sight to stir the pulse wildly. If the town dweller who does not know the mountains ccukl have viewed the scene here! If he could have seen the wide expanse of white moorland that stretched from the Vans many miles down the valleys of the Twrcli and the Amman He would under- stand then why some of us have to break out from the ordered day and routine, and seek relief in these great spaces. It is impossible to write of the glory of the scene; it is impossibles to interpret one's moods, to explain the exaltation which falls, a sacred mantle, over one. An artist friend has endeavoured to present pictorially, from some rough suggestions, what the sharp sloping edge of the lesser Van looked like when the sun touched it: one thinks he has well caught some of the grandeur of this spectacle. ## At three o'clock—the time of de- parture from Tavern-y-Garreg being one o'clock—the adventurer stood above the barrier at a spot where a full view of Llyn-y-Fan Fawr—the source of the Tawe—could be obtained- Ice fringed its sullen-looking waters, which are popularly supposed to have no bottom. There was still the last three hundred feet of the Foel to be con- quered, and a mile to go. But above the Llyn one encountered a wind that whistled like a shrill yren, a wind that blanched the cheek" and hurt the cye? I and ears: a. wind that had solidity. The white summit gleamed like a fairy palace, but it was as difficult to attain as fairyland. The adventurer stumbled into a drift; then he fell on ice. At the last ascent, lIe found that the going was over frozen snow. A quarter-past three. The warning of Tayern-y-Garreg had been to return at five without fail. [t was not good to be on the mountain in the half- light. The adventurer turned his back regretfully upon the summit, leaving the first ascent of the year to another. And what mattered it if the- descent was facilitated by a roll here and there ? For at the Tavern there was a roaring ifre, and tea—and an appetite thousands might have envied. From the valley one saw the Foel again with a night cap of cloud- Tt will he worth another attack before the winter snows l ha va cleared I J. D. W. I

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