DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42850#0048
HUT AT GORPH WYSFA, NORTH WALES
TT1HE road from Capel Curig to Snowdon passes by the hotel at Pen-y-Grwyd, and thence taking a turn
JL to the right (that to the left being to Beddgelert), ascends a hill of considerable length, the summit
of which opens out to the tourist the wild and almost chaotic ‘'‘'pass of Llanberis.-” At this point there
are a few poor huts or cottages with a comfortable little inn (a truly welcome one to travellers), taking the
name of Gorphwysfa, or a resting-place. To the left of this, there is a lone hut at the entrance of the
rudely constructed road or mountain track leading to the wondrous peak of Snowdon.
This hut forms the subject of my present illustration. Small and insignificant as it is, it has, from
its desolate position, a character that impresses one with the idea of solemn dignity. It stands erect and
solid in its stony construction; at the front of a vast arena of heights and depths, undulating and precipitous,
full of the adjuncts of a mountain district, with huge masses of riven rocks occupying positions truly
picturesque, and dispersed about—as well as disposed—in forms both grand and sublime. The lesser
mountains (none can be called hills) are su distributed as to present so many prominent features in the
scene, and from their barren and rocky heads being somewhat rounded, probably by glacier action in
times gone by, they serve to give table-lands from whence the sides undulate more or less suddenly, and
continuing their descent deeper and deeper, they at length rest their base on the narrow and beautiful vale
of Nant Gwynant. From the other side of this lovely spot—and it is a lovely one—the mountains
forming the group and extension of Moel Siabod take their rise, and a little way up can be seen the
descending and winding road towards Beddgelert. These mountains are joined by other ranges, which
assume every variety of direction and shape, rising one before another, and exhibiting rugged combinations
of rock and herbage so diversified as to produce a constant change of colour. Thus they afford, as it
were, fresh starting-points for more remote forms, until the eye rests upon outlines mingling with the clouds,
connecting sky to earth, and producing an effect always grand, mysterious, and impressive. The lofty
eminences to the right are the south-eastern buttresses or spurs of the Snowdon range. Nothing can be
more picturesque than their sharp angular character, and either side being equally precipitous, the ridge
is necessarily very narrow. The principal of these is named Lliwedd, a frowning steep, deeply furrowed
and riven by blast and tempest, with a bleak and savage aspect, destitute of one redeeming point as to
vegetation, save at the dipping of its base in the darkly toned waters of Llyn Llydaw, a wild and romantic
lake about one and a half mile in length. The road or track to the right is exceedingly tortuous and
hilly; and the large stones constantly rising in the centre make the drive anything but pleasant to
those wdio are not in the habit of riding in cars almost without springs. I know no other locality where
such exquisite combinations of foreground materials can be found. There is every characteristic that the
sketcher can desire, and at times it is extremely difficult to settle which shall become the subject of the
pencil. Patches of long and many-coloured grasses rise out of dark and purply blackened peat, contrasting
with warm grey stones, which, moss-grown and lichened, lie side by side in every possible way, and of
every imaginable shape. It is truly surprising to witness the eccentricities of colour—for I must use
the term—to be found upon the same species of stone. Some partake of the orange, others of browns,
russets, purples, and greys, of every shade and hue; while not a few are almost colourless and white.
It is this that enables the artist frequently to bring the whole force of the palette into his foreground
without having recourse to drapery or cattle.
In giving the above description, it of course must not be supposed to have reference to the drawing
of the stone-built hut with the surrounding country, because it were folly indeed to give, in an elementary
F
TT1HE road from Capel Curig to Snowdon passes by the hotel at Pen-y-Grwyd, and thence taking a turn
JL to the right (that to the left being to Beddgelert), ascends a hill of considerable length, the summit
of which opens out to the tourist the wild and almost chaotic ‘'‘'pass of Llanberis.-” At this point there
are a few poor huts or cottages with a comfortable little inn (a truly welcome one to travellers), taking the
name of Gorphwysfa, or a resting-place. To the left of this, there is a lone hut at the entrance of the
rudely constructed road or mountain track leading to the wondrous peak of Snowdon.
This hut forms the subject of my present illustration. Small and insignificant as it is, it has, from
its desolate position, a character that impresses one with the idea of solemn dignity. It stands erect and
solid in its stony construction; at the front of a vast arena of heights and depths, undulating and precipitous,
full of the adjuncts of a mountain district, with huge masses of riven rocks occupying positions truly
picturesque, and dispersed about—as well as disposed—in forms both grand and sublime. The lesser
mountains (none can be called hills) are su distributed as to present so many prominent features in the
scene, and from their barren and rocky heads being somewhat rounded, probably by glacier action in
times gone by, they serve to give table-lands from whence the sides undulate more or less suddenly, and
continuing their descent deeper and deeper, they at length rest their base on the narrow and beautiful vale
of Nant Gwynant. From the other side of this lovely spot—and it is a lovely one—the mountains
forming the group and extension of Moel Siabod take their rise, and a little way up can be seen the
descending and winding road towards Beddgelert. These mountains are joined by other ranges, which
assume every variety of direction and shape, rising one before another, and exhibiting rugged combinations
of rock and herbage so diversified as to produce a constant change of colour. Thus they afford, as it
were, fresh starting-points for more remote forms, until the eye rests upon outlines mingling with the clouds,
connecting sky to earth, and producing an effect always grand, mysterious, and impressive. The lofty
eminences to the right are the south-eastern buttresses or spurs of the Snowdon range. Nothing can be
more picturesque than their sharp angular character, and either side being equally precipitous, the ridge
is necessarily very narrow. The principal of these is named Lliwedd, a frowning steep, deeply furrowed
and riven by blast and tempest, with a bleak and savage aspect, destitute of one redeeming point as to
vegetation, save at the dipping of its base in the darkly toned waters of Llyn Llydaw, a wild and romantic
lake about one and a half mile in length. The road or track to the right is exceedingly tortuous and
hilly; and the large stones constantly rising in the centre make the drive anything but pleasant to
those wdio are not in the habit of riding in cars almost without springs. I know no other locality where
such exquisite combinations of foreground materials can be found. There is every characteristic that the
sketcher can desire, and at times it is extremely difficult to settle which shall become the subject of the
pencil. Patches of long and many-coloured grasses rise out of dark and purply blackened peat, contrasting
with warm grey stones, which, moss-grown and lichened, lie side by side in every possible way, and of
every imaginable shape. It is truly surprising to witness the eccentricities of colour—for I must use
the term—to be found upon the same species of stone. Some partake of the orange, others of browns,
russets, purples, and greys, of every shade and hue; while not a few are almost colourless and white.
It is this that enables the artist frequently to bring the whole force of the palette into his foreground
without having recourse to drapery or cattle.
In giving the above description, it of course must not be supposed to have reference to the drawing
of the stone-built hut with the surrounding country, because it were folly indeed to give, in an elementary
F