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TRAWSFYNYDD:
Trawsfynydd is a traditional stopping place for traffic passing over the main gap between the mountains of Snowdonia proper and the Arenig range on the coast. The village itself sits on a lake of the same name created by a hydroelectric scheme which was then developed into a Nuclear Plant at the end of the fifties.

The village is famous in Wales for being the home of the poet Hedd Wyn who won the National Eisteddfod Chair at Birkenhead in 1917 but was killed in Flanders before he could return to claim his prize, and has become a symbol of the tragic waste of the first World War. There is an elegant statue to him in the village square. His chair, always referred to as the black chair' is still at the family homestead nearby.

Just beyond the power station are the remains of a Roman fort and amphitheatre (the only one in Britain serving an auxiliary fort) as well as some Norman ruins which underlines the strategic importance of the area which became the seat of the ruling house of Ardudwy in the early middle ages.

The power station (which is being decommissioned) has a visitor-friendly exhibition area and there is some excellent fishing on the lake.