Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The main street is dotted with adventure sports and outdoors shops, and bustles with visit-
ors in summer.
The Romans had a camp here, the remains of which have been found on private land
near the river. Just behind the high street is a Norman motte (castle mound) that would
once have supported a wooden castle.
Welsh remains the language of everyday commerce and conversation for 76% of its res-
idents. Local hero and MP Thomas Edward Ellis (1859-99), a prominent contemporary of
Lloyd George, was a key advocate for a self-governing Wales; he's remembered with a
prominent statue on the main street. One of Ellis' friends was Michael D Jones, founder of
the Welsh colony in Patagonia.
THE LEGEND OF TEGGIE
Sightings of the beast of Llyn Tegid have been reported since at least the 1920s and it has been variously likened
to a crocodile or a small dinosaur. Affectionately known as Teggie, this Welsh answer to the Loch Ness monster
prompted a three-day search by a Japanese film crew in 1995, but their mini-submarine failed to find any sign of
the elusive beast.
One man who claims to have seen the beastie from the deep, however, is local farmer Rhodri Jones, whose
sheep farm extends to the lake's foreshore. 'One night in the summer of 2006 I was heading home from the fields
when I saw something making concentric ripples. The lake was very still, pretty spooky in the dusk and the water
was very calm. That's when I saw the top of a creature about the size of a crocodile moving through the water.'
Since then Jones has spoken to other local farmers and found that many of them have stories of mysterious
sightings and evidence they have collected dating back over 60 years.
'Bala is a landlocked, volcanic lake and there are species of fish living there that are only to be found in the
lake,' says Jones. 'I think there's something special about the waters, but we live in a narrow-minded world
where people are afraid of the unexplained. Still, humanity always needs a mystery.'
Sights
Llyn Tegid
(Bala Lake)
Llyn Tegid was formed during the last ice age when glaciers blocked the valley
of the River Dee with debris. The resulting rectangular lake is 4 miles long, three-quarters
of a mile wide and, in places, over 42m deep.
Local folk tales record an alternative to the glacial version of events. Once upon a time
the valley was home to a cruel and dissolute prince named Tegid Foel. One night the harp-
ist at a banquet thrown by the prince kept hearing a small bird urging him to flee the
LAKE
