Before we left North Wales, there was something that I just had to do. This involved a sixteen mile drive south to the scenic inland village of Betws-y-Coed on the A470. Fortunately, Shirley agreed to my proposal.
Many years ago, we bought an original landscape painting at The Great Sheffield Artshow and then three or four years later we bought another picture of what appeared to be the very same scene. The subject of both was "The Fairy Glen" just outside Betws-y-Coed.
We had tried to get there before on our way to The Isle of Anglesey but frustratingly we had lost our way and given up. This time I was determined to make it. The idea of actually visiting The Fairy Glen had been gnawing away at me like a weevil and I knew that if I didn't go this time, that weevil would continue to burrow.
Again, the location was not easy to find. To access The Fairy Glen you must cross private land and you pay for the privilege. At the path gate, the farmer's wife waited to grab our money and she wasn't even remotely interested in my tale of our two paintings. She wasn't giving out ticket receipts so you wonder how the tax people can harvest their dues. The farm is called Cwmanog Isaf.
The Fairy Glen is in effect a deep cleft in the land, a rocky gorge through which a tributary of The River Conwy flows. To get down there, you have to negotiate a series of rough slate steps. It would be very easy to tumble down them for they are quite precipitous and there is no handrail. However, we made it.
And there we were - standing in the very scene that has hung upon our walls for years now. Because Great Britain has had virtually no rain in the last six weeks, the little river that flows through Fairy Glen was way down - dribbling by instead of gushing.
But I didn't mind. The light was good and the glen felt quite magical. I took several pictures but this was probably the best of them...
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/7pIPXvO
