by I am on the last mile of my walk and stop taking a break next to a dry wall that is secured by windbound trees. A robin, feathers stood like armor against the cold wind, sings from a small branch nearby. In the protection of the trees, the song seems to be inappropriately loud compared to the size of the bird, a penetrating, yet liquid call to build up a breeding area and defend it from the competitors.
The lane climbs higher through a notch in the comb, where a rock wall shows the steep layers. Then the view opens up to the south and delivers a panorama of the port city of Porthmadog with an area of hills, swamp and open water.
The separation from the country and the sea is a narrow dam, the cob, which today wears a street and the Ffestiniog narrow -growing railway. The bank was built around 1810 by the entrepreneur and landowner William Madocks and was originally supposed to allow the wild, sandy area of Traeth Mawr – Grob, the “Great Beach” – for agriculture. As a bonus, the Böschel trained the water of the Afon Glaslyn in a narrow channel and helped work out a port deep enough to create sailing ships. From the 1820s, a considerable assets were generated as a high -quality roof strike from the FFESTINIOG bricks with River, Tramway and later exported by train around the world.
In the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, there is certainly some documents from the FFESTINIOG Distriation Slate Brouries Ipririetor ‘Association Talking about these exports – a trade that has never recovered from the effects of the First World War. So the slate trading faded, and in front of me there is now a port that was handed over for leisure and inheritance – and yet there are strange aspects. In the west of the harbor, a low island, which is now covered by Scrub and small trees, has the name CEI ballast (Ballast Quay). Here sailing ships arrived “in ballast” to keep them stable, to empty the tons of stone and ruins before they were loaded for export with slate. The island today remains an interesting geological Smorgasbord, which are filled with rehearsals of rocks that have been aggregated from the slate -hungry countries of the world.
• Under the changing sky: The best of the Guardian Country diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber. Order at GuardianBookshop.com and receive a 15% discount
