Cader Idris
Cader Idris - Overview
The mountain of Cader Idris is situated just south of the river Mawddwy near Dolgellau in Gwynedd and the highest point at 893 metres, is called Penygader. The name Cader Idris can be translated as ‘chair of Idris’ and a folktale recorded in the late sixteenth century has it that anyone who spent a night on the summit of the mountain would either wake up a poet or demented. Reverend Evan Evans, also known under his bardic names Ieuan Fardd or Ieuan Brydydd Hir, spent a night on the summit as an experiment in order to discover whether there was any truth to this legend. He did not go mad, but life’s happiness eluded him thereafter.
Ever since the Romantic period, tourists have flocked to the mountains of Snowdonia and as Cader Idris is accessible from both Dolgellau and Barmouth, it has long been a popular destination for day excursions. In the late 1880s, Friedrich Althaus from Germany described how tourists climbed the summit from nearby Barmouth with the help of a local guide and his donkeys. It remains highly popular with mountain walkers and offers paths of varying difficulty along its northern and southern flanks.
Accounts of Travel
Ein Herbst in Wales, 1856
Julius Rodenberg (1831 – 1914)
Tri Greicnyn, die drei Sandkörner.
Am Ufer des Sees unter dem Cadair Idris liegen drei gigantische Steine, welche das Volk tri Greicnyn, die drei Sandkörner nennt. Dem Riesen Idris, welcher seinen Sitz auf Cadair Idris hatte, waren sie nämlich einst beim Herniedersteigen in die Schuh gekommen, und da sie ihn drückten, so zog er dieselben hier aus und warf die Steine dahin, wo sie noch heut liegen. ...
Auf der genannten Bergkuppe [des Cader Idris] wird ein Stein gezeigt, welcher der Sitz des sagenberühmten Riesen, Astrologen und Barden Idris (aus dem 3. oder 4. Jahrhundert) gewesen sein soll. Wer eine Nacht auf diesem Stein schläft, wird mit poetischem Genius begabt. Hier soll vor nicht gar zu langer Zeit der walisische Dichter Evan Evans, von Ruhmbegierde getrieben, eine Nacht zugebracht haben, danach aber wahnsinnig geworden sein.
Tri Greicnyn, the three grains of sand
On the banks of the lake below Cader Idris lie three gigantic stones which the people call tri Greicnyn, the three grains of sand. They had fallen into the shoes of the giant Idris, who had established his seat on Cader Idris, on his descent from the mountain and as they plagued him, he took off his shoes, and scattered the stones here where they lie to this day. ...
On the aforementioned summit [of Cader Idris] a stone is marked out, which is said to have been the seat of the legendary giant, astrologer and bard Idris who lived in the third or fourth century. Whoever spends a night on this stone will be blessed with poetic genius. Not long ago, the Welsh poet Evan Evans, driven by a hunger for fame, is said to have spent one night here, but was driven to insanity.
"Skizzen aus England. II.", 1883
Johann Jakob Honegger (1825 – 1896)
Im reichbewaldeten Thal zwischen den Flüßchen Aran und Wnion am Fuße des majestätischen Cader Idris, ist Dolgelly Centralpunkt einer ansehnlichen Reihe von prachtvollen Excursionen, ringsum von zahlreichen Landhäusern und Villen flankirt. Es sind auf der ganzen Route die gleichen Formen, die wir schon kennen, aber in einem so überraschenden Wechsel der Gruppierung, in einer so reichen Fülle von Combinationen und Variationen, als hätte ein Dichtergenius in seinen schöpferischen Stunden sie spielend über- und durch- und widereinander geworfen und aus seinen luftigsten Gebilden Steine gemacht. Die Sonne hatte sich heut in einen dichten Schleiher gehüllt, graue Nebelwolken flogen auf undab, einen Höhenzug um den andern, Gelände um Gelände umflorend; wir stiegen langsam der höhern Bergregion entgegen, und ebenso langsam, Schritt um Schritt, sanken die Nebeldecken auf unsere Schultern herab und entluden sich endlich in schweren, secundenweis fallenden Tropfen. Ich habe selten mit den reich wechselnden Schattierungen der Lichttöne in so klar abzumessenden Zeitmomenten ein grandioses Nebelbild sich verdichtend, rings uns einhüllend, sich zusammenziehen und, wenn wir wieder tiefer stiegen, ebenso gemessen sich lichten und lösen sehen, als wirkten da oben an ihren luftigen Florgewänden geschäftige Feenhände. Es war etwas Mysteriös-Bestrickendes, Geheimnisvolles in dem stillen Thun. Das sind die Stunden, wo ich in Wales das Land der schweren grauen Sagen und der markig erschütternden Lieder und Balladen erkenne. Die alten Helden und Räuber und Heidengötter steifen auf, in bunter Tracht, gewappnet und kampfbereit; die Elfen flüstern, und die Kobolde kichern. Wir sollten diesen Abend noch durch Liederton in jene gewaltigen Zeiten der Heroensage zurückversetzt werden. Kinder des Dorfes, denen wir zu ihrem großen Vergnügen unsere kleinen Münzen zuwarfen, sangen uns dafür vor, was sie an ihren altwalisischen Volksweisen konnten; freilich mußten auch neuere englische Melodien aushelfen, denn auch da scheint der alte Dialekt und was er in volksthümlichen Producten geschaffen allmählich im Verschwinden.
In the richly wooded valley between the rivers Aran and Wnion, by the foot of the majestic Cader Idris, Dolgellau forms the centre for some magnificent excursions, flanked all around by countless country houses and villas. All along the entire route we encounter already familiar shapes, but in a surprising variety of arrangements and such a richness of combination and diversity as if a poetic genius, during one of his creative hours, had tossed them about and jumbled them in a playful manner and transformed his airy visions into stone. That day, the sun had shrouded itself in a heavy veil and grey clouds of fog drifted up and down mountain ranges and enveloped hill and dale. Slowly we climbed towards the higher mountain region and equally slowly, matching us step by step, the blankets of fog sank on to our shoulders. Second by second, they discharged themselves in the shape of heavy droplets. I have rarely seen such a wealth of changing shades of light solidify as a grand fog-scape with such clearly delineable measures of time and then enclose us on all sides, tighten up and, on our descent, lift and disperse again as if busy fairy hands had woven their airy, gauzy gowns up there. There was something mysteriously bewitching, something secret in this quiet work. These are the hours in which I recognise Wales as the land of heavy grey legends and bloodcurdling songs and ballads. The old heroes and bandits and heathen deities parade around in multi-coloured costumes, armed and ready for battle; the fairies whisper and the goblins cackle. We were destined to spend this evening being carried back to these monumental times of the heroic epic. Much to their delight, we tossed coins to the children of the village and in return, they sang for us their old Welsh folk tunes. Of course, English melodies had to help out, too, because it appears the old dialect and all the folk traditions it produced are beginning to disappear.
"Voyage dans le pays de Galles", 1862
Alfred Erny (1838 – )
Après Tal-y-Llyn, la route, de plus en plus pittoresque, entre dans ce qu’on appelle la passe de Cadair-Idris, qui me rappelle beaucoup celles de Pyrénées. Des collines noires et stériles sont comme suspendues au-dessus de la vallée, et d’énormes blocs de rocher semblent à chaque instant prêts à crouler sur votre tête. Pendant une demi-heure, on longe un précipice, au fond duquel un torrent gronde et forme une ligne argentée jusqu’au petit lac de Tal-y-Llyn, déjà perdu dans le brouillard, qui, en Galles, moins épais qu’aux bords de la Tamise, voile légèrement les objets sans en cacher les contours. Près d’un petit lac appelé Llyn-Tri-Graenen, ou la mare des Trois-Cailloux, gisent quelques blocs de pierre que le géant Idris ôta, dit-on, de ses souliers, parce qu’ils le gênaient pour marcher; ces blocs roulèrent dans la vallée et y restèrent afin de montrer de quelles dimensions devaient être des bottes qui contenaient de tels cailloux. Idris, suivant les Triades, était un poète, un astronome et un philosophe, d’un esprit aussi vaste que son corps, et Cader ou Cadair veut dire siège (cathedra). Ce géant faisait son observatoire favori du sommet de la montagne. Vers le sommet de la passe, on remarque plusieurs points intéressants; l’un s’appelle Llam y Lladron, ou le Saut du Voleur: c’est la roche tarpéienne du pays de Galles; l’autre, la Tête de la reine Victoria. Tout auprès, on peut noter un rocher nommé Pen y Telyn, d’après sa ressemblance avec une harpe.
After Tal-y-Llyn the road, more and more picturesque, enters into what is known as the Cadair Idris pass, that reminds me a lot of Pyrenean passes. Black, sterile hills as if hanging above the valley, and enormous blocks of rock seem at any moment ready to cave in on top of you. For half an hour, the road runs along the edge of a precipice, at the bottom of which a torrent roars and forms a silvery line as far as the little lake of Tal-y-Llyn, already lost in the mist, that, in Wales, being less thick than on the banks of the Tames, lightly veils objects without hiding their outlines. Near a little lake called Llyn-Tri-Graenen, or the lake of the three stones, lie some blocks of stone that the giant Idris removed, so they say, from his shoes because they were preventing him from walking; these blocks rolled down the valley and stayed there so as to demonstrate the dimensions that the boots that contained such stones must have had. Idris, according to the Triads, was a poet, an astronomer and a philosopher, with a mind as great as his body, and Cader or Cadair means seat (cathedra). This giant’s favourite observation post was the summit of this mountain. Near the highest point of the pass there are a number of things to note; one is called Llam y Lladron, or the Leap of the Thief: it is the Tarpeian Rock of Wales; the other, the Head of Queen Victoria. Right nearby, there is a rock named Pen y Telyn because of its resemblance to a harp.
L’Europe pittoresque: pays du nord, c. 1880s
Jules Gourdault (1838 – 1912)
La série des paysages grandioses s’ouvre de ce côté par le fier sommet du Cadair-Idris (890 mètres), qui commande d’une part le comté de Merioneth, et de l’autre celui de Montgomery. Le district à travers lequel on chemine et à l’horizon duquel on le voit se dresser, sitôt que l’on dépasse à gauche le port précité d’Aberystwyth, est beaucoup plus âpre et accidenté que la région située en deçà, et plus on s’avance, plus les lieux revêtent un caractère solitaire et sauvage. Après avoir été l’asile des derniers défenseurs de la nationalité galloise, cette partie de la presqu’île devint, au XVIe siècle, le quartier général d’une célèbre bande de brigands, les « hommes rouges », qui était la terreur des populations. Chaque soir, dit-on, les fermiers plaçaient des faux dans leurs cheminées pour empêcher les malandrins d’entrer chez eux par cette voie. Il fallut mettre sur pied tout un corps de troupes pour purger la contrée de ces écumeurs, auxquels s’étaient joints, comme il arrive toujours en pareil cas, des soldats débandés à la suite de la dernière guerre, celle des Deux-Roses, et des mécontents de toute sorte. Le Cadair-Idris, ou ‚siège d’Idris‘, tient son nom d’un certain géant Idris, analogue à notre Gargantua, qui habitait jadis son sommet. Le col par lequel on franchit la montagne ressemble à un port pyrénéen. D’énormes blocs de rocher, menaçant de s’écrouler sur la tête du touriste, enserrent des deux côtés le défilé, au fond duquel, dans un précipice, gronde un torrent aux ondes laiteuses.
The series of grand landscapes opens on this side with the proud summit of Cadair Idris (890 metres), that commands views on the one hand of the County of Merioneth and on the other that of Montgomery. The district through which we travel, and on whose horizon we see it rise (as soon as we have passed to our left the above-mentioned port of Aberystwyth), is much harsher and more rugged than the region below, and the further we travel, the more the places have a solitary and wild character. Having been the refuge of the last defenders of Welsh nationality, this part of the peninsula became, in the sixteenth century, the headquarters of a famous band of bandits, the ‘red men’ who terrorized the population. Every evening, it is said that farmers placed scythes in their chimneys so as to prevent the brigands from entering their homes by this route. It was necessary to establish a whole unit of troops in order to rid the land of these thieves, who had been joined, as always happens with such cases, by disbanded soldiers following the last war, that of the Roses, and dissatisfied people of all sorts. The Cadair Idris, or‚ ‘seat of Idris’, takes its name from a giant named Idris, similar to our Gargantua, who lived on its summit long ago. The pass that gives access to the mountain resembles a Pyrenean port. Enormous blocks of rock, threatening to collapse onto the tourist’s head, hem in on both sides the gorge, at the bottom of which, in a precipice, a torrent with milky waves roars.
