aiid 
199 
_ Wye Valley and the Black Mountains beyond Hay. Here was Talgarth and 
Mynydd Troed visited by the Club in 1866 with such enjoyment that the memory 
is pleasant still. Here was Llangorse Lake, where the Club discovered that its 
large island was purely artificial, a lake crannoge. Are not all these things 
written-in the Club’s Transactions?* Whilst talking of these matters and 
admiring in the distance the Beacons, which it was the main object of the day’s 
excursion to surmount, the train arrived at Brecon station. Here came the only 
contretemps of the day, and that was the serious one of a want of sufficient 
carriage conveyance. Little Rhayader last year found carriages enough for 120 
persons, but it seems that though ‘‘ All Brecon had been ransacked for carriages,” 
as the Castle Inn superintendent said, it could only find sufficient for 45 persons ! 
Ample notice had been previously given, and it is difficult to know why so 
provoking a mischance should have happened. Could it be want of business 
energy, or narrow-minded rivalry, that disappointed some 25 or 30 visitors so 
much? Any way, it was not creditable to the capital of the county, and not 
encouraging to future visitors. Such carriages as there were the most energetic 
soon seized upon and started for the Beacons. Some few gentlemen walked 
there, and the rest remained to visit the interesting objects and localities at 
Brecon, under the kind guidance of the Rev. Rees Price, who did all that local 
knowledge and good nature could do to interest and console the unfortunate, and, 
it is only just to say, with much success. The drive to the inn at the foot of the 
Beacons was a long pull against the collar for nearly nine miles up the valley of 
the river Tarrell. It was a beautiful drive, becoming more and more so as the road 
ascended and the tree foliage was left behind. The carriages were left at the inn 
and the walk to the summit began. The little mountain stream, swollen by the 
late rains to a size that demanded respect and care, stopped a matron or two of the 
party and amused the younger ones to get over. Few did it without wetting 
their shoes if nothing more, but this mattered not much, for the mountain side 
was rather boggy and wet from the same cause. The walk to the summit is 
nearly two miles. It seemed three to some of the party, but it is nowhere either 
steep or difficult, and the well-known view from the top is an ample reward. 
The heights attained throughout the day were carefully registered from the 
pocket aneroid, by Mr. C. G. Martin and Dr. Chapman. Tal-y-lyn was 460 feet 
above sea level. Then leaving the watershed of the river Wye for that of the 
river Usk, Brecon station was found to be nearly 200 lower than that of 
Tal-y-lyn. The little inn at the foot of the Beacons was 1,400 feet above sea level 
—and the summit of the highest, the southernmost of the two peaks, was 2,625 
feet above sea level—both instruments agreed in this result, and therefore the 
height of 2,862 feet, as commonly given for the Bannau Breconheiniog, or Brecon 
Beacons, is probably too high. As soon as the stragglers of the party had 
arrived on the summit, the president called on Dr. Bull to read his paper. 
Seated on the cairn of Cadyr Arthur, or King Arthur’s chair, he began as 
follows :— 
* Wool. Trans. p. 150, 1866.—See also Paper, and illustration of crannoge on p. 101, ef seg. 
of Trans., 1870. 
