Nant Gwynant

In describing Nant Gwynant, he wrote: "The trees were so thick that a man on a white horse could not be seen from Llyn y Dinas to Pen y Gwryd."

"[2] The upper section of Nant Gwynant, from the site of the Roman fort and marching camp situated at the junction with the modern A4086 Caernarfon to Capel Curig road, follows the valley of Nant Cynnyd to a viewpoint (in about a mile) overlooking the Cwm Dyli hydro-electric power station, which was built in 1899/1900 by the North Wales Power and Traction Company[3] to supply electricity to the Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway that failed before it was completed.

A mile further and the road passes Hafod Lwyfog, the summer homestead built in the 1540s, the birthplace of Sir John Williams, goldsmith to King James I, who in 1610 presented the Church of St Mary in Beddgelert with a fine chalice.

A campsite now operates at the head of Llyn Gwynant, and the balance of the farm is managed as a conservation estate by descendants of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis.

The path, which was ceremonially opened on 13 September 1892 by William Ewart Gladstone,[3] the then Prime Minister, was specially constructed for Sir Edward Watkin, railway entrepreneur and Victorian pioneer of the Channel Tunnel for the benefit of guests at The Chalet, his summer retirement home in the woods.