A shallow lake in the Ogwen valley under Tryfan and the Glyderau, said in legend to hold Excalibur
Llyn Ogwen (llyn is Welsh for lake) lies along the floor of the Ogwen valley in Eryri, the Welsh name for Snowdonia, with the rock peaks of the Glyderau on one side and Tryfan rising at its eastern end. For such a well-known lake it is strangely shallow, in places only a few feet deep, and one old story has it as the resting place of Excalibur, thrown in by Sir Bedivere as King Arthur lay dying. The A5 runs right along the northern shore, which makes the lake an easy stop and the start of some of the finest walks in Wales — up Tryfan’s north ridge, or south into Cwm Idwal and Devil’s Kitchen, a rocky bowl of a valley (cwm is Welsh for valley) with its own small lake beneath the cliffs. West of the lake the road drops down the Nant Ffrancon Pass toward the coast.
