"Ein Ausflug nach Nordwales"

Name of traveller

Max Wirth (1822-1900)

Reason for travel

• desire to see the Britannia Bridge

Date of travel

undated, ca. 1860s to early 1870s

Der Jugendtraum war halb zu Wasser; allein daran war die Britannia-Brücke selbst unschuldig. Sie bleibt doch die Mutter der Gitterbrücken, ein Triumph der Mathematik! (W[irt]h 3)

Content

• agriculture: attacked by an Anglesey bull, but praises the beauty of the breed
• architecture:
  • praises ruined Norman castles in north Wales and compares them to Heidelberg Castle
  • the Britannia Bridge is less imposing than expected, though still a triumph of mathematics
• art: identifies the Royal Oak Hotel in Betws-y-Coed as a gathering centre for writers and English landscape painters
• customs:
  • brief reference to the bardic tradition in Wales
  • describes a local eisteddfod taking place in the Royal Oak Hotel
• diet:
  • complains about the low quality food sold in train station restaurants
  • describes the good English breakfast (sic) served in a guest house in Beaumaris
• industry:
  • north Wales generally rural, but industrial slate mining of great significance
  • some notes on the slate quarries in Llanberis
• literature:
  • enjoys reading the visitors' book of the Royal Oak Hotel and copies an occasional poem written by a tourist
  • relates the local legend about the hound Gelert
• recreation:
  • ascent of Snowdon in bad weather
  • enjoys sea bathing, despite the low water temperature
  • is fascinated by two men playing squash
• terrain:
  • conflates Wales and England
  • compares north Wales with Switzerland
  • romantic landscape around Snowdon and Betws-y-Coed
  • compares the Menai Strait to particular sections of the rivers Rhine and Danube
  • witnesses milky seas phenomenon in Beaumaris Bay
• transport:
  • modes of travel: boat; on foot; train
  • suffers motion sickness while taking an express train from London to Bangor
  • takes a small boat from Bangor to Beaumaris and crosses the bay under moon light
• collected and republished in: Wirth, Max. Cultur- und Wander-Skizzen. Vienna: Manz'sche k.k. Hof-Verlags- und Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1876. Print.
• click here to read the full account

Nationality of traveller

unkown

Language of publication

German

Gender of traveller

Unknown

Type of publication

essay; travelogue

Citation

W[irt]h, [Max]. "Ein Ausflug nach Nordwales." Neue Freie Presse (20 May 1874): 1-4. Print.