Bridge over a bridge

THOUSANDS OF A5 DRIVERS PASS HIDDEN ERYRI GEM NOT REALISING IT'S THERE

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE Countryside and Tourism Editor [e-mail]

The old packhorse bridge looks fragile but it's still sturdy. Picture: Hywel Williams

(Jeremy Bolwell/Wiki Hywel Williams)

EACH year thousands of vehicles cross a bridge in Eryri (Snowdonia) not realising what's underneath. Hidden below is a second bridge, possibly medieval, that arches sharply over Afon Ogwen.

Now gnarled and skeletal, having long lost its roadbed, Pont Pen y Benglog sits below the A5 near the outflow from Llyn Ogwen. As much as any other feature on the road, it demonstrates how Thomas Telford's engineering genius transformed travel in North Wales in the early 19th century.

The packhorse bridge was once part of the old turnpike road that snaked along Nant Ffrancon and the Ogwen Valley. Like so many derelict humpback bridges, it's still standing strong, testimony to the resilience of the stone arch design.

Some people clamber up the "bridge under a bridge" and dangle their legs over the river as it hurtles towards the majestic Rhaeadr Ogwen falls. Walkers shelter here from the rain and at least one marriage was hatched between the two arches.

Telford built the new Pont Pen y Benglog to "avoid very inconvenient rocky hills". As the old turnpike approached the river gorge from the west, the route passed through a cutting before following a narrow terrace supported by massive stone walls.