Llyn Barfog

Llyn Barfog — 'the Bearded Lake' — sits high in the hills above Aberdovey in southern Snowdonia, its surface fringed with water-plants that give it the name. It is one of the most storied lakes in Welsh mythology: the home of the Gwragedd Annwn (the fairy women of the lake), who would emerge to tend their silver-white cattle on the hillsides, and the lair of the Afanc — a monstrous water beast half crocodile and half demon.

The most celebrated legend places Arthur himself here. The monster had long terrorised the valley, and all attempts to destroy it had failed. Arthur came with his horse Llamrei, looped a chain around the sleeping Afanc, and dragged it bodily from the water. The beast thrashed and fought, but Llamrei strained until the creature was hauled onto dry land; Arthur then cast it or drove it into Glaslyn, far to the north, where some say it still lies.

A rock on the hillside above the lake bears a hollow said to be the hoofprint Llamrei left in the effort, and is known to this day as Carn March Arthur — the Stone of Arthur's Horse.