Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake)

Llyn Tegid — the Fair Lake — stretches for six kilometres south of the market town of Bala, making it the largest natural lake in Wales. Its waters are fed by the River Dee and by numerous upland streams from the surrounding hills. At 42 metres deep, it holds a volume of water that buffers the surrounding landscape against drought and flood alike, and beneath its surface lives the gwyniad, a small white fish that has survived here in isolation since the last ice age.

The Lake

Llyn Tegid occupies a glacially over-deepened valley — the same Dee valley that continues northeast to the sea at Rhyl. The glaciers that carved this basin cut far below the current valley floor, leaving a lake of exceptional depth relative to its surroundings. The gwyniad (Coregonus pennantii) is a coregonid fish that became isolated in these waters as the glaciers retreated and has evolved in isolation ever since. It feeds on plankton in the deep water and has never been recorded anywhere else. It is considered critically endangered and cannot be fished.

Welsh legend associated the lake with the drowned city of Tegid Foel — a settlement swallowed by rising waters as punishment for the wickedness of its rulers — and with the Afanc, a water monster said to drag horses and riders to a watery doom. The town of Bala grew at the northern end of the lake and has been a centre for Welsh Nonconformism and culture since the 18th century.

Getting There

Bala town is easily reached on the B4391 from Dolgellau or the A494 from Wrexham. The Bala Lake Railway runs along the southern shore of the lake, offering a 45-minute steam-hauled journey from Bala to Llanuwchllyn with views across the water. A lakeside path follows part of the shoreline and connects with the wider footpath network in the surrounding hills.

What You Will See

The lake is a designated watersports centre with facilities for sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, and open water swimming. Cormorants, great crested grebes, and goosanders are regular on the water; in winter the lake attracts significant numbers of wildfowl including goldeneye and whooper swans. The surrounding hills — the Aran range to the south and the Berwyns to the east — provide a dramatic backdrop for lake-level photography. The Bala Lake Railway provides a uniquely relaxed way to experience the full length of the lake, and the journey is particularly fine in autumn when the hillside bracken turns to copper and gold.