Betws-y-Coed Llyn Conwy

Llyn Conwy (SH780462) is a lake in the county of Conwy in Snowdonia North Wales. It is the beginning of the River Conwy which, on running due south out of the lake, cuts around to then flow in a northward way for a distance of approximately twenty-seven statute mile (43 km) to the sea in Conwy . Llyn Conwy lies at an altitude of  1,488 feet, with a utmost depth of sixteen ft, and is far and away the biggest lake of the Migneint upland, a far-reaching expanse of broad peatland with above average rainfall - almost 260 centimetre a year.

Llyn Conwy is  National Trust property and, although a natural lake, is superintended as a artificial lake by Welsh Water.
                                                                                It provides roughly  the water requirements of the upper Conwy Valley, including Betws-y-coed and Llanrwst. Contingency plans for drought also name Llyn Conwy as the subordinate reservoir in the district which, along with its own catchment region, can feed part of the ‘normal’ Llyn Cowlyd (near Trefriw) append area. A compensation outpouring of 0.91 Ml/d would be expected from Llyn Conwy.

The pH scale of the lake is described as pH 7.5257 on the average, with calcium carbonate ranges at 53.7 mg/l, hardness 3 °GH, free chlorine at 0.2853 milligram/l and amount Cl at 0.354 mg/l.

In 2008 the National Trust described that it was working with its tenant husbandmen to improve water storage in the Welsh uplands. In this area staff are beginning to reestablish the Migneint blanket peat bog. Drainage trenches are being barricaded to help hold back water, to cut down erosion, and to cut off the quantity of peat coming into the  water table. Work on the wider Ysbyty Estate aims to amend the calibre of drinking water from the lake without the need for expensive treatment works, and to keep going the Migneint as one of the largest carbon stores in Wales.] Peatland renovation can help heighten wildlife habitats and reinstate species variety.

This expanse is really impacted by acid rainwater and the slight peaty ground is most adept  for sheep pasturing.

Blanket peatland is especially tender to global climate change and this position has therefore been used on a number of occasions for research projects.


Origin of the river Conwy

The fountainhead of Llyn Conwy's northwest feeder-stream. Its lighter-coloured pasture, displaying the wetter ground, leaps out from the heather mixture.

A closer aspect of the header of the stream on Bryn y Bedol. Upstream of the lake, this is one of the two upmost practical origins of the river Conwy.
Whilst the lake is often regarded in a general sense as the beginning of the river Conwy, a great deal of this area of the Migneint blanket peat bog gives water supply to its topmost reachings.

The lake itself dwells in a little basin and is really fed by a small number of other nameless streams within the catchment basin, which measures 175ha and ranges in height from 435m to 530m. The biggest two of these, which enter the lake on its north-western and eastern shores, can be followed for over ¼ mile to the upper edges of the basin, even during drier periods. The heads of these two watercoursesw, where the wet ground creates an identifiable flow - at SH774465 on the slopes of Bryn y Bedol, and at SH783467 on the slopes of Pen y Bedw - should maybe more correctly be considered as the upmost start of the river Conwy.

In times of very strong rainfall some water is deviated from Cwm Lanerch by way of leats into Llyn Conwy.

Features
A small parapet with a water gate, barely suitable of the word "dam", checks the outpouring from the southerly end of the lake, the level of which hasn't altered since the early nineteenth century Ordnance Survey.

In that location are a trio of older shanties on the slopes of the lake. On the northerly shore, there's an older boathouse that was hit by lightning and ruined on 5 July 1881, but was later renovated. On the southerly shore there's a more entire boathouse that is still in use now as there's a boat housed inside that was at one time employed as a lifeboat. As well to the south of that is an old ravaged hut that was once used by nightlong fishermen as an abode .

The lake has two islands, one simply off the easterly shore and more to the south, which is covered by above average waterlines during most of the year. The former sits to the northerly east corner of the lake and has a cairn on it, in addition tomna fairly big grassy/bouldered area.

Fishing
Llyn Conwy was  previously  owned and looked after by Lord Penrhyn, who kept the lake well stocked. In 2 days in 1880 a party caught 111 trout, and a calendar month afterwards approximately 119 were caught in the small river Conwy between the lake and Ysbyty Ifan.

In recent times, Llyn Conwy has suffered a slump in the number of folks sportfishing there; the sourness of the water supply signifies that fish find it more difficult to inhabit thither, nevertheless a method of counteraction is afoot there as limestone from the banks of the lake is slowly oozing into the water system and evening out the pH degrees so that bit by bit, over a procedure of ten years, the water system will go back to its previous precondition.

Approach
The most comfortable approach to the lake is from the B4407, which runs from the A5 by Pentrefoelas to Ffestiniog, near Blaenau Ffestiniog. A right turn from Ffestiniog leads to an older household known as 'Llyn Cottage' (often used for nighttime angling by Lord Penrhyn and his acquaintances), where there's parking and an approach path to the lake. It can also be approached from Penmachno, taking the left hand turn sign posted Ysbyty Ifan. The route from this point, whilst following a Right of Way, is  to a lesser extent well defined.

The catchment basin around the lake, although owned by the National Trust, has a tenant farmer and is Open Access.