Bala Lake

Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake)

Llyn Tegid is the largest natural lake in Wales, covering 1.75 square miles (1,123 acres) and sitting at 529 feet (161 metres) above sea-level. It’s a popular place for a variety of watersports including canoeing, sailing and windsurfing. The hills around the lake are great for walking and with a large car park right beside the eastern side of the lake, it’s very popular with visitors and locals.

The southern edge of the lake is home the narrow gauge Bala Lake Railway ‘Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid’ which runs to the nearby village of Llanuwchllyn (The Church Above the Lake in English). The narrow-gauge track was laid down in 1972, the first to be laid on an old British Rail track-bed (the same one which ran to the towns of Dolgellau and Barmouth to the west).

The lake is home to a great variety of fish, including Pike which have grown up to 40lbs, Perch have grown up to 10lbs and Eels to 7lbs. A rarer fish is the Gwyniaid, a remnant from the last Ice Age. They have adapted to living in the lake and have evolved into a separate recognised species. The lake can freeze over, which happened in the severe winters of 1947 and 1963.