Late afternoon Friday found us in Wales. If you miss the welcome to Wales sign along the M4, you'll know it anyway, as the highway signs immediately become bilingual! Our destination was Merthyr Tydfil, near Brecon Beacons National Park [Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog], where we'd made a hotel reservation (more about this later). Watching a weather forecast for the next day was one of our priorities, since we hoped to climb the highest mountain in the park.However, the forecast gave us pause: gale-force winds in the mountains! Better move to plan B, although we didn't have one. So we hoped to find some information and suggestions for a different hike at the Park visitor center. And our hopes were more than realized at the friendly Mountain Centre. Although we were there well before their opening time, a friendly employee let us come into the warm and made us tea while we waited for the hiking experts to arrive. And they gave us great advice.
Because of the wind, they suggested we stay low, and it just so happens there's a fantastic hike that would allow us to do that: Wood of the Waterfalls [Coed y Rhaeadr]. A handy, well-marked circuit trail allows you to see the best 4 of these falls, so that's what we did (the picture above is of Henry at #3).
First there was a little detour down to a fantastic underwater cave, that we ventured into only a short distance:
Note the crystal-clear water!
Then off to the main trail. The weather cooperated for the most part during our hike, which lasted most of the day. There was only an occasional drop of rain until we got close to the finish,
when a constant drizzle meant that everything required a severe drying out back at the hotel. The mud was something of a problem, though, with periodic patches of trail being nothing but mud and puddles. However, after returning to the hotel for Henry's forgotten boots, we were appropriately shod and just ploughed through the stuff.Part of the time the trail led along the river (three of the falls were on the Afon Mellte, one on the Afon Hepste—fun fact: Afon/Avon
means river in Gaelic-rooted languages, so River Avon means River River!) as you can see above on the right. The main rock in the area is this gorgeous black slate, which makes long flat tables around the streamcuts.Sometimes, however, the trail led high above, so you could get top-of-the-waterfall views, and appropriate warnings were definitely in order.
The first fall we came to was Sgwd Clun-Gwyn (please don't ask for pronunciations from us, but as awkward-looking as Welsh is, when you hear folks that know what they're doing pronounce these names, they're really beautiful).
Here is a view of it from the top. As you can see, these are real waterfalls, not just sets of rapids, with plenty of water flowing. We learned later that they had a very wet summer and so the falls were all performing at top capacity for us.
On to number 2, Sgwd yr Eira, which we remember the ranger telling us means Falls of the Snow. This one is the most popular to visit because of the attraction that you can go behind it! Here are two views of this powerful falls. The first one I took as we approached. You can see someone about to go behind the falls. The second one Henry took from behind the falls (at great risk of camera lens damage!) after we'd gone through one way. You can see me (with umbrella, which was some protection) heading back out the other side.
We got soaked! Fortunately it wasn't too cold and we were wearing our fast-dry outwear and pants. But what an amazing place! We did talk to some locals there who remarked that you often
could go behind the falls and not get wet at all; one gentleman estimated there was 10 times more water coming over than the last time he had visited.Although we thought nothing could top this experience, we headed on to the remaining waterfalls. And though they were not this spectacular, they were definately worth seeing. Each of the four had different contours and different esthetic attractions. Number 3 (Sgwd y Pannwr) was perhaps my favorite because of the lovely little pre-fall (see left) amid the sheets of slate before the water hits the main drop.
Here is the main falls, which was quite wide, from above.
Number 4 (Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn) was the hardest to get to (we think we might have strayed from the main path) and the hardest to photograph because it has several levels and the river makes a little jog part-way down. But it's another fantastic falls:
A happy surprise greeted us after we left this falls, when we found ourselves right back at the first one, when we'd thought we might have to hunt about for the trail to finish the circuit. It was a good thing that we knew where we were going the last bit of the hike, though, since the drizzle started soon and was continually, awkwardly, misting glasses. It was a ways back to the car, but we made it fine and were happy to see a little pub just off the road back, in Pontneddfechan. We were their first dinner customers, but the warmth, dryness, and sustenance surely was welcome.
We also found out we could have stayed in their inn for less than our hotel, and in much more picturesque surroundings. Merthyr Tydfil, for all its wonderful Welsh name, doesn't have a lot of personality (although it's a large enough town to have plenty of conveniences such as bakeries and grocery stores). It's an old industrial town that hasn't quite transitioned to a recreational gateway, which it's ideally positioned to be. Should we ever be fortunate enough to make a return trip to the Beacons, we'll look for a smaller place further into the mountains.
