Waterfall Walks by Walking Adviser Michelle

Walking Adviser

Michelle talks Waterfall Country.

I know it’s a cliché, the waterfall walks, so impressive when we’ve had a little rain in South Wales.

My tip would be to start this walk early in the day, on a sunny weekend, waterfall country is busy, but most don’t get there until 11am, so a 9am start and you have the place to yourself.

Car park, heading north out of Pontneddfechan towards Ystradfellte, take the first road on the right (about 2 miles) if you miss it, take the next right, both lanes are single car roads. Just over the river, on the left is the car park at Cwm Porth, there’s a lovely ranger based there with his rescue cat, and it’s possible to pop down to the peer into the cave system entrances from the car park. Grid Ref 928 123.

This walk is straight forward, cross the road and follow the river, the challenge is the footing, it’s uneven and will be slippery, at times you are right on the river’s edge, (best to visit when there’s plenty of water) The path heads SSW for 2 km next to the rived, across fields, with the wood line at the back of the fields.

You will notice the change as the path starts to climb, the water from the river sounds energetic and you move into the woodland. You start to feel the magic. There are well signposted spurs off the path on the right (west) towards the river taking you down to the water to see the waterfalls, first Sgwd Isaf Clun-gwyn, then Sgwd y Pannwr and Sgwd y Elra. These spurs are steep with woodland steps and rails over the worst of the ground, and well worth the climb down and then back up to get close to the water and hear the roar of the falls. The rocks are super slippery!

Rather than back tracking, I like to make my way through the plantation, there’s been a lot of felling in this area so the forestry tracks change, essentially you need to be going north and uphill – it doesn’t matter if you over shoot and hit the eastern boundary track (catching feature!) stay within the open access land on the track and both tracks will cross the same foot path, which drops you down to the car park.

Notes

The blue lines through the woods are serious streams, aim to stay on the paths or tracks so you know you can cross these safely, (Gwaun Hepste isn’t open access, the boundaries on the track are clear.) The road from Cwm Porth up to Gwaun Hepste is narrow with a hairpin bend, not good for walking on, as the foot path is easy to pick up, just after the OA boundary, you shouldn’t over shoot. It is a working woodland, so you may be diverted.

For waterfalls to be impressive you need to go when there’s been a lot of rain, this means the ground is wet, the stones close to the river slippery, and the spray from the falls themselves will get you wet. 

The river is in a valley, surrounded by trees, it always feels cooler than you expect, and this is one walk I always take a flask on – hot drink by the falls, just lovely.

About this walk:

Distance: 6 km (more like 9km with the up and down to the falls).

Time: by Naismith 2.30 hours (yeah right , 4 to 5 hours, no point in not seeing the falls and having a proper explore!)

Climb: roughly 350m with the spurs

Map: OL12 (Brecon Beacons West)

When its safe to do so, please keep us updated on your walks by using the hashtag #GirlguidingCymu

Thanks for reading!

Michelle

Please note: Due to government guidelines you should stay local. Please visit these walks when its safe to do so.