Adventure Day: Melincwrt Waterfall

This morning I had planned to spend the day writing the next post in the All I Own series. I had it all planned out and ready to go… then I looked out the window and seen that we had a nice bit of weather!

So I quickly packed my bag and headed out the door to Neath. For a couple of weeks I have planned to go to Melincwrt Falls, today was the best chance for me to go.

I have been here a few times before, it is a nice little walk up a trail to this lovely waterfall. A good place to start doing trails again after so long.

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Parking and Pre-walk.

The car park is pretty easy to find and get to with plenty of space to park. The walk itself is just on the opposite side of the road.
I started this adventure heading the other way, going North of the carpark away from the road I noticed that there seemed to be a small path.
This track didn’t go too far, but it was worth quenching my curiosity.

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A little History

The area is part of a reserve protected by Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. The area has mostly native trees of Sessile Oak, Birch, Ash, Rowan and Sycamore. Flower wise there is 80 different species, right now the highlights I seen was Bluebells and Clovers. The waterfall is actually called Sgwd Rhyd-yr-Hesg. There is somewhere in the area fractureal ruins of an old Iron Works from the 1700’s that used a diverted water stream to power the billows.

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Heading to the Waterfall

Like I said earlier, the trail itself heading to the waterfall is pretty easy to walk up with only one or two muddy patches. The walk shouldn’t take much longer than 20 minutes without stopping.

There is plenty to see on the way up though. The river to the left on a day after rain can be fast flowing over and around the rocks on the way down giving reason to pause and watch.
On the right you can see mini streams and falls coming from up the hills and joining to the river.
If you are interested in rock formations, again on the right can give some up close and personal viewing, then on the far side of the gorge you can see how these great sheets of stone and rock was pushed up… note to self, look up about stones.
If you are like me and love seeing moss and small plants and flowers, this whole area is the perfect environment and there are walls of moss.

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Waterfalls

As you get near the end of the trail you can tell you are getting closer to your goal, the noise increases to a roar! Rounding another corner and you can see water of the main waterfall tumbling over the top.

There is a small area that you can view both of these waterfalls and a small wall you can sit on (Another note to self, get a blanket or something to sit on).

After taking a few more photos I sat for a while to have a drink and enjoy stopping.
This is when my soon to be tour guide turned up with is dog. They were out for the morning walk and we got talking.

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Back and Beyond with good company

My tour guide Paul had told me about another trail that comes off part way down (its the steps if you go on this trail) it takes you up and over the top of the falls and back down a small road on the other side of the gorge. Before going back down though there is another trail that goes up further hidden behind the church.

After explaining this new trail to me, Paul suggested showing me. I took him up on the offer and we got talking. Turns out he was a very interesting man that used to be a forester in Australia and had lived in a few other places in his life. It has been a while sinc I have been able to talk to someone about in depth topics including farming, environment and even religion (usually with patients you can’t cross into these things).

I hope that I see him again if I am back that way, thank you Paul!

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I hope you enjoyed this post. Melincwrt Falls is definitely a place worth visiting.
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