Talybont Reservoir and the Waterfalls Walk

Wednesday 23rd April 2003

In the spring following my holiday in the Brecon Beacons, September 2002, that has been described over the last couple of weeks, I was back in Wales for more walking in this fabulous area that had become so familiar place to me. I had been elsewhere over Easter so I didn’t get to Wales until Wednesday, but I must have got up pretty early as I was able to do a long walk over the hills east of the Brecon Beacons around Talybont Reservoir. I parked beside the reservoir near the dam and walked up a bridlepath that took me onto the grass-covered hills north of the reservoir. My diary and my memory are equally unhelpful about this walk with my diary’s only comment being ‘It was a nice walk in good sunny weather.’  I must have followed the dotted black line on the map up Twyn Du to Carn Pica and over Waun Rydd.

At Bwlch y Ddwyallt I’d have joined the route that I’d taken the previous September, but now walking down towards the car park that I’d started from then. Just before reaching the car park I branched off to my right across the road and around the edges of the Talybont Forest. So far in my circuit of Talybont Reservoir I had walked over the hills north of the reservoir and had now I crossed the lowest point in the encircling hills. I am not sure whether I stayed on top of the hills over Pant y Creigiau or entered the wood following the course of an old railway line. I have a feeling that I stayed high with views across the reservoir and passed over Bryniau Gleison before dropping down through the wood to the railway line, but I don’t remember. It could be that the hills south of Talybont Reservoir are dull and utterly forgettable, but I do remember reaching the shore of the reservoir and crossing the dam, where my car lay a short walk further along the road.

This must not have been a great walk as I can hardly remember it, but I do remember what happened after leaving Talybont Reservoir. When I got to the youth Hostel near Brecon I couldn’t find my glasses and immediately had memories of the previous summer when I’d lost my glasses in the Lake District. The last time I had seen them was on top of my car at the end of the walk, but obviously they weren’t there now. In a panic I drove all the way back to the car park only to find my glasses, inside the case, lying on the ground with my map. They were perfectly fine, which was very lucky. I had driven off with them still on top of the car and they’d fallen off. I'd actually done that before with the map (and with hats and other things!), but previously I had always heard the sound of it falling off the top of my car. Now I make doubly sure that I haven’t left anything on top of the car before I drive off.

Thursday 24th April 2003

The next day it was raining and it stayed overcast for most of the day so I decided not to do my planned walk over the Black Mountain as I'd wanted a view and instead I decided to do the Waterfalls Walk. I had done this walk in 2000, but now I wanted to follow the route shown in the pathfinder guide for the area which extends the walk to the Porth yr Orgof cave. The pathfinder guide actually starts the walk from the car park just above the cave, but I started from Pontneddfechan again, beside the Angel pub, possibly because I couldn’t find the correct car park. This was an enjoyable walk despite the poor weather as rain only makes the waterfalls even more dramatic.

After passing the lovely Sgwd Gwladus I followed the River Neath past more waterfalls until I reached Pont melin-fach. At this point I diverged from my earlier walk and continued to follow the river, now on the other bank until I reached Pont Rhyd-y-cnau where I left the river and climbed out of the valley, over the hill and down to the River Mellte at Porth yr Orgoth where I had lunch. I didn’t try entering the cave as that would have been dangerous without supervision, but followed the dry riverbed to the point where the river emerges after its passage through the cave and continued beside the river to Sgŵd Clun-gwyn. At this point I had rejoined my earlier route but this time I wanted to try a different route in order to get a better view of the difficult to see Sgŵd Isaf Clun-gwyn. I did manage to see some of it, but then I had to cross the river lower down. When I eventually started to cross I slipped and saw my right leg plunge into the water right up to my knee as my foot quickly became soaked. I eventually managed to get across by treading carefully in shallow water, but by now the damage was done and I had wet feet for the rest of the walk.

Resuming my walk along the correct path I passed behind the exciting Sgwd yr Eira before climbing out of the valley for the final stroll through woodland back to Pontneddfechan. This is a great walk and I am disappointed that I have never been back. Sgwd yr Eira has skirted controversy over the years with the park authorities worried about the potential danger of walking behind the waterfall. I’m worried about what I may find should I return, but I’m sure it would be worth the effort. Despite only doing two walks on this holiday I managed to hurt my ankle again. I had a similar injury last time I was in the Brecon Beacons, but now I have no idea what I had been doing to cause it, unless it was done when my leg disappeared into the river. These were two very different walks over two completely different terrains, in completely different weather, but both thoroughly enjoyable walks.