The Afon Sychryd is a river in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Although it is a relatively short river, with a total length of 3 miles (5 km), it is notable for the gorge and two waterfalls through which it flows.
The river has two upper arms, the first arises near Penderyn, which has been dammed to create a small reservoir, known as Penderyn Reservoir. The second arm starts just below Craig y Llyn and is known locally as the Nant Gwrangon; it flows past the village of Rhigos and through Cwm Wyrfa on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. [1]
Where the two arm joins it flows through the southern slopes of the Fforest Fawr Geopark and under the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road and turns northwest to join the Afon Mellte at Pontneddfechan. [2]
Its lower section is cut into a spectacular gorge beneath Dinas Rock (Craig-y-Ddinas), site of an Iron Age hillfort and of the once-famous Dinas Silica Mine. The gorge is well used by gorge-scramblers though there has been concern that their activities can cause damage to the rare bryophytes and mosses that colonise the rocks in this shaded valley and for which it has been designated as a special area of conservation.
There are several waterfalls of note on the river including those at Pwll y Crochan near the A645 and Sgydau Sychryd beneath Craig-y-Ddinas. The former is hardly accessible to the public but the latter is easily seen from the Sychryd All-ability Trail which follows a former tramroad up the river from the car park at Craig-y-Ddinas. It is falls such as these that have resulted in the wider area becoming known as Waterfall Country.
Ystradfellte is a village and community in Powys, Wales, about 6 miles (10 km) north of Hirwaun, with 556 inhabitants. It belongs to the historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire) and the Fforest Fawr area of the Brecon Beacons National Park, beside the Afon Mellte river. The village is linked by minor roads with Heol Senni to the north and the A4059 north of Penderyn, and with Pontneddfechan, which lies in the community, at the head of the Vale of Neath to the south.
The River Taff is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with the River Severn estuary is in Cardiff.
Afon Mellte or the River Mellte is a river in south Wales. It is formed by the confluence of the Afon Llia and the Afon Dringarth. It then flows south through the village of Ystradfellte to Pontneddfechan where it joins with the Nedd Fechan to become the River Neath. The river derives its name from 'mellt' - the Welsh word for 'lightning' - after its tendency to rise and fall rapidly in response to heavy rainfall.
River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from the point at which its headwaters arising in the Brecon Beacons National Park converge to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.
Dinas Rock is a high promontory of Carboniferous Limestone which rises between the Afon Mellte and its left-bank tributary, the Afon Sychryd on the border between the county of Powys and the county borough of Neath Port Talbot in south Wales. It can be found near the village of Pontneddfechan near Glyn Neath at the head of the Vale of Neath. It derives its name from the presence of Iron Age earthworks on its summit, dinas in Welsh signifying a defensive site or "city".
The River Cynon in South Wales is a main tributary of the Taff. Its source is the rising of Llygad Cynon at 219 m (719 ft) above sea level at Penderyn, Rhondda Cynon Taf and flows roughly southeast, into the Taff at Abercynon in the same district. The water emerging at Llygad Cynon has been traced back to the sink of the Nant Cadlan at Ogof Fawr.
The A4059 road is a single-carriageway north–south road that runs between the A470 at Brecon Beacons National Park and the A470 at Abercynon.
The Beacons Way is a waymarked long distance footpath in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. It is a linear route which runs for 99 miles (159 km) east to west through the National Park, and passes many of the most important landmarks and mountain peaks in the mountain range. It also includes a few of the towns in the park as well as popular attractions such as Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo at the western end of the path.
The Vale of Neath, one of the South Wales Valleys, encompasses the upper reaches of the River Neath in southwest Wales. In addition to the River Neath, it is traversed by the Neath Canal and the A465 dual carriageway.
The Nedd Fechan is a river almost wholly within the county of Powys, Wales, currently administered as part of the unitary authority of Powys. It rises on the eastern slopes of Fan Gyhirych in the Fforest Fawr section of the Brecon Beacons National Park and flows south for 7 miles (12 km) to join with the Afon Mellte at Pontneddfechan, their combined waters continuing as the River Neath to the sea near Swansea. The only significant tributary of the Nedd Fechan is the Afon Pyrddin which joins it at Pwll Du ar Byrddin. Downstream of this confluence it forms the boundary between Powys to its east and Neath Port Talbot to its west.
The Afon Pyrddin is a river forming a short section of the boundary between the counties of Brecknockshire and Glamorgan in Wales, United Kingdom. It also forms a part of the boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park, and the boundary of the unitary authorities of Powys and Neath Port Talbot. The river and its waterfalls are one of the key attractions of the Fforest Fawr Geopark designated in 2005.
The Afon Dringarth is a river in Powys, Wales and wholly contained within the Brecon Beacons National Park. Its headwater streams drain the eastern slopes of Fan Dringarth, the southern slopes of Craig Cerrig-gleisiad and the western slopes of Fan Fawr. The river flows south-southwest for about 6 km / 3.5 mi to its confluence with the Afon Llia one mile north of the village of Ystradfellte, continuing south as the Afon Mellte. The river may derive its name from the hill immediately to its west, Fan Dringarth.
The Afon Crai is a river in Powys, Wales rising in the Fforest Fawr section of the Brecon Beacons National Park and flowing north into the River Usk. The headwaters known as Blaen-crai flow north from Bwlch Bryn-rhudd, a col between the Crai valley and the upper Swansea Valley for 2 km into the Cray Reservoir. The river emerges from below the dam to flow a further 8 km through the dispersed settlement of Crai.
The Afon Cynrig is a river in Powys, Wales whose headwaters rise in the central Brecon Beacons and flow northwards to join the River Usk at Abercynrig just east of Brecon.
The Afon Sawdde is a river in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. For most of its course it flows through the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark.
The Afon Llynfi is a short river in the county of Powys, south Wales. A tributary of the River Wye, it runs approximately south to north just to the west of the Black Mountains and partly within the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Waterfall Country is an English name often given to the Vale of Neath in South Wales. The tourist area around the head of the valley has an unusually large number of publicly accessible waterfalls. The area is not officially defined but generally includes the group of falls on the Nedd Fechan, Pyrddin, Hepste and Mellte rivers, all of which lie between the villages of Pontneddfechan and Ystradfellte in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Dyffrynnoedd Nedd a Mellte, a Moel Penderyn is a 421.1 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the border of Neath Port Talbot and Powys, Wales, notified in 1954.
This article describes the geology of the Brecon Beacons National Park in mid/south Wales. The area gained national park status in 1957 with the designated area of 1,344 km2 (519 sq mi) including mountain massifs to both the east and west of the Brecon Beacons proper. The geology of the national park consists of a thick succession of sedimentary rocks laid down from the late Ordovician through the Silurian and Devonian to the late Carboniferous period. The rock sequence most closely associated with the park is the Old Red Sandstone from which most of its mountains are formed. The older parts of the succession, in the northwest, were folded and faulted during the Caledonian orogeny. Further faulting and folding, particularly in the south of the park is associated with the Variscan orogeny.
51°45′34″N3°34′47″W / 51.7595°N 3.5798°W