I’m sure that title will annoy my Welsh friends. But Wales is not that widely known especially in the USA and so, after the previous post about Horseshoe Falls, I would like to expand on the beauties of the country with a few more images. I used to live just on the Welsh/English border and so had plenty of time to head over the border to the dramatic and often empty landscapes of North Wales. Relatively close to where we lived was a magnificent waterfall called Pistyll Rhaeadr. What better than Wikipedia to give the rest of the story:
Pistyll Rhaeadr is formed by the Afon Disgynfa falling, in three stages, over a 240-foot (73 m) Silurian cliff-face, below which the river is known as the Afon Rhaeadr.
One of the seven wonders of Wales, it really is a dramatic place at the end of a narrow lane through the valley. As in a lot of North Wales, the small country roads only really accept one car at a time! But when you get there, the waterfall is magnificent:
It is really quite a difficult waterfall to photograph as it falls into a narrow and very shaded valley and the river then bends and turns so that you can’t really get too far away from it. So, you often have bright sunlight at the top and deep shade at the foot of it. But I was pleased with this attempt! As you can perhaps see, there is a natural arch halfway down with a small pool behind it.
The top section is the longest fall at about 140 feet or 40m:
You can take quite a meandering trail to the top, or you can (and probably shouldn’t) try to climb up the hillside with camera and tripod. I only did that once, and it was quite tricky towards the top. But once you are there, it is both a dramatic view down to the valley over the narrow lip of the falls and also a great view down the valley itself:
You really feel the height here with the tiny road visible winding between the hedgerows. And, of course, no barriers to smoothly slipping over the edge!
The valley itself is lovely:
I particularly liked the shadows and the sunny patches in this view from the top. In fact, I then spent some time turning it into an oil painting – or at least my digital version of an oil painting! Would be nice as a canvas print perhaps!
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