Walking along the Clydach River

 Autumn is a wonderful time to visit the area of known as Clydach in Monmouthshire. The colours of the trees that cover much of the hillsides, valley and gorge are absolutely outstanding.

The gorge that has been created over many thousand's of years by the fast flowing Afon Clydach cutting through the limestone rock. It has a rich historical industrial  background which has left huge marks on the landscape.

There many limestone quarries in the surrounding area and Clydach is home to one of the earliest industrial iron forges.

I have explored Clydach over a number of years. There is lots to see and its a photographers dream of a place to visit.

In this blog post I am going to highlight a few of my favourite locations that I have been visiting in recent weeks.

Located near the vistor's car park for the Ironworks, as you enter Clydach there is an interesting section of the river. Here, the tributary steam named the Nant Dyar joins the Afon Clydach and creates some nice mini waterfalls and cascades and the Clydach itself has a few waterfalls.

The Nant Dyar joins the Clydach by going under a bridge and the spot is quite hidden away if you don't look carefully.

The best way to find the bridge is to stand by a viewing point ( ledge of rock) and look up the mini waterfalls that run towards the left of the main river. Follow it along a path that leads from the viewing point and then look down a steep bank.

Its a really picturesque place and the noise of the main river makes it all very atmospheric. The Nant Dyar cannot be explored beyond the bridge until much further up and I have written a blog about that location that is called the Cwm Nant Dyar.

My next stop would require a short walk up river to where the remains of where the old IronWorks is located.

Probably one of the most iconic places on the Afon Clydach is an old iron bridge the spans the river. Its called Smarts Bridge.  Built in 1824 by a contractor named Smart, it was one of the earliest cast-iron bridges in the world.The bridge was constructed to provide a tramway link from the Clydach Ironworks to the Clydach Railroad

It features lancet tracery in the arch spandrels and is constructed on rubble piers.It played a crucial role in the industrial activities of the Clydach Ironworks, which was one of the first to use coke instead of charcoal for smelting iron.

Smart's Bridge is designated as a Grade II listed structure.

I have taken photographs of Smarts Bridge many times and you can read about a previous visit here.

I continued further into Clydach, passing the small housing estate of Dan-y-Coed and followed the foot path until I reached the Lower Clydach Falls.

The Lower Falls are impressive and there is a huge amount of water rushing over them and into the plunge pool. The noise is incredible and its a much photographed spot.

When I visited recently it was after a period of heavy rain and the noise of the river was thunderous. I spent quite a few hours here testing out different settings. Last year I was able to find a gap in the tree canopy and flew my drone above the falls and Cwm Clydach. The Autumn colours were incredible and you can read all about that occasion here.

In terms of easily accessible locations to photograph on the river it ends at the Lower Clydach Falls. There is another significant waterfall -the largest named Pwll Cwn that lies much further upstream at a location called the Devils Bridge - accessible via a path from the Blackrock or Gellifelin. To get there means a rather circuitous walking route or you need to drive there and then walk a bit which is much easier.

Now I have a further story to tell about photographing the Devils Bridge and I will save that for another post.

However without elaborating too much, if you wish to try a journey upstream beyond the Lower Falls you will first see a sign next to the path that leads away from the Lower Clydach Falls warning that there will be no path and it will be dangerous. I can tell you from experience its very dangerous and practically impassable to  walk further up stream safely or anywhere close to the river. The gorge sides become very steep, thick with trees and brambles and the river itself is treacherous in places. 

Only determined crazy fools would dare to try it!. I know because I am one of them :)

More to follow later about my quest to view the Devils Bridge from river level!