Another day, another waterfall, another ruin!

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We decided that Kath and Albert needed to see at least one waterfall while they are with us in Wales so we drove down to the Waterfall Visitor Centre at Pontneddfechan (apparently pronounced Pont-neath-vaughan) because Sgwd Gwladus is an easy walk from there. We thought that we might walk in further to a couple of the other falls so asked the guy at the visitor centre about accessibility. He advised that the track is along the riverside as far as Sgwd Gwladus, but then rises up to the rim of the gully. He said that he would not recommend attempting to access the falls further upriver by going down the side of the gully, but said that if we were careful, we could walk along a stone shelf along the riverbank as far as the third waterfall.

We set off along the path and reached the turn-off for the first waterfall in good time. We decided to continue on and take the path to Sgwd Gwladus on the way back. We couldn't see any stone shelf that we could walk along at river level and, as we had been told, the path headed upwards from this point and we very quickly found ourselves up on the rim of the gully and a long way from the water!! Only a few minutes further along the track we think we were looking down onto Sgwd y Bedol?? There was no sign post so we are not really sure. Besides, we could hardly see it for trees! We continued a little further along an increasingly boggy track before deciding that we should just go back to Sgwd Gwladus and be satisfied with that!!

Will took a trip to Sgwd Gwladus on Tuesday afternoon and emailed us a photo that he took. To try to replicate his 'shot' we had to reach an exposed rock bank in the middle of the river. The river was very shallow and Bernie managed to negotiate some stepping stones with his shoes on. I opted to take my shoes and socks off and paddle across!! I really didn't want to have to walk back to the car in wet shoes.

Once again we took lots of shots at different exposure values and different exposure lengths so that we can compare the metadata later and evaluate which values seem to deliver the best results. I think in this case what would have delivered better results is some late afternoon sunlight. We were having quite a bit of trouble with the highlights overexposing in the midday sun!!

After a light lunch at the Angel Inn in Pontneddfechan we headed towards the westernmost reaches of the Brecon Beacons National Park to see the ruin (yes, another ruin!) of Carreg Cennen. We set the SatNav to take us to Trapp which is the village closest to the castle.

We drove along the A4109 and A4221 back to Abercraf before taking the A4067 and A4068 to Brynamman. Rather than taking us onto the unnumbered roads at this point, the SatNav directed us along the A4069 down into Gwaun-Cae-Gurween. Inadvertently joining a funeral cortege we actually had a police escort between Brynamman and Gwaun-Cae-Gurween before we turned off onto the single lane roads to traverse the SW slope of Black Mountain. ALL the mountains in Wales seem to be black?? I think on the east side of the park it is the Black Mountain range whereas over here on the west side of the park, I think that Carreg Lwyd is THE Black Mountain?? Very confusing.

The roads started off being hemmed in by hedgerows until we reached the peak where, once again, we had incredible views over the Welsh countryside and the castle ruins that we were heading for. From Trapp it was simply a case of following the signs for Carreg Cennen Castle. We had to follow the signs because, back in the hedgerows, we had lost sight of the castle!!

The Welsh Princes of Deheubarth built the first castle at Carreg Cennen in the 13th century and King Edward I rebuilt the castle during his intensive period of castle-building in Wales. The castle was largely demolished in 1462 after the Wars of the Roses leaving the atmospheric ruin that can be seen today.

Kath and Albert opted to wait in the car while Bernie and I walked up the hill to the castle ruins. The castle is reasonably accessible by way of a we'll maintained path from the car park, but sits on a crag that leaves three sides of the castle sitting above sheer cliff faces. It certainly creates a very imposing silhouette. We explored the ruin thoroughly, including the secret passage and cave by torchlight!! For a pound you can hire a torch so that you you can find your way down the passage. Mind you, we encountered a few people attempting it without the aid of a torch.

This evening we went along to one of the local school's halls to listen to the Aberhonddu and District Welsh Mens' Choir practice. When we went to the Tourist Information Office on Monday the guy who attended to us made point of mentioning that choir practice is open to visitors. We thought it seemed like an interesting thing to do so we went along at 7.30pm for a sticky beak.

The choir members welcomed us enthusiastically and made us sit near the front for the best sound!! We had hoped to sneak in and sit at the back and then sneak out again to go to have some dinner. No such luck. The first song they were practicing was in Welsh. Although we couldn't understand the lyrics the melody (not sure if that's the correct musical terminology?) was beautiful.

The only trouble was that they don't really practice whole songs. After a verse or a chorus the choir mistress would stop them and berate them about their timing and/or their pronunciation - and various other technicalities - before having them repeat various stanzas/verses/choruses. The tenors in particular were really being ticked off!! We stayed to listen to the second song they practiced, which was in English, and then we left to go for some dinner.

Bernie checked out Trip Advisor and decided to take us to a pub in Pencelli that was highly recommended. We ended up back at the pub where we had lunch on Monday. This may or may not have been the pub highly recommended on Trip Advisor because Bernie couldn't remember the name of the pub by the time that we arrived in Pencelli. He must have been too moved by the Welsh Mens' Choir???! Not to worry, the food was OK!

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