Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Devil's Bridge & Rheidol Falls
The beautiful wooded hills of the Rheidol Valley head inland from Aberystwyth to the
lush western slopes of 752m Plynlimon (Pumlumon Fawr), source of the Rivers Wye and
Severn. Here the Rivers Mynach and Rheidol tumble together in a narrow gorge.
Just above the confluence of the rivers, the Rheidol drops 90m in a series of spectacular
waterfalls.
Devil's Bridge
(
www.devilsbridgefalls.co.uk
;
adult/child £3.50/2)
is itself a famous crossing-
point where three bridges are stacked above each other. The lowest was supposedly built
by the Knights Templar before 1188, the middle one in 1753 and the uppermost road-
bridge in 1901.
It's one of many bridges associated with an arcane legend that involves the devil build-
ing the bridge on the condition that he gets the first thing to cross it. An old lady then out-
wits the devil by throwing some food over, which her dog chases and everybody's happy
- except the devil and, presumably, the dog.
Access to the waterfalls and the old bridges is from beside the top-most bridge. There
are two possible walks: one, just to view the three bridges, takes only 10 minutes (£1); the
other, a half-hour walk, descends 100 steps (Jacob's Ladder), crosses the Mynach and as-
cends the other side, passing what is said to have been a robbers' cave. It's a beautiful
walk but it's very steep and can be muddy; wear sensible footwear. Unfortunately there's
no way to avoid the charge - if you don't cough up, you won't see a sausage.
The Vale of Rheidol Railway (
Click here
)
heads to Devil's Bridge from Aberystwyth,
as does the Rheidol Cycle Trail.
Strata Florida Abbey
On an isolated, peaceful site southeast of Aberystwyth lies this ruined Cistercian
abbey
(
www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
;
adult/child £3.50/2.65; 10am-5pm Apr-Oct, unattended & free in other months)
run by
Cadw (the Welsh historic monuments agency). The best preserved remnant is a simple,
complete arched doorway, decorated with lines like thick rope. At the rear of the site a
roof has been added to protect two chapels, which still have some of their 14th-century
tiling, including one depicting a man admiring himself in a mirror.
The Cistercians were a monastic order with roots in France and the community at Strata
Florida (Ystrad Fflur or 'Valley of the Flowers') was founded in 1164 by a Norman lord
named Robert FitzStephen. After Welsh resurgence in the southwest, however, the inde-
pendent, self-sufficient Cistercians won the support of the Welsh princes. Their abbeys
