Aberdulais Falls are gorgeous. It's a narrow river that screams down from the Black Mountains
(at full flow 1 million litres a minute) and just before it joins the River Neath (where there's a ruined abbey - see photo)
it has been harnessed for (now) electricity but in the past there have been several industries using the force of the water - including copper manufacturing in 1584 to the last being tin-plating.Most of the tinworks are in ruins
but the National Trust is working to restore as much as they can - my sister who saw the Falls back in April said there has been quite a bit done in that short a time.There is a massive water wheel there now, which is kicked off with a burst of electricity but once it gets going the water itself keeps it moving. It is the largest currently used in Europe to generate electricity which makes Aberdulais Falls self-sufficient.
Unfortunately when the main road was constructed and then widened the bulk of the village was destroyed, but they are looking after what's left with a great deal of care.
After lunch we headed further up into the Black Mountains to a cave system known as Dan-y-Ogof. These were discovered in 1912 by a pair of brothers and while the show caves are quite enough for the ordinary folk to see, the whole system is massive with lots for the dedicated and professional spelunker to enjoy. There is even one cave, the Cathedral Cave, where weddings are held. Mind you, the bride would want to wear something waterproof. Aside from the myriad drips from the walls there are a pair of waterfalls that you have to walk between
and depending on how high the river is depends on how wet you get walking through. Each fall lands on either side of the walkway, but they splash!At the end, where there's a lovely little arch with (fake) flowers set up for the ceremony, we found a large sign advising that the cave system continued from this point for another 1.5 miles but was strictly only for professional cavers - it did look somewhat rockier - all the pathways through this cave and the other show cave were concreted.
We returned through the waterfalls and emerged into the dinosaur park that surrounds the caves.
The main show cave, which I didn't take any photos in because it wasn't as well lit, and lights were continually coming up and going down to suit the narration that was going on, was quite deep and extensive. We got to one part where a path led off down to the left with a big No Entry sign on it, and on the opposite wall a Way In sign with arrow pointing ahead deeper into the cave. We followed the Way In sign and found ourselves going down steep stairs and round and up and down again and I began to think I was in an Adventure game - the maze of twisty little passages had nothing on this! Eventually, of course, the path led round to where the No Entry sign was and we wandered back on out.
There is a third show cave but as the sign warned it was accessed by a long steep flight of steps and was quite long and low, we gave that one a miss. Sue had seen it before and wasn't particularly impressed with it anyway. As it was, we nearly missed out on a cuppa because the coffee shop was closing as we walked up to the door, but as all we wanted was a cup of tea and they hadn't cleaned out the machine yet and if we were quick... we got our cuppas!
We tootled back down to the M4 and back to the caravan park - noticing for the umpteenth time an area that looks like trolls had been bouncing up and down on their beds and hit the roof of their caves - all these weird lumps in the ground, on both sides of the motorway. We looked on the map and there is a ruined castle in that area but nothing to indicate why all the lumpy bits. We definitely prefer our troll theory!
Today is Dr Who Day. Torchwood last night had us gripping the edge of our seats. Sue is now perusing the map to work out where would be the best place to park, because, of course, the Ashes is in town too! Go the Aussies!
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