The first main stop on our little Welsh road trip (full post coming soon!) was Waterfall Country at Pontneddfechan. I had specifically requested some waterfalls because, well, who doesn’t love a good waterfall?

Unfortunately, a few of the main trails seem to have been closed. Judging by the amount of obstacles we encountered on the path we did take, this was possibly due to some trees having fallen. Not entirely sure, but it did mean that we ended up at a bit of a dead end before we reached the larger waterfalls.

That said, we saw a few lovely little ones along the way and the walk through the woods itself was lovely, especially with the sun shining.

We started at Dinas Rock and made our way along the only path that started there, which lead us along the river in a forest-y area. My dog was safe enough off of the lead, but he’s not particularly interested in getting in the water to swim so there was no concern about him getting into any danger in the water.

The whole walk was filled with lovely sights along the way, though at points the terrain was pretty tricky, either because it was quite steep, rocky or muddy and wet. Also, as I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of fallen trees, that perhaps a more sensible person would choose to turn around from. However, I am not a sensible person, and, in my opinion, the trees and other obstacles made for a much more interesting walk (or obstacle course?).

I do feel like my little review may not be fully accurate, due to the fact that we were unable to properly traverse the whole walk and main paths, but from what I saw I can definitely recommend it.

The Useful Information Bit

Location – I mean, it’s a fairly large area, but Google gives the address 2 High St, Pontneddfechan, Glynneath, Neath SA11 5NP – We parked at Dinas Car Park, Dinas Road, Pontneddfechan, Neath SA11 5NE, which seemed to be the easiest car park to find.

Opening hours – Okay, so, like, it’s a walk and I guess, technically, walks don’t shut. I didn’t see any gates or anything that would prevent you from going at any time, however Dinas Car Park is open from 8AM – 5PM everyday. How they enforce this, I don’t know, but that’s what the sign says.

Cost – Free

Other useful things to note – Definitely had a few problems finding a car park, mainly because we assumed we’d be able to spot one when we got to the general area. We followed Google Maps, couldn’t see anywhere to park and then discovered we could not search for anywhere either, as there was no reception where we ended up originally. This meant driving around a bit until I got some 4G and the researching to find the nearest car park. So plan ahead for that. Also, as I said, some of the paths were closed for some reason when we went, which meant we were on some very challenging terrain and couldn’t get to all of the waterfalls. This was probably just bad luck, but it was beautiful enough anyway.

Ratings By Ellie

Ellie’s General Opinion – 7/10

I’m dropping points because I didn’t get to see the big waterfalls. But I’d 100% go again, so maybe I can give it a better score after that. Honestly, it was a really nice walk regardless, but I was expecting larger waterfalls that you can walk behind (and they do exist in this area, we just didn’t reach them).

Instagrammability – 8/10

Again, it’s hard to rate because I don’t think I got the full Waterfall Country experience. But it was very pretty nonetheless, so a solid eight even before seeing the big waterfalls.

Waterfallness – 10/10

I’m rating a 10 on the assumption that there are lots more waterfalls than ones I’ve actually seen. Review writing isn’t my forte, especially when I haven’t even seen the whole place. This is less of a review and more of a bit of info based on Google. Whoops, don’t blame me, blame fallen trees.

Et viola! A little summary of my experiences of Waterfall Country. And some nice photos. Overall, this was a great first stop, even if we didn’t get to see the larger waterfalls (can you tell I’m disappointed about that?). But that wasn’t the fault of the place, just an unexpected inconvenience. Anyway, it certainly got us all in the mood for more!