Four Falls Hike In the Brecon Beacons
I mentioned that during my recent trip to South Wales we went on a beautiful hike in the Brecon Beacons. This hike was probably my favourite hike that I have ever been on so I thought it deserved its own blog post! It was incredible how closet to the Waterfalls you could climb! In fact you could swim in them if you fancied… I would love to do that when the weather gets a bit warmer!
The trail is a circular hike in the ‘waterfall country’ of the Brecon Beacons. If you were to do the full trail in it’s entirety (starting in Gwaun Hipster) it would have taken about 5-6 hours however due to time constraints we started closer to the four waterfalls so we could spend the majority of the tome exploring the waterfalls. Plus I am still recovering from my knee injury so did not want to spend 6 hours hiking. I think we spent about 3 hours exploring all the waterfalls which was definitely more manageable.
As the name suggests, there are four waterfalls that you can see on the trail; Sgwd Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd y Pannwr and Sgwd-yr-Eira. All the waterfalls are super unique so I would recommend visiting all 4 if you are physically able to. The first two waterfalls are quite challenging to reach, with quite a bit of scrambling involved, however there second two are easier to reach with steps down to the waterfall. If you do not feel comfortable scrambling I would still recommend you give the rest of the hike a go for the second two waterfalls
1. Waterfall 1: Sgwd Clun-Gwyn
This waterfall is definitely the quickest to access. So if you fancy a quick trip so visit a waterfall I recommend this one! You will be directed across the bridge to find this waterfall but for a better view there is actually a pathway before the bridge that will lead down to this waterfall. The path starts off in steps to get to the top of the waterfall however a small amount of scrambling is necessary if you would like to head all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall.
Out of All the waterfalls this is the smallest waterfall at only 9 meters high however it is still stunning. The name of this waterfall roughly translates to ‘fall of the white meadow’ which I think beautifully describes it. There is also a ledge halfway down the waterfall which is pretty cool to walk across as well if you fancy it.
2. Waterfall 2: Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn
After the detour to find the bottom of the first waterfall we headed back on the trail to find the second waterfall. The decent to this waterfall is extremely long and steep. To be honest we were not even sure if it was a proper path to get to the bottom at first. If you do not feel physical comfortable I would not suggest trying to reach this waterfall however if you do I would 100% recommend giving this waterfall a visit if you do feel physically able . It was my favourite of all the waterfalls by far!
The name of this waterfall translates to “Lower Fall of the White Meadow” and is a lot higher at 30 meters. We took photos at the top of the waterfall. There is also a place where you can wild swim close to this point.
3. WATERFALL 3: SGWD Y PANNWR
I have to say out of all the waterfalls, in my personal opinion this was the least impressive. It is however still a beautiful spot to take a moment and enjoy the natural surroundings. Because of the steps that make it very accessible, it is also a lot busier than the other two previous waterfalls.
The name of this waterfall roughly translates to “fall of the fuller” or “fall of the woollen washer” and is about 15 meters high.
4. Waterfall Four: Sgwd-yr-Eira
The final waterfall was definitely the busiest, however was certainly well worth it as it was stunning! You follow artificial steps to walk down to this 10 meter waterfall which makes the descent pretty easy.
Other than how pretty this waterfall is, the best part about it is that you can walk behind the waterfall which is a pretty incredible sight. Not only this but there is a lovely opportunity to wild swim in front of the waterfall. I could imagine this would be even more lovely in the summer months. We even saw people swimming in it in March which is very impressive. This waterfalls name translates to “Fall of the Snow”.
After completing the four waterfalls of the hike, you can continue round the red trail to complete the long hike. There is additional points to view these waterfalls from the other side. However due to time constraints and my knees we are headed back along the route that me came from. I cannot stress how much I would recommend you doing this walk :) Let me know in the comments if you give it a try!
