The forecast for the early part of our holiday was
good so we decided to cram in as much sightseeing as possible
sooner, rather than later, in case inclement weather curtailed
our plans later in the week. One of the places we wished to visit
lay right across the county and into Cardiganshire. This involved
about an hour's ride over the Preseli Hills.
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Shortly after taking these photos on the hills, I
saw a sign pointing to Cenarth, a place I had seen advertised
as being the home of the Welsh National Coracle Centre. The village
also boasts "world famous" waterfalls although they
could hardly be regarded in the same category as Niagara, Angel
or Victoria even when in full flow!
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We entered the village and crossed the River Teifi
via this bridge below, parked alongside the river and enjoyed
morning coffee before following the riverside walk a few hundred
yards upstream.
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The car park attendant warned us that the falls were
not as spectacular as they should be as there had been no rain
for about six weeks and the flow of the river had been reduced
to little more than a comparative trickle. Looking back towards
the bridge (below right) the rocks seen from this vantage point
would normally be on the riverbed. Strange that while some people
are just lapping up the glorious summer sunshine, others are
bemoaning the lack of rainfall. Just goes to prove that you cannot
please all of the people all of the time.
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Besides the scenery of the valley, the River Teifi is also well
known for salmon and trout fishing and as we stood above the
falls close to where the river widened to form a shallow pool
(below), we could hear, and occasionally see, the fish splashing
in the water.
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For many centuries, Cenarth has been the centre of
coracle fishing and there are very often coracles as well as
kayaks and canoes to be seen on the river here. The deficit of
water has surely had an impact this year and there were none
to be seen during our visit.
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Returning to the car park, I left the footpath and clambered
gingerly over the dry riverbed to get closer to the falls. I
was also able to get this shot (below) of the seventeenth century
flour mill, now part of the Coracle Centre. It gives a good impression
of how far the water level has dropped - there would be a lot
of hungry people around if they had to rely on the mill for flour
this summer.
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Despite the lack of water we spent a very pleasant hour by the
river in Cenarth and there was still time for for a look through
the structure of the two hundred year old bridge to the picnic
area below before leaving.
The village has been designated as a conservation area and it
would have been easy to send much more time there to explore
further but we had other plans so it was back into the car and
off for some dolphin and seal spotting.
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