Wales
Devil's Bridge
Three bridges built one on top of another over a gorge, reached by steam train.
Three bridges cross the same gorge here, built one on top of another over eight centuries, and the oldest, the story goes, was the Devil's. Pontarfynach, Devil's Bridge, is a village in the Cambrian foothills of mid Wales where the Mynach falls to meet the Rheidol, and the way to arrive is by steam.
The lowest bridge is medieval, the middle one was built in 1753 and the top one in 1901, and from the road you see all three stacked in the cleft. The legend says the first was thrown across by the Devil in exchange for the soul of whoever crossed first, and the village tells it better than any guidebook. Below the bridges the waterfall trails descend the gorge on steep paths and long flights of steps, past the falls in stages, and the Mynach's drop is the reason Victorians came. They came on the Vale of Rheidol Railway, whose narrow-gauge steam engines still climb twelve miles from a platform beside Aberystwyth's main-line station, through the wooded Rheidol valley, to the terminus at the village. The Hafod, a listed inn a few paces from the falls, holds a bar and a brasserie for the wait between trains, and the Hafod estate, an eighteenth-century Picturesque landscape a few miles south, is the walk for a second day.
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Solo
The train up, the full waterfall circuit, and a pint at the Hafod before the train down.
Couple
Steam up the Rheidol, the falls in the afternoon light, and a night at the inn beside the bridges.
Family
A steam engine, a legend with a dog in it, three bridges to count and a gorge of steps for children who like stairs.
- Three separate bridges cross the Afon Mynach here, each built on top of the last, between the eleventh century and the nineteenth: the second in 1753, the top one in 1901.
- Legend says the first bridge was the Devil's own work, built in return for the soul of the first being to cross; the story is told in the village that carries his name.
- The waterfall trails drop into the gorge on very steep paths with many steps, past the falls of the Mynach as it plunges to meet the Rheidol.
- The narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway hauls its trains by steam for twelve miles from Aberystwyth up the valley to the village, from a station beside the main line.
Hot food and drinks from Caffi Cledrau at the Vale of Rheidol station in Aberystwyth before the train, twelve miles of Cambrian country away.
Lunch or a pint at the Hafod, the Grade II listed inn a few steps from the falls, with its bar and brasserie.
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