Upper Wye Valley
Heart of Wales Line Trail: Llandovery to Cynghordy
North from a drovers’ town over the hills, with the great Cynghordy viaduct at the far end carrying the railway on eighteen arches.
- Distance
- 7.5 mi / 12 km
- Time
- 4 hr
- Ascent
- 400 m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Shape
- There and back
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
The trail climbs from Llandovery through farmland and forestry to Cynghordy. Stations at both ends.
Worth knowing
- The Cynghordy viaduct is a spectacular piece of Victorian engineering and best seen from below.
- Llandovery was the great drovers’ town, and the Black Ox Bank was founded here in 1799.
- The stainless steel drover statue by the castle is worth finding.
What you’ll see
The viaduct, the Tywi valley, hill farms, and the castle mound at Llandovery.
Background
Llandovery’s Black Ox Bank served cattle drovers and was eventually absorbed into Lloyds, whose black horse emblem may derive from it.