All walks › Rhayader & the Elan Valley
Rhayader & the Elan ValleyRhayader and the Wye
Short loop out of the oldest town on the Wye, taking in the falls the town is named after and a stretch of riverbank. Good for an hour when you have driven a long way and want to stretch.
- Distance
- 1.9 mi / 3 km
- Time
- 55 min
- Ascent
- 70 m
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Shape
- Circular
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
From the clock tower, drop to the river and follow the bank downstream through the meadows, then return by the lanes on the far side and back over the bridge. Short, gentle and well used.
Worth knowing
- Rhaeadr Gwy means the waterfall on the Wye. The falls were partly blown up when the bridge was built, so they are less dramatic than the name suggests.
- Market day is Wednesday and the town is noticeably busier.
- Good bakeries and a proper ironmonger, which is a rarer thing than it should be.
What you’ll see
The Wye running fast over rock, riverside meadows, and a town of stone buildings that has not been prettified.
Background
Rhayader was a drovers’ town and a crossing point on the Wye long before the reservoirs. The dam builders’ arrival in the 1890s roughly tripled its population for a decade, and the pubs from that period are still standing.