Four Falls Trail

The trail runs about nine kilometres through Waterfall Country, a band of gorges where rivers cut down through limestone and sandstone at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons, and passes Sgwd Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd y Pannwr and Sgwd yr Eira. The last is the reason people come: the Hepste falls over an overhanging ledge of hard rock with softer stone eroded away beneath, leaving a path along the ledge so walkers pass behind the curtain of water and come out the other side. The name means fall of snow. Shepherds are said to have used the route to move flocks. The woods around are Atlantic oak with heavy moss and fern growth, and the gorges hold ferns and bryophytes that need constant humidity.

What you actually see

• Sgwd yr Eira - a fall with a ledge path running behind the water.
• The four falls - a circuit taking in all of them in one walk.
• The Atlantic oak gorges - mossy woodland with rare ferns and liverworts.
• The rock sequence - hard caps over softer stone that create the overhangs.

When to go

April to October; the falls are strongest after rain, which is also when the paths are worst. Autumn colour in the gorges is excellent. Winter ice makes the descents genuinely dangerous.

Honest expectations

This is a rough walk, not a stroll: steep stepped descents, exposed roots, mud and slippery rock, taking three to four hours. Walking behind Sgwd yr Eira soaks anyone who does it. The Cwm Porth car park is charged and fills early on summer weekends. Deaths have occurred in the rivers here.

Nearby

Ystradfellte and the Porth yr Ogof cave are close; the central Brecon Beacons lie north.