Devil's Bridge

One upon a time a cow wandered over the Mynach river and the lady who owned it could't think of a way to get it back. Just then the Devil appeared (as he does from time to time) and offered to build a bridge, on condition that the first living thing to cross it would be his to keep. Clearly the nasty Devil was hoping to gain the poor woman's cow, or worse still the woman herself. What a dastardly plot!  The woman agreed and in the twinkle of an eye a bridge appeared. Being a devil creature clearly has certain advantages when it comes to civil engineering.

Thankfully, you will be relieved to know that this story has a happy ending. The resourceful woman called for her dog, then threw a loaf of bread over the nice new bridge.  The dog ran after it and became the first creature the cross. "That smelly dog's no good to me," screamed the devil, then vanished in a puff of evil-smelling smoke and has never again been seen in Wales. But to this day the bridge he built is called Devil's Bridge.

Another version of the story is that the first bridge (the lowest and oldest of the three) was built by devil-hating Cistercian monks from a nearby abbey but I don't think that's very likely. Do you?

The easiest way to get to Devil's Bridge is by car, but I had a long-cherished ambition to travel there on the Vale of Rheidol Railway. We arrived at Aberystwyth station with just five minutes to spare before the little train departed and squeezed ourselves into one of the carriages. After passing through the outskirts of Aberystwyth, the line runs along the side of a broad valley. Then gradually the train gains height, the valley narrows and the journey becomes quite thrilling.

We found ourselves sharing the carriage with a guy suffering from verbal diarrhoea, who felt compelled to give us all a running commentary. "That's an old chapel over there; you can tell by the pointed windows." (Really?)... "There's a reservoir down there so there must be a dam. O yes, there it is." (I would never have guessed.)... "We're slowing down so this means we're coming to a station." (One grows a little wiser every day.)  At that I got a very bad attack of the giggles.

Our train arrived at Devil's Bridge at 11.30. I was amazed at how many passengers simply exited their carriages and piled into the station cafe, with the intention of returning on the 12.30 to Aberystwyth.  One hour, we reasoned, was nowhere near enough time to explore Devil's Bridge, so we waved the train 'goodbye' and set about occupying ourselves until 2.15. Soon we spotted it, high above the valley of the Afon Rheidol. 

These are the Devil's Bridge Falls, where the Mynach tumbles 300ft down a narrow ravine to join the Afon Rheidol. My photos hardly do justice to this series of lovely waterfalls. £3 each for the privilege of exploring them on a steep and winding path was a bargain.

This old pipe is all that remains of a hydro-electric scheme that brought electricity to Devil's Bridge long before they were connected to the National Grid. I recall that Lynmouth in Devon once had a similar scheme.

The ravine underneath the bridges is very deep. It must have been a very athletic cow to have jumped over. Perhaps the story of the Cistercian monks is true after all.

We spent over an hour exploring the waterfalls and another hour cooling down with ice creams and white wine, then made our way back to the station, where our train was already standing at the platform. It wouldn't depart for another half hour but we laid claim to two seats in an open carriage, from where we could really appreciate the views of the Vale of Rheidol... and without a running commentary.