We had read that parking could be quite difficult for the Four Falls Walk in the Brecon Beacons so left Gloucester at about 8.30am so as to arrive mid morning (it was about 2 hours away). We were planning to park at Cwm Porth.

When we arrived there was a massive overflow car park (I’m not sure whether a local farmer had opened his field) but it meant that there was loads of space and it only cost £5 for the day. We ate our lunch, then some brownies and then I debated whether I should wear my trainers or walking boots and reluctantly opted for boots.

We walked through a field to get to the start of the hike and the official car park at Cwm Porth was full but there were toilets and we were able to buy a map of the route. It said the hike should take between 3-4 hours but I was convinced we would have it done in just over 2 hours!

The start of the walk was along a maintained path through woodland but it wasn’t long before it became really muddy and I had to admit to Stu that I was glad I was not wearing trainers.

After about 1.5 km we reached the circular trail where the waterfalls were. We decided to do the trail backwards so that we started with Sgwd yr Eira which is the waterfall furthest away. The waterfall link path to Sgwd yr Eira was quite steep in places and also very muddy and slippery. It was also really busy and we had to keep stopping to let people passed as some bits of the path were single file.

We made it to the bottom where it was very rocky but we had a beautiful view of the falls.

^{View of Sgwd yr Eira from the bottom of the path}

We put on our waterproof coats and Izzy led the way as we clambered over the rocks to go under the waterfall. We were able to stand underneath it and walk out the other side which was pretty cool.

^{Out the other side}

We headed back to the main path – climbing up it was definitely much easier than coming down and then continued to the next turn off which took us to two more waterfalls. Izzy decided that she was going to carry the rucksack (in preparation for her DofE next year.)

Again the link path was very muddy and slippery but also very rocky so quite hard to walk on. Stu took the rucksack back and we slowly made our way down to the first waterfall – Sgwd y Pannwr.

There were some rocks with the water passing through them so Tom and Izzy sat down to admire the view.

Stu then noticed that there were some little rock pools and they had tadpoles in them. Izzy wanted to put one in her water bottle to take home but we persuaded her not to as it probably wouldn’t survive the journey. We then had a look at the main part of the falls which was quite impressive although there were so many people it was quite hard to get a photograph. We did see some people actually swimming under the falls.

We then followed the river along up to another waterfall – Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn. This path was super muddy and also some bits you had to scramble over the rocks. As we approached we met a family who had literally ignored the path and climbed down the side of the banks from the top path to reach the falls!!!

We headed back up to the top path but at this point we were really tired so decided to skip the last viewing point and head back to the car. (Also because we wanted to stop off at Macarther Glen on the way home and try and buy some school shoes for the kids). In total we walked just over 10km with an elevation gain of 265m and had been about 3.5 hours. It was definitely worth it but I would like to return when it is quieter and not so wet under foot.