Skip to content

Pistyll Rhaeadr EarthCache

Hidden : 12/8/2009
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   not chosen (not chosen)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:


Pistyll Rhaeadr Is open to the public throughout the year and there is no charge for access to the falls

.

All donations for upkeep of the site are gratefully received, with a box beside the gate.

Directions

From the village of Llanrhaeadr ym Mochant find Waterfall St next to Greterex stores and follow this road for 4 miles.

It's a great place for a half-day visit. A walk in the mountains makes for a fine full day out.

Parking, We make a charge of £2 for the car park There is an overnight charge if cars are left here.

All revenues go towards conservation projects around the site.

A short walk from the car park through the gate near the tea room takes you to the base of the waterfall.

Here there is an Iron bridge that crosses the river which take you over to the woodland walks and public footpath.

Top of the falls is reached by a public foot path which takes about 20 minutes .Please note this is a mountaineering environment and can be difficult in wet weather, best done with good walking shoes

Keep children and dogs under good control and supervision at all times, especially at the top of waterfall.

Wales has many waterfalls, including some of the most striking waterfalls of the United Kingdom.

The highest and most famous waterfall in Wales is Pistyll Rhaeadr at 240 ft (75 m).

The name of the falls is Welsh for "spring of the waterfall" and is located near the village of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. The waterfall is formed by the Afon Disgynfa river, passing over a Silurian cliff. At the end of the falls, the river continues and is known as the Afon Rhaeadr. The falls are counted as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales

During most of the Silurian Period, Wales was covered by a narrowing ocean basin. Scotland was joined to part of North America and separated from us by the Iapetus ocean. The continents on either side of this ocean had been gradually moving together and met during the latter part of this period. The sediments in the lower part of the Silurian in Wales consist of vast thicknesses of muds, sands and grits. The upper part of the Silurian is represented by shallow water and deltaic sediments

Much of Central Wales is made up of Ordovician and Silurian marine sedimentary rocks, deposited in the Lower Palaeozoic Welsh Basin when Wales, was part of Avalonia, lay beneath a shallow sea on the SE side of the great ocean of Iapetus. On its far side lay Scotland and Northern Ireland, both part of the continent of Laurentia.

The rocks laid down in the Welsh Basin are dominated by sequences of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. Many of these sequences are referred to as turbidites, because they were deposited from turbulent, sediment-laden submarine currents, which flowed off the shallower shelf areas onto the deep floor of the basin.

Volcanic activity took place locally, notably in the Welshpool and Builth Wells areas. This activity produced basaltic lava flows and dolerite intrusions, some of which have been quarried for building stones and aggregates.

>

To log the cache please upload a photo of you or your GPSr with the falls in the background and e mail me through my profile the answer to the following question's

1) What is the colour of the rocks around the falls

2) Name a subdivision of the Silurian period

Any logs without a photo may be deleted

Additional Hints (No hints available.)