Including Marlin's Pool/Craflwyn Waterfall and Hyrddod Waterfalls.
From Cardiff, take the A470 past Dolgellau until it turns right off itself, and the road ahead becomes the A487. Continue along the A487 to Penrhyndeudraeth. From Penrhyndeudraeth, turn right onto the A4085, signposted to Beddgelert. Follow it to its junction with the A498, turn right, and follow it to Beddgelert. From Beddgelert, turn right after crossing the bridge, to remain on the A498, signposted to Capel Curig. The entrance to the Craflwyn Hall parking is on the left not long after leaving the town, but parking can have limited hours there, and a fee is encouraged. Instead, continue a little further until signs point towards the Sygun Copper Mine parking on the right. Immediately after the Sygun turning is a layby on the right, which can be used for free parking. SH 6045 4901. However, if you do choose to use the Craflwyn Hall parking instead, the fee goes towards maintaining the waking routes.
An important part of the Arthurian legends are based here, which give rise to the dragon symbol used on the Welsh flag. The legend written by Welsh monk Nennius in the Latin book Historia Brittonum in 828 CE - one of many variations of the Welsh Dragon legend, which was based on existing legends - is that Celtic warrior king Vortigern, who lived around 450 CE (assuming he was real, evidence is lacking), wanted to build a castle to defend against the invading Saxons, but each night, the walls would fall down. He was told by his advisors that it is a curse, and he must sacrifice a boy who was born of a virgin mother (this story sounds awfully familiar!). After searching for the boy, it turned out that the boy, has prophetic abilities (gee, I wonder where a monk might get the idea for this story from). In the book, the boy is named Ambrosius, a Latin name meaning "immortal", whose Welsh form is Emrys. Ambrosius told him that the red Welsh Dragon and the white English/Saxon dragon were fighting beneath the mountain each night, at an underground pool, shaking the mountain so that the walls fell. Vortigern's men tunnelled into the mountain to release the dragons, and the dragons fought until the red Welsh Dragon chased away the white English dragon. The red dragon returned to its lair, to sleep peacefully beneath the mountain. Vortigern spared Ambrosius's life, and had the Dinas Emrys castle built, named in Welsh after Ambrosius. After Vortigern's death, he was succeeded by Ambrosius, presumed to be the boy from earlier, who had become a respected leader, and who would have therefore inherited the castle. Ambrosius is typically assumed to be legendary Celtic leader Ambrosius Aurelianus, known in Welsh as Emrys Wledig, who supposedly fought against the Saxons. The book also describes the legendary Arthur (spelled like that, without a surname), but he is mentioned only as a Celtic leader who also fought against the Saxons, not associated with Ambrosius.
The character Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the wild), later also known as Myrddin Emrys (Merlin the immortal), appeared in Welsh folklore in a series of poems around 800-1000 CE (such as Armes Prydein in about 930 CE), with some describing him living wild in the forests of northern Scotland, writing poetry, and developing prophetic abilities. In Scotland, he was previously known as Lailoken, but some of the Welsh stories are likely to be independently developed, and combined with the Lailoken stories, with some of the stories possibly dating from around 500-700 CE. Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 book Historia Regum Britanniae then rewrote Nennius's stories, renamed the prophetic boy as Merlinus (Merlin), after the Welsh Myrddin Wyllt. It mentions Ambrosius Aurelianus as a separate person from Merlin, with Merlin based on the existing Myrddin Wyllt and Ambrosius's Dinas Emrys legends, and Ambrosius Aurelianus being treated as just being a Celtic leader, not a prophetic boy. It gave the new stories of Arthur Pendragon (now with a surname), such as the Sword In The Stone and the Lady Of The Lake. Merlin was now given the role of advisor to Arthur Pendragon and his father Uther Pendragon.
Though the Welsh later adopted the red dragon onto the flag, it should be noted that the dragon symbol itself came into Britain from the Romans (who learned about it from various Middle Eastern cultures), who often depicted them with just a solid head and a fluttering fabric tail, without legs or wings. It was adopted by the Celtic Britons as a symbol of fierce warriors, with leaders like the mythical Mynyddog Mwynfawr (of Scotland or Northern England around 470-550 CE), Owain Gwynedd (reign 1137-1170), Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (reign 1246-1282) and Owain Glyndŵr (reign 1400-1409) often being described as dragons. Other British regions had their own dragons (4 legs, 2 wings), wyverns (2 legs, 2 wings), amphiptere (no legs, 2 wings) and wyrms (no legs or wings), such as the Saxon Kingom Of Wessex using a golden wyvern in 752 CE, and a red, white and golden wyvern in 1066. Other cultures also had drakes (4 legs, no wings) and lindworms (2 legs, no wings). Some cultures have other variations too, such as the Greek hydra, a wyrm with multiple heads (though Western adaptations often depict it as a drake), and sea serpents, which are typically depicted as wyrms with dorsal frills and tail fins, but sometimes have pectoral fins. (The Chinese lóng is typically a drake with a very long body, but sometimes a wyrm or lindworm instead. It normally has scales but sometimes has fur, such as a mane or whiskers. There are many other types, including some with fish bodies and fins.)
The Welsh Dragon was first described as being red by Nennius, and a yellow wyvern symbol on a white background, with a yellow border, was used by Owain Glyndŵr. The current colours of the flag are in fact the colours of the House of Tudor (originally from Anglesey), and a red dragon on a white and green background (along with a motto, fireballs, and the English flag of St. George!) was first used by King Henry VII Tudor in 1485 as a part of his battle standard, while taking over England, and establishing the Tudor dynasty. The modern Welsh flag design is from 1959, and is a simplified version of that battle standard.
This walk takes in several beautiful waterfalls in the grounds and surrounding area of Craflwyn Hall. Parts of the route can have very significant amounts of water on the paths, even in summer, and waterproof boots are essential. The area has an unfortunately high prevalence of ticks (we encountered 6 during a single visit) and leeches, so although the river is quite inviting, it is absolutely not a good place for wild bathing. The usual recommendations for avoiding ticks are suggested, such as keeping arms and legs completely covered, wearing repellents, avoiding brushing though bracken and long grass, and inspecting for ticks afterwards. The description below will note the most likely places to encounter them, and visits to those parts are best in winter, to avoid tick season.
From the parking area, go back out onto the road and turn left towards Beddgelert. After 250 metres, turn right into the main entrance to Craflwyn Hall. At the hall's main buildings, head up to a stone wall behind the building, and through a gate on the right, to reach the upper track, where there is an old, red phone box. (If you chose to park in the Craflwyn Hall parking area, exit the parking area onto the access lane, turn left, and take the left branch when it splits. Just beyond the holiday cottage terrace, pass through a gate to reach the same place.)
Follow the track to the right, until a footpath sign points up to the left into a forest. The old right of way has been redirected here, so ignore what the Ordnance Survey maps say. Follow the path up to an upper path. You will return to this point later, but for now, turn right on the upper path. When it splits, take the right branch, and follow it through the forest. Where it branches at a gate beside a stream, the path into the forest ahead-left quickly ends, so the way on is through the gate to the right. The path soon reaches the far side of some cottages, where there is an open view across the valley to the right. At this point, the main path continues ahead, but a poorly marked path leads up to the left beside a small rocky outcrop, following the line of a small plastic water pipe. This is the path to the upper Craflwyn waterfalls.
The path to the upper Craflwyn waterfalls is the part that had a high prevalence of ticks, and all of the ones we saw were transferred from the long grass on that path. The path passes over the top of a series of waterfalls, then dies out at the last waterfall, which is relatively short, but with a surprisingly deep plunge pool. Return to the main path.
The main path descends to the bottom of Merlin's Pool, also known as Craflwyn Waterfall, with its attractive tiered plunge pools and large, colourful bottom pool. The path then crosses a stone clapper bridge, and continues for 200 metres to a split in the path. The waterfall loop route continues ahead-left, while the detour to Dinas Emrys is ahead-right.
The detour to Dinas Emrys soon reaches steps over a wall into a forest. The path slowly curves right, then splits in two shortly after a stile. Take the right branch, which ascends a slope to reach the top of the Dinas Emrys hill fort. Return to the start of the Dinas Emrys detour, where the way on is now to the right.
The waterfall loop route continues up a gentle slope to reach a larger track. Turn left and follow the track up a wide zig-zag to where the track levels out at the upper bench of the valley. Ignore a track that branches off to the left, and continue to where a path to the left splits off to cross a footbridge towards a ruined building. This is the way around the loop, but even if you do not plan on visiting all of the Hyrddod Waterfalls, it is worth continuing a short distance along the route towards them, as the lowest and best one can be easily seen from the track leading towards them, just up ahead.
The route to the Hyrddod Waterfalls is to continue along the track, using the steps to cross a fence just up ahead. 275 metres further on, the track crosses a stone clapper bridge. The lowest of the Hyrddod Waterfalls is clearly visible 150 metres away to the left. 20 metres further on along the track, look for an appropriate place to leave the track, and cross a small stream to gain a path running up the right side of the waterfall. The further along the track you start, the less boggy it is when crossing the little stream. The path is very poorly defined, and can be hard to see, depending on how recently the farmers have used it to take sheep up to the upper fields. It climbs small rock outcrops, remaining slightly too far from the waterfalls to see them properly. After climbing 100 metres over 500 metres of distance, it passes through a gate, at a series of sheepfolds next to a waterfall. There is one waterfall higher up, where the stream pours out of the Cwn yr Hyrddod hanging valley, which can be seen from an earlier part of the path. Return all the way down to the track, turn right, cross the clapper bridge and wall to end up back at where the loop route branched off the track. The way on will now be to the right.
To continue along the loop route, follow the path over the footbridge and steps over a fence, and turn left in front of the ruined building. Follow the path running above the fence. After 700 metres, it crosses a wall using more steps, and finally leaves the fence. After 250 metres, the path, which is often covered in water, reaches a junction. Take the path doubling back to the left, which descends until it crosses a wall. 100 metres on, it reaches a junction, where the way on is to the right, but the path ahead reaches a viewpoint with the Giant's Chair.
The way on descends steeply though the forest, to arrive back at the path used on the way up (referred to earlier as the upper path). Turn right. The path soon passes the earlier route from Craflwyn Hall on the left, but continue past it to stay on the more significant path. This soon descends to a beautiful, mossy waterfall. In winter, this may be a raging torrent, but even in summer flood conditions, it is usually just a dribble. Immediately afterwards, it crosses a stone clapper bridge to reach a path junction in an area with very tall trees.
Most of the paths will work, but the easiest to navigate is to the left, which crosses a small bridge, swings right, and soon passes an ornate bench, carved to look like a dragon. Ignore a grassy path to the left, and the other paths rejoining from the right, and stay with the main path, passing beside a small dam. The path then zig-zags down to the Craflwyn Hall parking area. Exit the parking area onto the access lane. Turn left, then continue right at the fork, to arrive back at the front of Craflwyn Hall. Turn right to down the driveway to exit Craflwyn Hall, and turn left on the road, to arrive back at the parking area at the start of the walk.
| Waterfall | Grid reference | GPS coordinates | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merlin's Pool/Craflwyn Waterfall | SH 60342 49342 | 53.023092°N, 4.083646°W | |
| Hyrddod Waterfalls | SH 60713 50326 | 53.032029°N, 4.078543°W | |
Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of this description, neither the author nor his fellow walkers can accept responsibility for loss or injury arising from any errors, omissions or inaccuracies in this description. This description is intended as a guide only, and you should select a route to suit your own abilities, at your own discretion. Ability requirements are a guide only. Route maps are approximated. You follow this description at your own risk.