CENARTH FALLS

The forecast for the early part of our holiday was good so we decided to cram in as much sightseeing as possible sooner, rather than later, in case inclement weather curtailed our plans later in the week. One of the places we wished to visit lay right across the county and into Cardiganshire. This involved about an hour's ride over the Preseli Hills.
Shortly after taking these photos on the hills, I saw a sign pointing to Cenarth, a place I had seen advertised as being the home of the Welsh National Coracle Centre. The village also boasts "world famous" waterfalls although they could hardly be regarded in the same category as Niagara, Angel or Victoria even when in full flow!
We entered the village and crossed the River Teifi via this bridge below, parked alongside the river and enjoyed morning coffee before following the riverside walk a few hundred yards upstream.
The car park attendant warned us that the falls were not as spectacular as they should be as there had been no rain for about six weeks and the flow of the river had been reduced to little more than a comparative trickle. Looking back towards the bridge (below right) the rocks seen from this vantage point would normally be on the riverbed. Strange that while some people are just lapping up the glorious summer sunshine, others are bemoaning the lack of rainfall. Just goes to prove that you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
Besides the scenery of the valley, the River Teifi is also well known for salmon and trout fishing and as we stood above the falls close to where the river widened to form a shallow pool (below), we could hear, and occasionally see, the fish splashing in the water.
For many centuries, Cenarth has been the centre of coracle fishing and there are very often coracles as well as kayaks and canoes to be seen on the river here. The deficit of water has surely had an impact this year and there were none to be seen during our visit.
Returning to the car park, I left the footpath and clambered gingerly over the dry riverbed to get closer to the falls. I was also able to get this shot (below) of the seventeenth century flour mill, now part of the Coracle Centre. It gives a good impression of how far the water level has dropped - there would be a lot of hungry people around if they had to rely on the mill for flour this summer.
Despite the lack of water we spent a very pleasant hour by the river in Cenarth and there was still time for for a look through the structure of the two hundred year old bridge to the picnic area below before leaving. The village has been designated as a conservation area and it would have been easy to send much more time there to explore further but we had other plans so it was back into the car and off for some dolphin and seal spotting.