Henrhyd Falls aka The Batcave

The “Henry” falls as I call them, are the tallest in south Wales with a 90 foot drop. They flow within the Brecon Beacons National Park, are free to see and contribute the “Waterfall country” of Cymru (Welsh word for Wales).

Henrhyd Falls

These waterfalls are big enough to climb behind and have a walk around in. It was here that the final scene of  The Dark Knight Rises was filmed, where it doubled as the entrance for the Batcave. (All my DC fans are drooling right now). 

Excited to see where Batman was filmed? So is everyone else. Get there early. The car park (parking lot for my Americans) is tiny and it fills up fast leaving very little parking anywhere else.

If you follow the trail below the falls it will continue on down into the forested Nant Llech valley and pass a disused watermill, the Melin Llech, with a few more smaller waterfalls along the path. The Nant Llech trail is a moderate, 3.5 mile hike which would take the usual hiker about 2 ½ hours (not counting the meandering and picture taking) to complete.

From Henrhyd Falls:

Retrace your steps back across the bridge to the path junction.

Go straight ahead, following the footpath with Nant Llech on your left-hand side.

Keep following the footpath and just after you cross a boardwalk, a smaller waterfall can be seen on your left.

Keep following the footpath until you pass through a gate which marks the end of National Trust land. Then cross a small bridge and continue to follow the path down the valley. (This is as far as I reached).

If carrying on, you reach the site of the disused watermill - the Melin Llech (these buildings are private property, NO TOUCHY). From Melin Llech, continue past the bridge on the left and follow the track uphill for about 25 yards. Join the footpath on your left and continue along this path to a kissing gate and minor road, cross the road and bear right to another kissing gate on your left.

Pass through the kissing gate then follow the path until the River Tawe comes into view. (There’s an awful lot of kissing going on if you’re on the right path). This river flows all the way to Swansea and into the Bristol Channel. You have now reached the midway point of the walk.

You can now return to the minor road by the path that you have just followed. At the road, you can either turn left uphill and follow the lanes back to the car park or, retrace the whole route back to Henrhyd Falls following the path by the Nant Llech.

Adventure awaits, where will you go?

To the Batcave!