Three bridges built on top of each other at Devil’s Bridge, Ceredigion…
One of the highlights of my trip to Ceredigion a few weeks ago was an hour or two spent at Devil’s Bridge, high up the valley from Aberystwyth in the middle of Wales’s west coast.
We went there to take the Vale of Rheidol steam railway back down the valley – but that’s material for another blog post.
A view from the road on the way up to Devil’s Bridge…
Here, in all its glory, is a top-to-bottom view of the little gorge straddled by Devil’s Bridge…
This is a montage (you can probably see the joins) of images of Devil’s Bridge, right down to the ‘Punchbowl’ full of rushing water at the bottom…
The river below the bridge is the Mynach, a tributary of the Rheidol. After such a wet summer, it was in full spate. There are more pictures below of the swirling Punchbowl at the bottom of the gorge.
If you look carefully, you can see the bridge is actually three bridges built on top of each other.
The bottom bridge was somehow built between 1075 and 1200 for foot traffic. How on earth did they do that?
On top of that is a bigger stone bridge built in 1753, for horse-and-cart traffic. The original bridge was used to support the scaffolding during construction.
Then the top bridge is an iron bridge built in 1901 and later used for motorised traffic – and it’s still used today.
Another view of the three bridges at Devil’s Bridge…
I wonder what these metal rings were for, on the side of the 1753 bridge…
It seems many in the past have also been amazed by the building of the first bridge – legend puts it down to the devil. As often happens, Old Nick did a deal. In return for building the bridge, he would take the first soul to cross it. Again as often happens, the devil was tricked by an old woman who threw bread on to the bridge, tempting her dog to go ahead of her and therefore forfeit its soul.
There are so many unanswered questions in that story. Why wasn’t the devil more specific? Why didn’t he say first PERSON to cross? I have never seen a dog eat bread. Do dogs even have souls? And clearly the woman wasn’t all that fond of her pet dog, was she?
The bridges are at the point where the River Mynach drops 300 feet (90 metres) in several stages down a steep and narrow ravine before it meets the River Rheidol.
But before we go much further, I must share this next image with you. I first visited Devil’s Bridge in the year 2000 and have a vivid memory of this orange mould on a wall, although at the time I thought it was lichen…
My pre-digital picture of orange mould on a wall at Devil’s Bridge in the year 2000…
And the orange mould is still there and flourishing after all these years…
Glorious orange slime mould on a wall at Devil’s Bridge in 2012…
The mould, if that’s what it is, is on a wall at the Hafod Hotel, which was originally a hunting lodge when this area was on the Hafod Estate. People have been visiting Devil’s Bridge for centuries and the famous English author George Borrow, who wrote Wild Wales (1854), stayed nearby.
But back to the present day. We put £1 in a slot in a turnstile to walk (carefully) down the wet and slippery stone steps called Jacob’s Ladder. Here are some pictures from that steep climb…
Looking down at Jacob’s Ladder…
A small waterfall in the ravine…
A closer look at the base of the waterfall…
Looking down on the river in the ravine…
Zooming in on that last picture, you can see water and sunlight pouring through a narrow gap in the rocks…
Looking down through leaves on the rushing river….
The water is clear but brown – does this mean there’s iron in it?
This is the river rushing towards the Punchbowl…
The water rushes down…
…and down into the Punchbowl, with a few golden leaves looking like coins in a fountain…
…and around and down and out through a narrow gap in the rocks
After staring mesmerised for some time at the thundering water, we returned back up the steps…
Looking up from the Punchbowl at Jacob’s Ladder…
A last look down as we near the top…
This is enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) enjoying the dampness at Devil’s Bridge – click on the picture to go to my enchanter’s nightshade blog post…
We also saw foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea)
From the village of Devil’s Bridge itself you can look down over the Rheidol Valley
Next stop the Vale of Rheidol steam railway…
The Squirrelbasket 
Brilliant pictures Pat.There are some wonderful places to explore in Wales but I must say we have not been here. By the way my dog loves toast,does that count.?
Yes, I think toast counts!
Best wishes 🙂
Reblogged this on Ritaroberts's Blog.
What-a-what-a-what-a place!
My ears are pounding just for having seen the pictures. I’d love to go there – but I’d be terrified too!
Iron or tannin? (Or both?)
Ah – tannin? I see now, you mean from peat! Yes, I guess that’s pretty likely. I hadn’t thought of that 🙂
I love the way you combine gorgeous photography with history/myths Pat 🙂 I think the legend is symbolic … old woman = wise woman and dog = baser nature … bread = sustenance If you think about it from a spiritual perspective perhaps it’s to do with conquering our ego. Just thinking out loud! Oh and by the way, my dog eats bread! Brilliant post. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words. I really don’t know dogs, I thought they just ate meat and bones!
Some interesting thoughts there about the myth. It’s got me thinking, too, about dogs in fairy tales. The first that comes to mind is the dog with eyes as big as cartwheels, guarding the chest full of gold in The Tinderbox. I remember the central European series of the tale, on teatime TV when I was a child…
Best wishes 🙂
It must have been like going back in time as you headed down Jacobs Ladder. Absolutely spectacular series of photographs!
The bridge is remarkable too. As the original was 6-7 centuries old when it supported the scaffolding for the second, Beelzebub might be an evil old curmudgeon, but he’s a hell of an engineer!
Indeed, you wonder where on earth (literally) you would start to build over such a ravine! I would love to see a drawing or diagram showing the whole thing without the overhanging trees, to work out where exactly it gets a grip…
Best wishes 🙂
What a lovely name for a plant enchanter’s nightshade is. I love the lush green colours of Wales.m
Indeed. And Wales is even greener than usual with this year’s wet summer.
Best wishes 🙂
Just been reading http://ancienthackney.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/dogs-of-alcibiades-friend-or-foe.html – may thrown a little light on the woman and dog?
Fascinating! I think Shazjera would love that one, too. Interesting the idea that “dogs steal your soul”.
The bit about dogs and humans and rescues also makes me think of the legend of Gelert, a lord’s hunting dog who was slain for apparently eating his master’s baby, when in fact his mouth was red with the blood of a wolf he had killed to save the baby.
I suppose we have always been a bit worried in the back of our minds about the fact we domesticated wolves to make man’s best friend…
Thanks for sharing 🙂
As Lucy says – wow what aplace – great pics
Thanks for that, Elaine, I appreciate your comment 🙂
We’ve been to see the Devil’s Bridge and Punchbowl and were blown away by it, but haven’t managed to do the rail journey yet. Will be interesting to read about that.
It is rather wonderful, isn’t it? And the train is on its way…
Best wishes 🙂