The title of this post would make a great name for a rock band, but that is not its purpose.  Three years ago we planned to make Aberystwyth our home in Wales for two weeks and then . . . Covid intervened.  The following year we watched a BBC TV series called "Hinterland" that was set in Aberystwyth.  It was a dark crime series starring a "troubled" police detective and seemed to take place about the same time of year that we would be in the town.  Perhaps it was part of the effort to create a noir atmosphere for the series but the views of the town and surrounding countryside were dark and grim and definitely not appealing.  For this reason, even before we decided we wanted a town up in the mountains, we decided to search for accommodations other than in Aberystwyth.  We found the power of fictional television interesting in that Poldark pulled us towards Cornwall while Hinterland pushed us away from Aberystwyth.  Chambers of Commerce need to pay more attention to the director's vision when film crews come knocking.  In any event with hiking off the table we decided to take the day and visit Aberystwyth to see whether our impressions were valid or we were just deluded by well crafted cinema.

The day began with a quick trip to our local butcher and baker, in the case of the butcher, Hugh Evans and Son, Butchers.  We grabbed some bread and ham, made sandwiches, and drove off to the coast in search of the truth of Aberystwyth.  The day was pleasant with some blue sky and, except for a construction kerfuffle just short of Aberystwyth, we made the trip in fine style ending up on the beach promenade in the south end of the town.  After eating lunch overlooking the ocean we walked along the oceanfront past castle remnants and almost all the way to the north end.  The multi-colored house fronts at that end looked as attractive as we had envisioned them in our earlier research.  In all the town was quite nice but more crowded than we generally liked.  Perhaps this is because it was a weekend but Aberystwyth is a beach destination as well as a university town.  After a long walk up and back along the promenade we departed for our last destination, the Devil's Bridge.  Along the way we drove through the bleak landscapes of Hinterland and found them to be beautiful rolling green hills with hedgerows and sheep and generally much more attractive than the TV series led us to believe.  Our conclusion is that we were deluded by the cinema but we preferred the inland location and small town feel of Llandeilo anyway.

Devil's Bridge is actually three bridges erected on top of each other.  First, a stone bridge was built around the 11th century followed by a similar stone structure in 1753.  Yet a third more "modern" bridge was built in 1902 atop the first two.  The Devil's Bridge appellation results from a legend that has the Devil cutting a deal to procure a soul in exchange for helping to build the bridge to save a cow and then getting outsmarted by the clever Welsh with the aid of a dog.  An alternative explanation given by the skeptical is that it was so named to attract tourists.  Beside the odd stacking of three bridges, Devil's Bridge has two other significant attributes from our perspective.  First, it served as an important location for the story in the Hinterland series, so that was fun to see.  Second, its purpose is to span a ravine through which rushes an incredible series of waterfalls.

Unusually for a scenic location in Wales, the land around the falls is private and you have to pay a small fee to enter and walk along the trail that first descends along one side of the waterfall and then crosses the river and ascends along the opposite banks.  To give an idea of the extent of the waterfall, the trail is a half-mile long (with 675 steep steps) while the waterfall(s) are said to be 300 feet high.  While it was a little annoying to have to pay to see a natural site, the walk was well worth it.  Because of all the recent rain the river was running very full and perhaps less beautiful than in a drier time with a more delicate and clearer water flow, but the power of the waterfall at this water level was stunning to see.  Despite the apparent doubt of the ticket seller at the top (who asked at least twice if we understood how many steps we would have to climb back up), we old people made it down and back up with no problems.  We then took a new countryside route driving back to Llandeilo, stopping only so Phyllis could satisfy her need to watch lambs cavorting.