Enchanted Towy

River Towy - Llyn Brianne to Llandovery

(See also Cilycwm)

The river leaves Llyn Brianne through a steep sided valley

The river winds through the valley

Before opening up to a wide fertile valley beneath the RSPB reserve at Dinas

The RSPB Reserve at Dinas has a circular walk, part of which follows the Towy as it passes through a wooded gorge where the Towy and Doethie Rivers meet. This part of the path is difficult especially in wet weather.

Ysradffin

The Red Kite is Common in the Area 

Looking Towards Rhandirmwyn

Rhandirmwyn, a combination of  two words meaning land of minerals, covers a large area of the upper Towy valley, including Llyn Brianne.  It once had the largest lead mine in Wales. 

Twm Sion Catti

This is the area of Twm Sion Catti, the Welsh Robin Hood. Born in 1530 in Tregaron, a small town over the mountain from Llyn Brianne. He was the illegitimate son of Catti Jones and named Thomas Jones which was translated to Twm Sion. and as was common with names such as Tom Jones he took on his mother's name Catti to differentiate him. There are a number of legends about Twm who turned to theft to support his mother and himself. He was a protestant and it is believed that to avoid persecution he escaped to Geneva in 1550 at the time of Mary Tudor's anti-protestant reign. He was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth in 1559 and returned to Wales where he married the widow of Thomas Rhys Williams of Ystrad-ffin and became a Justice of the Peace and Mayor of Brecon, dying in 1609.Numerous books and pamphlets published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tell the stories of Twm Sion Catti but whether all refer to the same Thomas Jones is open to doubt. In his early life he lived in a cave above the confluence of the Towy and Pysgotwr which is shown on the Ordnance Survey map and can be visited on the RSPB Reserve at Dinas.

Pont Dolauhirion Above Llandovery

The Towy posed a problem for bridge builders at Llandovery and eventually a bridge was built at Dolauhirion just north of the town. It is now the oldest surviving bridge over the river and is classed as a Grade 1 listed structure having been built by Thomas Edwards in 1773.

The Towy from Pont Dolauhirion