Pistyll Rhaeadr

Given the relative remoteness of the town of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and the Pistyll Rhaeadr, there seemed to be many ways of getting here from more familiar towns in Wales.

So we’ll just describe the routes that we took both involving Conwy as well as the Dolgoch Falls since we arrived at Pistyll Rhaeadr from Dolgoch Falls.

You can see the detailed directions to get to Dolgoch Falls from Conwy in its directions.

Driving from Dolgoch Falls to Pistyll Rhaeadr

So leaving Dolgoch Falls and going onto the B4405 due east for about 7 miles towards the A487, we then turned left and followed the A487 for about 4 miles to the A470.

We then turned right onto the A470 and followed this road for just under 8 miles to the A458.

Turning left to go onto the A458, we then drove about 10.5 miles to a turnoff for the B4395 where the GPS made us go the direct route and turn left onto the narrow road.

After 7 miles, we kept right to go onto the B4393, followed that road for 4.4 miles to the B4391/A490 junction, then turned left to continue on the B4391 road.

After 2 miles, we kept right to continue on the B4580 road and followed that road for 3.2 miles to Market Street, which was the main throughfare for the town of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.

In less than 70 yards, we then turned right onto the narrow Waterfall Street, where we then drove the remaining 4 miles on the single-track road to its end.

There was a 3 pound fee to park in the car park for Tan-y-Pistyll tea room and bed and breakfast (as of early September 2014).

However, backtracking for about 0.2 miles, we managed to find space at a “free car park”, where there was some really rough spaces as rocks were jutting up from the ground and there were some pretty severe ruts and pits.

Those who were fortunate to snag a spot here managed to avoid paying the fairly hefty 3 pound fee though there was definitely the risk of possibly damaging the rental car if not careful.

In any case, this drive took us a little over 90 minutes.

The Better Route from Dolgoch Falls to Pistyll Rhaeadr

However, it might have been a slightly faster drive (not necessarily shorter) had we remained on the A458 for another 5.5 miles before turning left onto the A495 road.

We would have followed the A495 road for a little over 9 miles before turning left onto the A490 road towards Llanfyllin for 4.6 miles.

Then, we’d finally get onto the B4391 road and following the rest of the directions as above towards Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.

The Driving Route from Conwy to Pistyll Rhaeadr

The route we took to return to Conwy from Pistyll Rhaeadr also works in reverse so we’ll describe our route in reverse as well.

From Conwy, we would go south on the A470 for about 17 miles to the A5 (just east of Betws-y-Coed), then keep left to drive on the A5.

We then would continue on the A5 towards the town of Druid (19 miles), where we would then turn right to go onto the A494.

We’d then head a little over 4 miles towards Bethel, then going left onto the B4402 road, then after 3.5 miles turning left to go onto the B4391 road.

Next, we’d follow this road southeast for a little over 11 miles to Penybontfawr, then left onto the road leading to Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant for 2.5 miles becoming Market St, then turning left onto Waterfall Street.

The last 4 miles would be on the single-lane Waterfall Street leading to Pistyll Rhaeadr.

This drive took us nearly 90 minutes.

Finally, to give you some additional geographical context, Conwy was 27 miles (about 45 minutes drive) northeast of Caernarfon, 55 miles (over an hour drive) west of Liverpool, 83 miles (2.5 hours drive) north of Aberystwyth, 192 miles (4 hours drive) north of Cardiff, and 259 miles (4.5 hours drive) northwest of London.

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