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| Pontyates |
Named after the man who built the bridge it dissects the river Gwendraeth Fawr. Today was the first time I have stopped to take a look at the river. It always seems very low in fact the recorded depth this week was 0.28 metres. I did spot some fish jumping and the water looked clean. There seems to be a lot of shale built up on either side of the bridge but even so the river was quite fast flowing.Apparently this shale is as a result of the colliery using the river water to wash the coal and an interesting story unfolds (see link) Hansard/Commons/1945/mar/29/flooding-pontyates-carmarthenshire There are meadows either side with some lovely wild flowers coming into bloom. There is also a walk along the banks and it is well used by dog walkers. The river eventually finds its way down to Kidwelly and out into the estuary. The river has it's source up at Llyn Llech Owain in Gorslas (blue bog), we also resided near there for some time. Pontyates has an elevation of 15 metres above sea level so the river does fall on its way down to the estuary. Imagine the benefits for tourism if one were able to take an indian canoe from Pontyates down to Kidwelly through al that lush meadowland. One can only imagine what could have been had the honourable gentlemen of the time had their way and had the river dredged.
