The Dylife Gorge, located near Dylife,

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Mid Wales Mid Wales ( or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands"), or Central Wales, is a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd covered the unitary autho ...

, was carved by the action (and aftermath) of the last

Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. It is headed by the

Ffrwd Fawr Waterfall Ffrwd Fawr is a waterfall in Powys, Wales. Location The River Twymyn flows from the Ffrwd Fawr Waterfall at the head of the Pennant Valley at Dylife Gorge near Dylife between Machynlleth and Staylittle. See also * List of waterfalls * L ...

. Before the last Ice age, the

River Twymyn The Afon Twymyn () is a river in Powys, Mid Wales. From its source close to Dylife and head of the Pennant Valley, the river flows through Llanbrynmair before joining the River Dyfi upstream of Cemmaes Road Cemmaes Road (; ) is a village ...

did not flow through the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

. When the valley was filled by a

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

, the ice ground out a U-shaped glaciated valley. When the glacier that filled the valley melted the Twymyn started to run down the wide channel left behind and the fast flowing river further eroded the valley, cutting the V-shaped

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

as seen today. The long-distance footpath

Glyndŵr's Way Glyndŵr's Way () is a long-distance footpath in mid-Wales. It runs for in an extended loop through Powys between Knighton and Welshpool, and anchored on Machynlleth to the west. History Its name derives from the early-15th-century Wel ...

(Welsh: ''Llwybr Glyndŵr'') passes nearby.

References

{{reflist

External links

Dylife GorgePhotos of the Dylife Gorge on geograph.org.uk
Canyons and gorges of Powys