The River Clwyd Chapter 2 What is the river like? Maps courtesy of Denbighshire County Council Next Page

What is the River Clwyd like? We’re going to take a journey down the river with Ratty and Mole from the Wind in the Willows. We will start at its source and travel until we get to the sea at its mouth. We will see snapshots of what the river is like and how it changes. Does it change over its length? Next Page

Glossary Source – the starting point of the river. It could be a lake or a tiny stream. Tributaries – streams or rivers joining onto another river. Confluence – the point where 2 rivers meet. Waterfall – the river dropping vertically over a hard rock face. Meander – a large sweeping bend in a river. Estuary – the section of the river that widens out as it enters the sea. Salt water from the sea travels up it at high tide. Mouth – the end of the river where it flows into the sea. Next Page

Click on red circles to see pictures. Next Page Click here to watch Ratty and Mole go on their journey Clocaenog Forest Not to Scale Ratty and Mole start their exciting journey in the heart of the Clocaenog Forest. They carry their boat through the forest and launch at the source of the river which is a tiny little stream (1). 1 © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Denbighshire County Council © Hawlfraint y Goron. Cedwir pob hawl. Cyngor Sir Ddinbych They worry that there will not be enough water but as they travel down through the tall trees they find the stream is joined by other streams and it begins to turn into a small river (2). They are happier now as the river gets bigger and twists its way through the trees (3) and still more streams join on. They row on into a steep valley. “This is fun!” they shout as the river speeds up and the boat rides the rapids over and around the big boulders. (4). Soon they reach the first settlement of Melin-y-Wig where they climb out to take a break and calm down after the exciting rapids. After a brief stroll they get back in the boat and find themselves in another steep sided valley. (5). They’re still travelling fast (6) but as Mole points out, “this is exciting enough for me, it was a little too exciting before!” The valley gets wider and they start to travel alongside the road. People in the cars wave to them and they wave happily back. The river is wide, shallow and fast with trees along each bank (7). They speed along with the fast flowing river hardly having to use their oars. They pass Pwll Glas and then they suddenly find themselves riding the rapids through a narrow and dark gorge (8). Next

Click on red circles to see pictures and again to remove pictures Next Page Click here to watch Ratty and Mole go on their journey Not to Scale © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Denbighshire County Council © Hawlfraint y Goron. Cedwir pob hawl. Cyngor Sir Ddinbych Ratty and Mole find the gorge exciting. The rapids are fast and the cliffs on both sides hang over their heads. But all too soon the gorge ends and they come out at a bridge. On the right they see the Afon Hesbin join on to the River Clwyd (9). The river gets wider with the extra water (10) and the two friends flow on to the settlement of Ruthin. Next They row through the town and past the high walls of the old Gaol (11). The valley now gets wide and the banks of the river are not as steep so the water flows slower. Ratty and mole find themselves rowing more and more (12).

Click on red circles to see pictures and again to remove pictures Next Page Click here to watch Ratty and Mole go on their journey Not to Scale © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Denbighshire County Council © Hawlfraint y Goron. Cedwir pob hawl. Cyngor Sir Ddinbych The river doesn’t change very much. Most of the time the river is deep and they can row along nicely. Occasionally the river goes shallow and then the water flows faster. They sing songs to help pass the time and look out at all the rich farmland. As usual the river banks have trees on both sides but the banks get higher and they cannot see as much. They row around a corner and are surprised when they see another river, the Afon Clywedog, joining on (13). The river grows bigger and deeper with the added water. Soon they come to another confluence as the tributary, the River Wheeler, joins on (14). The river winds its way down the valley and Ratty and Mole row on down the ever growing river (15). They look in awe at Llannerch Hall (16) and comment that Toad would very much like to live there. Next

Click on red circles to see pictures and again to remove pictures Next Page Click here to watch Ratty and Mole go on their journey Not to Scale 22 © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Denbighshire County Council © Hawlfraint y Goron. Cedwir pob hawl. Cyngor Sir Ddinbych Ratty and Mole row on past the hall and on past the small city of St Asaph (17) where they can just see the top of the cathedral tower. The river falls gently and there are a great number of meanders. They row on to Junction Pool (18) which is the confluence of the River Elwy and the River Clwyd. Mole explained to Ratty that it was a very popular fishing place. They were now entering the river estuary which is the part of the river that is tidal. When the tide comes in, the water in this part of the river rises as well, therefore you get a mixture of salt water and fresh water. As they rowed past the castle in Rhuddlan (19) Ratty told mole about the big ships that used to sail right up to the castle and he explained that on the sides of the river were once small boat yards where boats were built and then sailed out to the sea The river got wider and there were no trees at all along this stretch (20). They know their journey is almost over. They’ve rowed a long way. They row under the railway bridge and then under the blue Foryd Bridge (21). They row past the boats in the harbour and out into the sea (22). Ratty and Mole throw their hats in the air and cheer. They’re the first water vole and mole to paddle from the source of the river Clwyd to it’s mouth and they will probably have their names put in the Guinness Book of Records. And with that thought they venture off to look for fish and chips and a cup of tea. Next

Back to Beginning And finally we have seen: The River Clwyd starts as very small streams in the Clocaenog Forest. The small streams join together and form a small river. The Clwyd then falls quickly down a steep valley. Its flows fast, there are lots of boulders and it is shallow. It goes past some small villages. As the river reaches Ruthin it levels out and the valley becomes wider, the river slows down and there are no more boulders. More tributaries join on – Afon Hesbin, Afon Clywedog, River Wheeler, River Elwy and more smaller rivers. As each one joins the river it gets bigger because there is more water. After Ruthin we see that the river starts to wind or meander and the banks get higher. All along the river there are trees growing on its banks. After the River Elwy joins the river is tidal and this part is called the estuary and it rises and falls with the tide twice a day. As the river gets nearer Rhyl the banks are bare and there are no trees. In Rhyl the Clwyd flows under the road bridge, past the boats in the harbour and out into the Irish Sea.