The Afon Erch is a short river on the
Llŷn peninsula,
Gwynedd
Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...
,
Wales. It arises on the slopes of
Bwlch Mawr
Bwlch Mawr is a hill near the northeastern corner of the Llŷn Peninsula in the community of Clynnog in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales.
Its name is an odd one for a hill, as it means "big pass" in English. It forms the eastern half of a wi ...
, flowing south and southwest towards the hamlet of
Llwyndyrys
Llithfaen is a Medium Sized Village on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, in the historic county of Caernarfonshire
, HQ= County Hall, Caernarfon
, Map=
, Image= Flag
, Motto= ...
where it turns abruptly eastwards and curves around to the south, passing to the east of
Y Ffor
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or seventh ...
at
Rhyd-y-gwystl. It continues in a south-southwest direction towards
Abererch where despite the village name, it does not enter the sea but flows west parallel to the coast for 1 mile to
Pwllheli
Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...
. The Afon Rhyd-hir (translates from
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
as 'river of the long ford') joins the Afon Erch within the tidal basin of Pwllheli Harbour. Its headwaters gather to the south of
Llithfaen and flow south past
Llannor
Llannor is a village, parish and community located on the Llŷn Peninsula (Welsh: ''Penrhyn Llŷn'') in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. Historically in Caernarfonshire, it lies 1.7 miles (2.8 km) north of Pwllheli and 18.0 miles (29.0 k ...
to approach Pwllheli from the west. It is joined by the Afon Penrhos immediately west of the town, having originated around the extensive
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
of
Cors Geirch, a national nature reserve. Parts of the courses of each of these rivers occupy valleys that were formed by
glacial meltwater
Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater ...
. The uppermost Penrhos is a
misfit stream
A misfit stream is a river that is either too large or too small to have eroded the valley or cave passage in which it flows. This term is also used for a stream or river with meanders that obviously are not proportional in size to the meanders ...
within its valley.
The name of the Erch either signifies 'dappled/dark' or is possibly a personal name. Until the 16th century Aber-erch did sit at the point at which the river entered the sea but the
longshore drift
Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction ...
of the sands of Morfa Abererch diverted it west thereafter.
References
Rivers of Gwynedd
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