The Afon Soch is a short river on the

Llŷn peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn or , ) extends into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Mu ...

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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It arises to the north of the village of Sarn Meyllteyrn, through which it then flows, turning southeast towards

Botwnnog Botwnnog is a village and community in Gwynedd in Wales, located on the Llŷn Peninsula west-north-west of Abersoch. It is in the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It had a population of 955 in 2001, increasing to 996 at the 2011 Census. Th ...

. Beyond Botwnnog it is joined by its main left-bank tributary, the Afon Horon, which rises to the east of Carn Fadryn. Their combined flow approaches the coast at

Porth Neigwl Porth Neigwl, also known in English as "Hell's Mouth", is a broad bay, about 3 miles (5 km) wide, on the south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales. The bay faces south-west and lies between the headlands of Mynydd Rhiw to the west an ...

(or Hell's Mouth) but instead the river turns sharply northwards at

Llanengan Llanengan ( Welsh for " St. Einion's") is a small village and community around Abersoch in Gwynedd in north-west Wales. It had a population of 2,024 at the 2001 census, which had been reduced to 1,989 at the 2011 Census. The popular seaside re ...

and curves around east to

Abersoch Abersoch is a village in the community of Llanengan in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a popular coastal seaside resort, with around 800 residents, on the east-facing south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula at the southern terminus of the A499. It is about ...

where it enters the sea. A short section of the Soch valley is followed by the

Wales Coast Path The Wales Coast Path ( cy, Llwybr Arfordir Cymru) is a designated long-distance trail which follows, or runs close to, the coastline of Wales. Launched in 2012, the footpath is long and was heralded as the first dedicated coast path in the wor ...

where it takes a route inland of Porth Neigwl. Both the Soch and the Horon are

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 ...

s within 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 can b ...

. The river name is reckoned to be of Irish origin, the old Irish word 'socc' meaning a sow (used in the sense of an animal that burrows through the land). There are a number of other Irish names in Llŷn.

References

Rivers of Gwynedd {{Wales-river-stub