The quick getaway we'd hoped for on Friday night never materialised, and after stopping off at Evans Plaice chippy in Rhayader for their excellent fish and chips, it wasn't until 9pm that we dumped the car at Elan Valley Visitor Centre, left a note at the Ranger Office (which we'd arranged with them to do in advance), and headed into the pleasant evening. We didn't get far, just a couple of kms along Caban Coch reservoir to the Nant y Gro dam, blown up by Barnes Wallis when he was working out the best way to demolish German dams, and then up the hill to the abandoned dwelling at Ty'n y Pant. The sheep scarpered and we pitched our tents, a red Wild Country 2 person tent with a huge porch, and my red Laser Comp: a Terra Nova weekend!
Pitching was interrupted by a persistent cuckoo, and we speculated that it would probably start up again at 5am, waking us all up. Fortunately it didn't, a peaceful night followed, and we were on the move again by 9am. All along the south side of Caban Coch reservoir, then the Claerwen river to the awesome Claerwen dam and reservoir. Up til now we'd met a couple of groups of illegal motorcyclists, and a group of walkers heading up the Rhiwnant valley; after that the only people we saw until we arrived back at Claerwen over 24 hours later were some poor bastard squaddies being beasted round a circuit of the reservoir.
The western extent of our route was Llyn Gynon, a particularly boggy area of the Elan Valley and one stuffed with tussock grass 
Then we turned and picked up a footpath that took us back to the farm at the west end of Claewen res. I'd been expecting to have to do a river crossing at the end of this leg, there being no footbridge marked on the map, but in fact a bright new wooden troll bridge could be spotted from afar, much to our relief, and we picked up the track that winds along the north side of the reservoir.
A long day ended with a camp by the Nant y Gadair river, and the rain started as we were cooking dinner, so I took refuge in the large-porched Wild Country tent for a more sociable evening than in my small tent. I'm grateful for its small size though - it was much easier to find a space for it amongst the tussock grass.
Overnight was wet but not too windy, as was Sunday when we returned to Claerwen dam and made our way over Rhos y Gelynnen, cutting out kms of road walking, back to the visitor centre. A well-earned pie and chips went down a treat.
Seen: cuckoo, loads of buzzards and red kites, frogs, toads, newts, muddy squaddies, a range of interesting livestock at Claerwen Farm including highland coos. And the dams and reservoir system, which is fascinating. I really want to go back, after heavy rain, not to walk (or squelch) through the bloody tussock grass again, but to see the water cascading down the dams!
Photos at my Picasa site here.
