Rhayader

A couple were taking a stroll across the footbridge below the Caban Coch dam in the Elan Valley, Mid Wales, and very conveniently for me they choose to stop right in the middle of the bridge to look at the wall of water thundering down a few yards away from them.

A visit to the Elan Valley in the spring is a fine day out. The surrounding hills are remote, wild and very soggy at the best of times, so after a thaw and then a lot of Spring rain the water pours down from the hills and fills the reservoirs to the point of spectacularly overflowing. Graig Goch is the top dam of the Elan Valley series, and is perhaps the finest with its elegant curve and arches - the best example of Birmingham Baroque! The dam is 156m wide and 36m (118 feet) high, so when the water is overflowing it is a sight to behold. I know it is a bit of a postcard shot - but when the view is this good, why not? For anyone going to photograph the dams in full flow, the morning is best to catch the sun on the water.

If there is one thing you have to admire our Victorian ancestors for it is the sheer scale and vision in their infrastructure projects, many of which we still rely on today. One such is the Elan Valley dam system, which supplies pure Welsh water to Birmingham. This is the Caban Coch dam which is the lowest dam on the system, and it is 120ft high by 610 ft wide. As you can see it was designed to turn into a giant waterfall when the reservoir behind it is full, and the experience of standing in front of it is a pure assault on the senses. I was fortunate that there were only a few people about when I visited, and one chap in a bright red coat was very obliging in standing in the very centre of the bridge over the River Elan just downstream from the dam.

Following on from my recent post called 'Vertigo' this is looking back up the Afon Claerwen to the 180 foot face of the Claerwen dam. This is the newest and biggest of the Elan Valley dams, and although it looks Victorian it only dates to the 1950's. I just wish I could portray the noise and drama of all that winter rain flooding over the top of the dam and crashing down the face.

Following on from last week's image, having escaped the weather on nearby Gorllwyn, the next stop was the Elan valley dams. This is a spectacular place to be when the dams are full and overflowing, even if you have to dodge the snowshowers. It was so grey and dark that there was hardly any colour to be had, so I went B&W with this.