All walks › Rhayader & the Elan Valley
Rhayader & the Elan ValleyClaerwen Dam
The furthest, largest and emptiest of the Elan dams. Once you are past the wall there is very little between you and Ceredigion but bog, grass and sky.
- Distance
- 3.1 mi / 5 km
- Time
- 1 hr 45
- Ascent
- 140 m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Shape
- There and back
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
Walk out across the dam and take the track along the northern shore of the reservoir. It runs for miles into open country; go as far as suits you and return the same way. There is no circuit worth attempting casually.
Worth knowing
- The single-track road in from the visitor centre takes longer than you expect. Allow twenty minutes.
- No facilities of any kind at the dam. No toilets, no water, no shelter, no signal.
- The track eventually becomes the crossing to the Teifi Pools and Strata Florida, which is serious moorland walking and a different proposition entirely.
What you’ll see
A vast sheet of water, blanket bog, and often not another soul all day.
Background
Claerwen was finished in 1952, half a century after its neighbours, and opened by the young Queen Elizabeth II in one of her first public engagements. It was faced in stone so it would not look out of place beside the Victorian dams, though underneath it is concrete.