All walks › Rhayader & the Elan Valley
Rhayader & the Elan ValleyCraig Goch Dam
The highest and prettiest of the Elan dams, a curving wall of arches at the top of the valley with moorland opening out beyond it.
- Distance
- 2.5 mi / 4 km
- Time
- 1 hr 25
- Ascent
- 120 m
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- 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
From the car park, walk out along the dam and continue on the track above the reservoir for as far as you fancy before returning. The track carries on into genuinely remote country, so choose your turning point deliberately.
Worth knowing
- The curved parapet and arched overflow make this the most photographed of the dams, and rightly so.
- Beyond Craig Goch you are heading into the empty quarter. Do not carry on casually without a map.
- The road up is single track with passing places and gets busy on summer weekends.
What you’ll see
The curving dam wall, open moorland above the treeline, wheatears on the walls and kites overhead.
Background
Completed in 1904 as the last of the original four dams. A fifth reservoir at Dolymynach was begun but never finished, and its abandoned foundations are still visible in the Claerwen valley.