Carreg Ddu Viaduct

Today's the day ........................ to follow in the footsteps

Had a wonderful day today exploring the Elan Valley - and finding out about two very different activities.

The Elan Valley is probably most famous as the setting for the four dams and resulting reservoirs that provide Birmingham with its water. It's all very simple really. The water is collected in the four reservoirs - Claerwen, Craig Goch, Pen y Garreg and Caban Coch. It is taken off at the Foel Tower shown here to the left of the Garreg Ddu Viaduct - and after a bit of purification, it travels the 73 miles to Birmingham by gravity. Considering this all happened around the end of the 19th century, it was by any standards an impressive feat of engineering.

The other activity took place several centuries before that - when Wales opened up to new Christian influences after 1066. Its remoteness appealed to the solitude-seeking Cistercians who had founded 13 monasteries by 1226. There is an ancient path known as the Monks' Trod which traces a lonely way across 24 miles of hills and moors, joining the Abbey of Strata Florida to Abbey Cwmhir to its east.

We walked a few miles of this path in the Upper Elan Valley where it still cuts a wide sway across the hillside. It had been designed to be ridden by horse, and it was a fast way to travel. Everything about it was fashioned to make the ride easy - and indeed accounts from the 12th century say that the journey from Strata Florida to Abbey Cwmhir could be done in a single day.

If you would like to see Will's version of the scenery from the path have a look here .........................