Claerwen Reservoir, Elan Valley

The sun was back and the wind had died down, so I chose to do a circumnavigation of Claerwen reservoir in the Elan valley. This would involve a large loop to the south over the moors and then back along the side of the reservoir.

The aim was to park at the dam and cross over before following the tops along the lake before diverting past Llyn Gynon, and down to the Mwyro valley.
Picking up the Cambrian Way trail and back up to llyn Egnant to return to the reservoir at the end beside the farm.

Finally back along the side of the reservoir.

I parked at the top car park beside the dam crossing, then crossed over to the far side.

Looking up the lake on the way over - it seemed a long way! On the far side I followed a path that started at the lake side and climbed up through the sheep pasture.

The track soon converted into a quadbike track, and continued along the main ridgeline.

Up on the top I followed the quadbike tracks - this was the only track visible up here

Parts of the track were a little boggy, but there was aways a way around them.

Towards the end of the reservoir the track turned away - still on the ridgeline and heading int he direction I needed to go.

Dropping down off the end of the ridge and into a hanging valley things got less distinct and I swapped between tracks to stay on the desired direction

The track crossed a number of streams - and tried to stay high on the bumps as it climbed the far side of the valley.

Then it was a case of traversing high enough to avoid the boggy bits and following sheep tracks.

Then a huge curve around Llyn Gynon - again trying to stay on the slope above the boggy bits - marked by the reeds.

Around the end of the lake still on the higher ground to get tot he head of the Mwyro valley.

Down the valley as the paths merged onto farm tracks, and down to some buildings at Garreglwyd, where the path got confusing and I crossed a field to get onto it lower down.

The track changed from grassy, to gravel, to tarmac as it got lower down. There were still a number of muddy sections to avoid.

At the junction with the Cambrian Way trail, I turned up the Egnant valley. The track wound along beside the stream for a while.

Then climbed steeply at the end. Here several planes passed below - first a transport one then a couple of combat aircraft.

The better of the tracks for the day still climbing beside the stream.

Up and over the end of the valley

Then dropping down to the lake - Llyn Egnant, where I stopped at the dam for a short lunch break.

Up the far side around the side of Bryn Llyn Egnant.

Across the plateau on the top. The track was indistinct, and I headed across the tussocky slopes.

Everything got complex as I tried to find a way across the slope... there seemed to be a track, but this was extremely boggy and soon I had two wet feet.

The track continued in the same way as I dropped slowly and could soon see the farm at the end of the reservoir.

One last hurdle before getting to the track at the reservoir. I had to cross a feeder stream, and the bridge was in two parts.

I waded over at a likely fording point, only to discover I had dropped a sock on the way over - a good job it was already soaked from the bogs.

With welcome relief I got onto the gravel trackway. I was quite tired from the tussocks and bog.
The track was not as easy going as a road, since there were endless potholes filled with water and loose stones all over the top, but at least it was flat(ish) and mindless.