Rhayader to Claerwen Dam — Elan Valley Remote Reservoir Road via Craig Goch Circuit

The Elan Valley reservoirs were carved out of the Cambrian Mountains in the 1890s to supply Birmingham with water, and the building of them drowned entire villages. What’s left is one of the most atmospheric landscapes in Wales — bleak, wind-hammered moorland ringed by stone dams and feeding tracks that Welsh Water and Elan Valley Trust use for maintenance but allow recreational access across. The Craig Goch reservoir loop is the centrepiece: a gravel and compacted-stone maintenance road that circles the upper reservoir system, links through to the Claerwen Dam via a rougher track across open moorland, and rewards with views across 70 square miles of near-empty upland. The Claerwen approach track is the rough stretch — loose stone, steep camber, and exposed bog edges where the surface narrows to one vehicle width.

High clearance is essential; a capable 4WD handles the Claerwen track in dry conditions but after prolonged rain it demands low-range and good tyres. No permit required for the main reservoir roads, but the Claerwen track access can be gated for operational reasons — check with Elan Valley Visitor Centre in Rhayader before committing. Best season April through October. Fuel in Rhayader; no services in the valley. This is one of the genuinely wild corners of mid-Wales — expect golden plover, red kite overhead, and the strange silence of a drowned valley that never quite left.