Checking Out The Neuadd Dam
We checked out the Neuadd Dam, an interesting little place to check out, as it’s a reservoir with no water in it.
The Start
Hello, people of the internet!
And welcome to another episode of something vloggy!
Today we are heading towards the Neuadd Dam.
Courtesy of person whose name is scrolling along… because we’re rubbish at names.
Very sorry.
We are up above Torpantau.
Torpanteye you mean.
We get our pronunciations wrong a lot. Today I have not only looked it up but I’ve
written it down phonetically so I know that it is “Nay ath”.
And you will see, momentarily, why this damn is so interesting.
The First Reservoir
This, fascinating looking thing behind me, is a reservoir and I am standing on a dam.
But it’s not the dam we’re coming to see, oh no.
This is the precursor to the dam that we’re going to see.
This differs from the other dam in that this dam has some, not much, but some, water.
Whereas the one that we’re going to see doesn’t.
Which is what’s so interesting about it really is the fact that, you know, big dam- no water.
As you will see momentarily,
But we have a little bit further to walk before that happens.
It’s Lovely
I could quite happily spend the day with a picnic up here. It’s very pleasant.
And other people seem to think so too because the car park is chocca but- they’re all climbing up the mountain behind me it would seem.
So we’ll see how many people are at the reservoir.
The Lizard
I saw a lizard.
So, as we’re wandering down off this first Dam, quite to my surprise I saw a lizard.
And I like lizards cuz, you know, they’re lizardy.
You can often see lizards on hot days like this, they come out and bask on the rocks and warm themselves up.
And they seem to have a lovely time.
To The Second Dam
We’re now between dams.
This walk’s quite a short walk.
Anywhere between fifteen minutes to half an hour.
We’ve picked lovely weather for it and so has everybody else.
And it’s a bank holiday so… everybody else.
It’s quite busy.
Still quite peaceful though despite that.
It feels good this, feels like there’s a new lease on life and all that sort of stuff and, you know, positive thinking and…
Yeah
especially after the winter we’re feeling especially like yes sunshine!
Yes, broken the shorts out.
Sorry about that. I’m so pale I reflect sunlight.
That’s the shot.
The Neuadd Dam
This thing behind me is what we’ve come to see.
I know it’s not overly impressive from this view, but that is a dam.
It just looks like any normal Dam, the only difference being it’s quiet here.
Very quiet.
The reason there is a lack of noise is because there’s no real flow of water.
It’s just not doing its thing because the dam doesn’t work overly well.
It’s got a concrete core, and the concrete core is concrete filled with big rocks.
And when they built the thing they left all the shuttering in which is made of
wood, that allowed them to form the shape, and then that subsequently rotted away,
and then the water seeped in where the wood was, and then the concrete kind of crumbled and then it stopped being watertight, so…
They emptied it. They pulled the plug.
First Impressions
It’s a very short walk, lovely day for it as well.
First impressions of the Dam.
They look pretty much like most of the other ones along the Elan Valley.
They’re very pretty, we haven’t had a look on the inside of the reservoir yet…
or the non-reservoir, but first impressions are good.
There’s nobody here, it’s lovely.
Although you can hear the voices coming down from the mountain, you think ‘is somebody coming?’ and nobody is.
A few sheep that’s it. Us and a few sheep.
Histoyr of Neuadd Dam
Upper Neuadd Dam was constructed between and .
It has a great two-star listing.
Just goes to show you don’t have to be useful, or good at your job, to be appreciated.
They’ve been trying all sorts of things to sort it out since the 60’s.
The decision was made by Welsh Water, who own and operate the dam, to drain it to prevent further damage.
To do this they pulled the plug, quite literally.
In this case, however, the plug is feet thick and faced with engineering brickwork,
whilst the pipe is three meters in diameter.
Once the plug was pulled, and
the reservoir had emptied,
the pipe was reinforced with a lining to prevent the negative pressure caused by flood water
from tearing the dam apart.
When there was water in the reservoir there was a small island upon which sat a couple of Cairns.
I would imagine that would have been quite a spectacular sight.
The Neuadd Dam Now
So here on the other side of the dam, you can see by the line of trees where the water must have come to.
It’s still damp in places around here and there’s a stream that travels into the mountains.
It’s lovely here.
Really peaceful.
I mean, if it had water in it it would be absolutely stunning.
Especially on a day like today, you’d be able to see the mountains reflected in the lake…
reservoir, not lake.
So yeah, it’s a shame that we couldn’t see it before it was empty, but it is interesting to see what gets left behind when the plug is pulled.
If you’re in the area come and have a nose.
And maybe climb a mountain because here because there’s a mountain nearby that everybody’s climbing and I can only assume that everybody’s doing it for a reason.
Thoughts on the Dam
It’s very easy to miss just how big these things are.
You tend to see them from a distance, so you don’t realise that this wall is towering above me.
The amount of water that must have been stored in here and the fact that had it just failed it
would have been catastrophic.
But fortunately, it just seeps. It just leaked. So catastrophe avoided.
I mean really and truly it’s the sort foresight of the people that, you know, the engineers and what have you that know what they’re doing with this stuff.
But it’s got all of the various different things that one could desire, all rolled into one nice little package.
It is grand.</p.
Conclusion
That’s it from us at Neuadd Dam.
We will be seeing you on Friday for the Friday show and again on Monday
for another exciting excursion.
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importantly, click the little bell to give it some ears.
See you next time
TTFN.
That way.
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