Advancedbiker has a day off – Or does he....
It is not very often I go out for a fun ride, as I usually
have a client to look after or leading a group or on a tour. So for a change I decided to try and combine
my interest in motorcycling, world war two and photography. I invited
friend, who shared my mutual interest and the date was set. We decided to go for Friday 10th
August 2012 and it was decided to head into Wales and our intention was to go
for Elan Valley – to look for the remains of the dam used it the experiments
prior to the Dambuster raid, then onto a Red Kite rescue centre, before ending
the day further north at the Penmaenpool toll bridge.
We met up at Eccleshall, Staffordshire and as Mark my fellow
rider had an Autocom headset, I brought along a spare Autocom system. Powered it up from the socket under the seat
on his BMW R1200GS and we had bike to bike comms.
I had a route in my head so we set off towards Shrewsbury
for our first tea stop at Dinky’s Diner, which is on a lay by just outside of
Shrewsbury on the Welshpool road.
I was determined for this to be a ‘Fun Run’ and settled down
to a steady pace up to the posted speed limits.
It soon became obvious that Mark was starting to loose ground on me,
when it came to the bends. So do I say
anything, as it is my day off, of do I have a chat over the Autocom system. Well I couldn’t resist, but asked Mark if he
didn’t mind, he didn’t so we had a chat.....
I had been out with Mark a few times, but he readily
admitted on this occasion he was a little ‘rusty’. All it was he was still riding his BMW in ‘Car
Mode, not looking far enough ahead and concentrating too much on the bend he
was going round, instead of the one he was going for next.. (Does this look
familiar).
The ride after the tea break was completely different as we
chatted about bend assessment, right speed, the gear and a constant throttle around
the bends and looking all the time for the exit, before we had to go into
another bend. With the Autocom it meant
Mark became more ‘switched’ on and responded better to any overtaking
opportunities.
Well we got to our first destination just after midday, so decided
to have something to eat at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre. We arrived at our first photographic
location, but had no idea where the Nant-y-Gro dam was. I had done some research on the internet and
it said it was about half a mile from the visitor centre. However it’s exact location was not known to
me so I asked the very helpful staff at the information desk, who then gave me
a fact sheet and route to take to get to the dam.
Next problem, what do we do with our helmets, jackets etc...
It was a very hot day so the information staff kindly offered to look after our kit, so we travelled
light armed only with our Canon 600 EOS cameras, and a few lenses.
Motorcycle boots not the best boots for walking.....Blisters now !
The route according to the staff was not that
far......! Follow the signs and keep the
water on your right....Simple....
So on leaving the visitor centre and heading towards the dam
up the valley, towards the Caban Couch Reservoir, cross over the bridge and
then CLIMB...... to the top of the dam,
through the gate and turn right towards the reservoir.
At the top of the dam there are some spectacular views and a
small track leading off to the left heading alongside the reservoir. This eventually turns into a stone ‘goat
track’ before climbing a bit over a few styles before getting to a small inlet.
The area is very over grown but as the grassed path leads
off to the left, you spot a small information board.... You have arrived at the
Nant-y-Gro dam. (I am not convince it is
only half a mile walk....)
The Nant-y-Gro dam (translated as The Pebbly Stream) was a
small masonary dam built across the Nant-y-Gro stream during the construction
of the dams and reservoirs in the Elan Valley, Wales.
The dam created a million gallon reservoir which was used to provide water to
the navvies village below. It also supplied water to storage tanks used by
locomotives, steam cranes and other steam driven machinery.
By 1905 the water works were complete, the Nant-y-Gro dam was no longer needed
because the Elan village obtained water from the new water works scheme. The dam became redundant and almost
forgotten.
The dam was still standing during the war and Wallis used it
as a secret testing venue for the development of Upkeep.
In 1939 as war clouds gathered Barnes Neville Wallis was considering an
engineering solution and the possibility of using explosives on structures, such
as dams.
After a lot of researched and testing on models, by the
beginning of 1941 Birmingham City Council had given the Air Ministry permission
to use the unwanted Nant-y-Gro dam for demolition experiments. It was very fortunate as the dam turned out
to be a fifth scale version of the Mohne dam in Germany. (One of the targets
for the Dambusters).
In May 1942 the first live explosive test took place, but
not much damaged was caused. However on
July 24th 1942, 280lbs of explosives were detonated against the wall of the dam
at a depth of 10 feet. The blast blew a hole 60 feet wide and 25 feet deep in
the dam wall.
It caused a massive
explosion, destroying the dam and by doing so lead to more development work which
lead to the Dambuster raids.
What remains of the dam today:
Looking down into the valley from the information board
Looking towards the Reservoir
In the above three photgraphs, you can just about see the remains of the north part of the dam through the trees
South part of the remains of the dam, with cracks in the dam wall
The reamins of the dam, after the explosion in 1942, now covered in moss, nature taking over.
The walk to see the dam is well worth it, but was a fair way from the vistor centre. Nature is taking over soI would think eventaully the structures will get covered, but it will take a few years yet.
These photographs taken by me and Mark were done roughly 70 years since the explosion.
The black and white pictures have been taken from other web sites.
Just on clsoing a video from the DAMBUSTER website
We never got to the other places.....Next Time
