A walk from Lake Vyrnwy's dam

When 18th-century traveller Thomas Pennant came to the Efyrnwy (Vyrnwy) there was no reservoir. He described a wild Welsh cwm situated ‘in hilly naked country’, property of the powerful Vaughans. Llanwddyn village snuggled in a hollow where the Afon Cedig met the Efyrnwy.

In 1860 Llanwddyn was still a picturesque place with 10 farms, 37 houses, three inns, two chapels and a small parish church. The hills were free of conifers and a little two-arched, humpback bridge spanned the Efyrnwy. Further up the valley was Eunant Hall, a grand mansion owned by Sir Edmund Buckley – life was all very peaceful and orderly. But behind the scenes, Liverpool, the second city of the British Empire, was searching for water to feed its factories. The engineers turned to the Efyrnwy. Royal Assent followed and by 1880 work had started. Llanwddyn was invaded by engineers and 1,000 navvies, who were to build a huge dam and a 68-mile (109km) gravity-fed tunnel leading all the way back to their city. Over 510,000 tons of rock were quarried from the local mountains to build the then largest masonry dam in the world. As the walls went up, enclosing this little world from the outside, life for those in Llanwddyn went on, but the village had to go – it was to be flooded under the gigantic new reservoir.

So the engineers built a new village, including a church, to the south of the dam. The reservoir structures were completed in 1888. They are a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic design, but as the valves were closed and the waters rose, lapping slowly over the foundations of the demolished dwellings, a village was lost. A local legend circulated during the building of the dam. It had always been believed that the spirit of a ghost known as Yspryd Cynon lay beneath a prominent boulder in the valley. When the itinerant labourers blasted the stone in order to remove it from the site they reported that a large toad was seen sitting in a nearby pool rubbing its eyes. Locals were convinced that the toad was Yspryd Cynon. In the 21st century visitors flock to see the new Llanwddyn, with its visitor centre, its café and that dam. Severn Trent Water owns the place now and manages the land in co-operation with the RSPB. Nature trails have been developed within the vast conifer forests that surround the lake.

This route mostly follows the Craig Garth–bwlch Nature Trail, highlighted by dark blue waymarkers. Follow the tarmac lane past the craft centre, beyond which you’ll see the first of the waymarkers. The lane climbs through oak woods.

Ignore the turn-off to the left down to Grwn-oer, but continue with the lane, which swings right, over Craig Garth-bwlch (hill), where the trees thin out to reveal bracken-clad hillside to the right and pastures to the left.

The tarmac ends at the Tynewydd Farm turn-off to the south of Craig Garth-bwlch. Here the route continues on a stony forest track that skirts the hill before entering the forest itself. The track descends and veers right to meet another track, which has climbed from the valley hamlet of Ddol Cownwy. Follow it to the right, now with forest on the right and pastures falling away left to the Cownwy River.

Take the right fork just before Bryn Cownwy farm and climb through the conifers. At a four-way junction keep ahead, following blue waymarkers. The track later swings sharply left, eventually arriving at another meeting of paths.

The ongoing route is to the right, but first wander straight ahead for a splendid view of Llyn Vyrnwy Reservoir and its dam. Return to the path to descend gently through the trees, and bear left at a junction.

Lower down the track swings right to follow the edge of the forest, with fields to the left. The track bends left and descends back to a tarmac road and the car park.