Elan Valley Reservoirs

The Elan Valley Reservoirs are a chain of man-made lakes created from damming the Elan and Claerwen rivers within the Elan Valley in Mid Wales. The reservoirs, which were built by the Birmingham Corporation Water Department, provide clean drinking water for Birmingham in the West Midlands of England. The five lakes are known as the Claerwen, Craig-goch, Pen-y-garreg, Garreg-ddu, and Caban-coch

Ramsey Sound, Pembrokeshire

The waters of Ramsay Sound, between the mainland and Ramsey island, have significant tidal effects, and tidal waterfalls. The Bitches and Whelps is a reef of rocks which stretches out into Ramsey Sound, and which, when combined with the strong tides which race through the area creates a notorious stretch of water.

The tides run north for approximately 6 hours on the flood and south for 6 hours on the ebb, the tidal race in the Sound can reach speeds of up to 8 knots on a spring tide and over the reef itself in places this can increase to 18 knots. The tide speeds up as it is funnelled through the relatively narrow channel of the sound and the reef then acts as a dam. This effect is particularly spectacular during the flood tide when the water level on the south side of the rocks can be as much as 1.5 meters higher than that on the north side.

My walk took in some of the views across the sound before taking me back to Whitesands Bay.

St David's Head, Pembrokeshire coast path

A misty start to the day as the sun gradually started to emerge for my walk around St David's Head affording views of the slowly emerging Ramsey island.

Jutting in to the Irish Sea, St Davids Head marks the southern extremity of Cardigan Bay.