Four Dams Drone Shots One day Sky Tour in 4K

Garreg Ddu
Garreg Ddu Dam in the lower Elan Valley serves a dual role. It is a low, completely submerged dam which plays a vital role in maintaining a constant supply of water to Birmingham. It also supports masonry pillars carrying the access roadway to the neighbouring valley of the River Claerwen. Garreg Ddu holds water back on the upstream side so that water can always be extracted at the Foel Tower. The bottom of Caban Coch Reservoir is too low to allow water to be gravity fed to Birmingham. Extraction from here would require pumps.
The importance of the submerged dam’s role in maintaining flow to Birmingham was proven in September 1937 after a prolonged period of exceptional drought, causing water levels in the Elan Valley to drop alarmingly.
The original road leading to this valley was to be lost, along with many original buildings, with the completion of the Caban Coch Dam and the subsequent flooding of the two valleys.
Craig Goch
Craig Goch is the highest upstream of the series of dams in the Elan Valley and is often referred to as the ‘top dam.’ Its located at a height of 1040 feet (317 metres) above sea level. As with all the dams, work started with the arrival of the railway line at the site. In the case of this dam the line had the furthest to go and a rocky outcrop had to be blasted and dug through on the route to the site, now known as ‘Devil’s Gulch.’
Craig Goch is seen by many as the most attractive of the dams, with an elegantly curved retaining wall and a series of arches carrying a narrow roadway across the top of the dam. It has a domed valve tower and the structure is typical of the ‘Birmingham Baroque’ style of much of the waterworks scheme.
Pen y Garreg
Pen y Garreg is the third dam up the Elan Valley, often referred to as the ‘middle dam.’ The viaduct at Garreg Ddu further downstream does not resemble the other dams since the dam part of the structure is not visible above the water surface in normal conditions.
This dam is unusual in that it houses an access tunnel to the central tower which is lit by apertures in the downstream side of the dam. This enables Pen y Garreg to be opened to the public on certain days of the year.
Claerwen Dam
The severe drought of 1937 served to give warning of the increasing need for much greater water storage capacity. The three dams proposed for the Claerwen Valley as part of the original Elan Valley waterworks scheme of 1892 had not been built, apart from the base of the dam at Dol y Mynach which had to be constructed early because of its location below the top water level of the Caban Coch Reservoir. Proposals for a large new dam in the upper Claerwen Valley were at an advanced stage by early 1939, but the Second World War meant that the demands of wartime production itself put even greater strains on the existing water supplies. The increasingly urgent calls for a new dam and reservoir on the Claerwen were to be reactivated soon after the end of the war. Progress in civil engineering techniques and in mechanisation, however, meant that much larger dams could be built by this date.
Its a measure of its size that Claerwen Dam was to create a reservoir which holds almost as much water as the combined total of the three earlier dams built in the neighbouring Elan Valley. The new dam is 184 ft (56 m) high and 1167 ft (355 m) long. Claerwen Dam was designed to be in keeping with the appearance of the much older structures nearby. Although built in concrete, the huge dam was faced with dressed stone at considerable extra cost in materials and labour.
The construction of the Claerwen Dam, the last of the dams in the district, took six years, using a workforce of 470. The improved techniques and mechanisation of large-scale civil engineering projects meant that large numbers of manual workers were no longer needed.
The Claerwen Dam was ceremonially declared open by the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II in October 1952, in one of the first official engagements of her reign.

[@StuFliesAroundCornwall]

Amazingly cinematic. There’s something really special about dam footage

[@dwkdrones]

Thanks yes it's amazing when you can actually see the fun picture so much pressure on the wall!

[@pointofviewgr]

Very beautiful dams all of them 👍

[@dwkdrones]

Yes it's so beautiful

[@DroneShowLive]

Very nicely done ✔️ ❤❤❤❤

[@dwkdrones]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@flywithmeUK]

Wery nice fly ower dam. Is fantastic view and nice place ro fly😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@dwkdrones]

Thank you, yes it's a great spot

[@SimonsDroneChannel]

Great video. Looks a beauriful place.

[@dwkdrones]

Thank you, yes it yes

[@jimthorleydronefootage]

Cool flights and location Dave, you after top-down dave badge of honour 👏👏🎥👍

[@dwkdrones]

I could never take that from Tony

[@jimthorleydronefootage]

@@dwkdrones 🤣🤣🤣

[@hdi4eva-castlesbydrone531]

Looks even better with the perfectly chosen music track. Wonderful smooth drone shots and excellent editing, Dave.🤘👌

[@dwkdrones]

Thank you very much

[@eyeintheskydrone4k]

Superb Dave its a beautiful edit, and the tune is spot on. I must have watched it too early, must still have been rendering. Would only play 720p. The last Dam is DAM incredible 😲 😮 👏👏👏👏👏

[@dwkdrones]

Thank you, yes don't know why it had been uploaded for around 12 hours

[@eyeintheskydrone4k]

@@dwkdrones was it filmed in 60fps Dave?

[@dwkdrones]

@@eyeintheskydrone4k no 30fps

[@eyeintheskydrone4k]

​@@dwkdronesStrange I've seen 60fps videos taking ages to encode but never 30fps