September 2023 and, having taken the Porsche to France, it was now for the yellow Elan to take a trip. Our first destination was the Elan Valley, which we failed to visit in 2020. Our journey was marked by heavy rain and thunder storms an the western end of the A14 but we made Rhayader without incident. We had been warned that the bar might get noisy as Wales played Fiji but the publican’s hoped-for crowds failed to materialise and the narrow win didn’t excite much.
The valley is a marvel of late Victorian engineering.

The City of Birmingham bought most of the valley in the 1890, constructing 4 dams with a fifth added in the 1950’s. The water had no need of pumps and flowed by gravity all the way to Birmingham – taking 2 1/2days to travel 73 miles and falling 52 metres in the process. From the Elan Valley we had planned to meander round North Wales to Holyhead but events intervened as a rubbing from the rear alerted us to a loose wheel nut and a roadside stop. The steering column dashboard bracket also came loose and fortunately we found a proper hardware store in Ffestiniog for a new bolt. Afternoon tea in a damp Betws y Coed and on to Holyhead for an overnight stop before the 8.00 ferry to Dublin.