The Elan Valley dams — The Editor's Cut
201 km4h 18m on the road
The Editor's Cut. Same ride as the original Elan day, recut with the tools tuned since: the forward view fixed (undistorted, dead-ahead, no more looking-down-and-left), the selfie bubble rotated upright with the helmet top-centre, every view stabilised — and, this time, the bits the first pass missed: a river crossing, an ambulance, and a stop with the police, each shown in full.
The bike's the little Honda CRF300L; a proper loop — out via Worthen, Chirbury, Churchstoke, Kerry and Crossgates to Rhayader and the Elan Valley dams, then home a different way (never the same roads back) via Llangurig, Llanidloes, Newtown and Montgomery. No GPS, so the map's inferred (the magenta line); the clock and distance are honest.
2023-04-15
Pontesbury → Rhayader → the Elan dams → home (recut)
Out of Pontesbury the back way — Worthen, Chirbury, Churchstoke, Kerry and Crossgates — the border country giving way to proper Welsh hills, then Rhayader and the gates of the Elan: a valley flooded on purpose a hundred-odd years ago, the dams built like cathedrals, the water black and still under the Cambrian sky.
A 300 single is no superbike, and out here that's the point — light, honest, happy on the dam roads and the off-road byways. Around the reservoirs, past the waterfall and the sculpture — then home a different way (I never ride back on the same roads) over Llangurig, Llanidloes, Newtown and Montgomery. Not quite empty, mind: a river crossing, an ambulance to make way for, and two stops with the police — a word at the dam, and the Rural Crime Team after the river — all in the headline films below.
A word for the geeks: the X3's on a tall pole behind me — that's me in the round window, rotated upright with the helmet up top. The framing's carved square then cropped so nothing's squashed, every view's stabilised, and the camera placement, the rider angle, and which moments are 'interesting' (emergency services and water crossings always make the cut) are all driven by the new tooling, not by me squinting at numbers.
Photos
Shorts
Every clip
The raw mini-montages — one for roughly every ten minutes of the ride.