Dont ask. Have not got a clue what I was measuring? (might have been a penstock pipe…honest!) On the clapper bridge crossing Afon Cwm Llan. (Thanks to Carl Benfield for the image)

over a week ago now  I led a band of walkers on one of the National Trust Walking Festival events. This is one of over a 1000 walks the National Trust are hosting. The theme of mine was …go on guess!

Renewable energy and more specifically the hidden hydros. 25 people showed up on a stunning autumn day. The weather was 60% of the experience. Blue skies, autumnal colours and crystal blue waters of the mountain streams. Not a bad days work! I have to say I really enjoyed the walk and was introduced to a new hidden hydro myself in mid Wales that one of the walkers had on their land. Craflwyn and Hafod y Llan were the focus of the walking and we looked at everything from the 1872 pelton pit at Craflwyn through the latest developments on the Hafod y Llan 640kw hydro. We stood in the middle of the large turbine building at the farm. Or should I say we stood  where it will be! Arwyn the farm manager was as articulate as ever and shared his vision of the  farm and how growing energy will allow diversification and a move away from the riskier grant supported work. (hydro energy supporting our conservation work) All in all…one of those good to be alive days. I have been asked to host a follow-up which I think we will do next year when the big hydro is nearing completion

latest state of the art technology. Pull down see through map with a window behind it (simple and you don’t have to plug it in). Scene setting for the walk (Image thanks to Tom Eagle)

Arwyn Owen the farm manager sharing his experiences of the farm and looking to the future when he will be managing the energy ‘grown’ on the farm. (Image thanks to Tom Eagle)