Wooden waterwheels
On the canal.
Raul Horacio Comes — CC BY 2.5 · Stefaniap.sanchez — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gobierno del Chubut — CC BY 2.0 · Gustavo9089 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gonce — CC BY-SA 4.0
Dolavon is a small, quiet village in the lower Chubut valley, about 19 kilometres from Gaiman and 36 from Trelew, founded by the Welsh settlers who came to Patagonia in the nineteenth century. It is known as the «village of waterwheels», because an irrigation canal dug by the Welsh in the late 1800s runs through it, and wooden waterwheels on its banks still lift water to the fields as they once did. The region's first flour mill was built here, thanks to the fine wheat grown in the valley, and the old mill and old railway station still stand. Visitors stroll the tree-lined canal banks between brick houses, in a calm rural setting quite unlike the surrounding steppe. Wandering is free, and the village pairs with Gaiman and its Welsh tea houses in a day from Puerto Madryn or Trelew.
On the canal.
The first in the valley.
Brick houses.
Lower Chubut valley, about 36 km west of Trelew, Chubut
A Welsh-dug irrigation canal runs through it, and wooden waterwheels on its banks still lift water to the fields.