The Pilchowickie Lake, the biggest lake on the Bobr river, is four kilometers long, and 300-400 meters wide. It can accumulate up to 54 million tons of water. However, this turned out to be an insufficient volume in 1997, because the water was flowing over the upper part of the dam. The dam itself was built after the series of catastrophic floods at the end of the 19th century. Construction works took ten years and were realised according to the project from 1902. A new railway was built in the mountains and the flow of the Bobr river was changed for the time of the construction works (the river flew through a drift carved out in a rock). The corner stone was laid by the emperor Wilhelm II. On the top of the dam was built a monument of the emperor, with the description of the work and the names of constructors. There is no trace of it left today, but a mere base. In 1945 the SS troops mined the dam to blow it up and flood Wlen and a few other settlements with water. Engineer Bachman, the constructor of the dam, managed to prevent the Germans from the realization of that plan. The power station was a real wonder of technology in 1912. The dam is 280 meters long and 62 meters high. It is the tallest stone dam in Poland

Leaving the parking before the dam, we drive two kilometers along the bank of the lake. On our left, there is a tunnel inside the Czyzyk Mountain and at its entrance there are rails of now closed railway. We soon are surprised with the surrounding of Plichowice Zapora railway station where a steel viaduct is thrown over a bay of the lake. 130 meters long, this is the biggest viaduct of this type in the Sudetes. People with good nerves can walk to the other side, although some beams are so rotten that the water can be seen through them twenty meters below our feet.