By Claire

The intention of this article is to suggest some walks, lakes and beaches that offer interest to the photographer. I’d be very happy to hear from others who have photographed in Wales, and thereby extend the area covered, so over time we build up a comprehensive guide and a google map of Wales for photographers. Click on the markers above to view images of the places discussed below. If you want to join in; email me via the contact page with links to images and text to add.

About this Location:

Wales is situated in the west of mainland Britain, with England inland to its east and the Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean to the west. Wales has a population of about three million and is a bilingual country, with English the language spoken by the majority, and Welsh the native tongue.

Wales has a divergent and often spectacular landscape. It is compact in size but here can be found imposing mountains, meandering valleys, a dramatic coastline, wild moorland and lakes both big and small.  The coastal footpaths provide stunning walks and great access to beaches.

It has one of the world’s most moderate climates, with few extremes on the coast. However, Welsh weather is also one of the most changeable in the world and this can make for good photography. The sky is ever changing and it is as difficult to second guess as Wales’s chances of winning their next rugby match. It can be raining in the morning and sunny in the afternoon – the weather can be quite different only a few miles away. Some say that Wales doesn’t have a climate – only weather!

Personal highlights from many trips and location suggestions:

We start at Arthog. Barmouth, just over the estuary, is probably much better known but I prefer to stay on what some say is the darker side, in the shadow of Cadair Idris.

The two Cregennen Lakes lie at 800 feet above sea level and are surrounded by moorland. In the larger lake is a tree covered island. The immediate area around the lakes is owned by the National Trust and there are waymarked footpaths. A lane goes up to the lakes from Arthog from the A493 (a bit hairy in places and a few gates to open but don’t give up as is really quite OK unless very icy)  and they can be reached by lanes from Dolgellau. A car park is situated near the larger lake. Cregennan is  remote and stunningly beautiful.  It provides a magnificent viewpoint of the summit of Cadair Idris and with sweeping views of the Mawddach Estuary, Barmouth, Cardigan Bay and northern Snowdonia. I’ve seen some fabulous sunrise shots taken here and the heather on the surrounding moorland is spectacular.

From Arthog one can walk the Mawddach Trail, along the estuary. This runs along a disused railway trackbed from Dolgellau to Morfa Mawddach and continues over the toll bridge to Barmouth. The full route is nine miles, but it can be joined at several points as there are car parks at Morfa Mawddach, Arthog and Penmaenpool. It is an easy, flat trail and part of it is suitable for wheelchairs.

From the village, it is also just a short walk to Arthog Falls.

Moving on just 2 miles east of Dolgellau is one of the most spectacular riverside walks in Britain; The Torrent Walk. Autumn is recommended for tree colour and spring sees carpets of bluebells. It is reached by taking the Cross Foxes road out of Dolgellau and bearing left just past the Little Chef restaurant and Esso garage.

Not far away from the above spot is the Precipice Walk. Enjoy fanastic views of the Mawddach Estuary and the principal mountain ranges of Snowdonia. There is a pretty little lake as well. It isn’t called the precipice walk for nothing and you do need a head for heights.
The starting point is the National Park car park – from Dolgellau, take the Bala road and fork left after a few hundred metres onto the minor road for Llanfachreth. After about 2 miles, you will come to the car park on your left at Saith Groesffordd. There is ample parking (and toilets).

From Barmouth there are several paths that lead to the Panaramic Walk. From here you get stunning views down a beautiful estuary.

Moving inland, I stayed in a cottage at Trawsfyndd for a week. The cottage isn’t worth recommending and the location isn’t the best but one has easy access to the Coed y Brenin forest and Lyn Trawsfyndd. This lake is the location of a decommissioned Nuclear Power Station  – not exactly a great recommendation but the sunsets we got here were spectacular, the long footbridge adds interest and the power station menace.

A bit of a jump south now to the area around New Quay. The first port of call is Aberaeron. A town that has lots of charm, a pretty harbour and colourful buildings but a beach that is to be avoided. But, is amazing what a sunset can do to a rusting pile and mud…..

New Quay has the feel of a traditional British holiday resort. It’s position has meant it has kept its charm but in summer it gets crowded. Sunrise is a good time to visit, before the B&B’s have served breakfast. The harbour has a lot of interest before the crowds arrive and the streets get grid locked.

From here onwards the coast takes on another feel. Out of season you can have beaches to yourself. Walk the coastal paths and slip down cliffs to bays that see no-one from one day to the next.

I discovered little inlets on an OS map but struggled to actually find the paths down as they are so little used (probably because they do take some effort to get back up again). Being on my own I was a little hesitant about having to climb back up the cliffs after dark but there are lots of opportunities here and after walking them a few times your confidence increases.  Just make sure you have a mobile signal and beware going around a headland and getting cut off by the tide.

Beaches that are accessible by car and worth exploring at sunset include Llangranog.  It has a distinctive large rock on the shore’s edge which according to legend was once a giant’s tooth. At low tide, you can walk past the rock to the hidden sandy cove of Cilborth – don’t worry about getting trapped as there is a steep set of steps that will be your escape route onto the cliffs above.

Tresaith is set in a small sheltered sandy bay and is named after the River Saith which cascades as a waterfall over the cliffs to the beach and this will be a major attraction for photographers. As the sun begins to climb down you can often see a rainbow created by the spray from the fall.  There is also a café, a shop and a pub overlooking the beach so in summer it does get crowded and parking becomes a nightmare. Walk south along the coastal path to Aberporth and north to the small village of Penbryn.

Continuing down the coast is Mwnt, a sheltered sandy cove, owned by the National Trust. This popular beach is off the beaten track but can still get busy in the height of summer. Walks along the cliffs are recommended, butterflies abound on the meadows near a little white church that you’ll see from the car park and this is a well photographed landmark.

We jump a bit now and come inland slightly to find Pentre Ifan and the most popular megalithic site in Wales, Pentre Ifan is a splendid burial chamber with a huge capstone delicately poised on three uprights.  Dating back to about 3500 BC it stands on the slopes of a ridge commanding extensive views over the Nevern Valley.  This was a shot taken just after sunrise.

Heading back to the coast is Strumble Head and its Lighthouse. I recommend being here for the setting sun. Parking is easy and walks along the cliff give fine views.

On the way to my next location I’d recommend a detour to St David’s and a boat trip to see the seals, when I was last here I watched a peregrine falcon and also saw porpoises.

Little Haven is a small seaside village with pubs and accommodation. It gets crowded but off season is worth waiting for a sunset  and there are walks from here to little coves that are less crowded.

Finally we arrive at Marloes where you can embark to sail to Skomer. We will devote a full article on this location soon.

Lowlights:

Rain – Wales has a reputation for being wet and one can easily spend a week here and never see good light. It boasts the wettest inhabited place in the UK, eight of the wettest towns, and the wettest city.

When to Go:

Anytime, but it can get crowded in the summer. Early spring and autumn would be my favourite times of the year. Skomer is best-visited late spring / early summer for the flowers and bird life.

Access:

All the locations mentioned here are easily accessible by car and in some cases a little walking.

How to Get There:

If flying to the UK to visit Wales try Cardiff International Airport as a first choice. Bristol and Manchester airports are also within easy reach.

Where to Stay:

You can use the google map to search for accommodation.
Look here to find cottages.

I’ve stayed here and the location is great for the Ceredigion Coast.

This caravan is just a hundred yards from the Cardigan Bay coastal footpath.

It is possible to stay on Skomer Island or I’ve had a night here as this is close enough to Marloes to  catch the morning boat.

Or here to be close to Cregennen Lakes

Or for those on a budget try  the YHA .

Advice for travellers: Tips for Photographing Sunsets

The west coast of Wales is renowned for its fantastic sunsets. I am always in a pre-planned spot as the sun is going down. Even if the light looks less than promising it is worth taking a stroll and hope that the conditions change – it is often the least promising days that turn into the most dramatic.
To get a perfect sunset picture you need the right conditions of dust and clouds. The red of the setting sun is the result of dust in the air. Clouds help too as they take on colours of their own. The most dramatic sunset pictures almost always include clouds plus a smooth expanse of water to reflect the colours.

Timing is important. Sunsets constantly change over time so photograph the scene frequently,  if windy every minute. Clouds move, colours deepen and change.
Where possible, see if you can place an interesting object in the foreground of a sunset.
The colours and shapes of the clouds can sometimes be more interesting than the sun itself and are an important element in your composition.
Always remember to not just concentrate on the sunset itself. Do yourself a favour and turn around. As the sun sets it produces a beautiful golden light that can light up any scene and even turn what appeared dreary into something beautiful.

Also don’t stop shooting once the sun has dropped below the horizon. The light levels may be low but the quality can improve and there is always the possibility of an amazing after glow when the clouds burst into colour again.

Equipment for this trip:

Wide angle for the sunsets and landscape shots. ND grads essential as is a tripod. Macro lens for details on beaches. Polariser.
Skomer will be covered in more detail in another article but here you’ll find a long zoom essential – I take my 100-400mm which gives enough reach for the puffin shots.

When The Light is good:

Rise early and stay out until past sunset. Plan your sunset shots in advance. When mornings are calm look for reflections in pools on beaches. In windy conditions seek out surf and crashing waves. Pour over OS maps and seek out smaller lakes for still mornings and hope for some morning mist. In autumn try and get out into the higher areas and hope for a temperature inversion or mist in the valleys.

When the Light is Bad:

Visit a castle or a waterfall. Look here for Welsh Waterfalls marked on OS 1:50,000 Maps.
Tourist attractions in Gwynedd ,   Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire
TheFelinwynt Rainforest Centre is great for when it rains. (4 miles from Aberporth on the Ferwig/Mwnt road)

Will I Go Again?

I’ve lots more still to see in the area covered here and of course each and every sunset is unique so no trip brings the same results.
Skomer is a location I like to visit every year. Regarding Wales in general I’d especially like to spend more time in Snowdonia, especially in winter.

UK travellers. PTR recommendations for insurance:

Travel insurance and camera insurance.

Recommended links:

General  link for Wales.

Some great photography here. (Dave Newbould’s Snowdonia and Wales Photographic Gallery)

Recommended Reading:

The Rough Guide to Wales

Melanie: A couple of months ago I suggested to Claire that we have a weekend away in December, she came up with what turned out to be a fantastic suggestion: Anglesey, and to be more specific with an objective Llanddwyn Island. Not long after we had a couple more interested parties to join us.

As always, the problem with anywhere in Britain there is no guarantee of the weather. My heart was sinking as I left a snow covered Cumbria in the early hours of Friday morning to reach a sunrise point on the way. I’d seen many pictures of the Point of Ayr Lighthouse at Talacre and thought it would make a good stop on the journey and encourage me to leave home early. After days of perfect calm and frost at home I was greeted on arrival by a howling wind and spitting rain. I got some light but not the kind of light I was expecting:

Claire : What a shot Mel! Rainbows are your signature and I’d love to read a PTR review from you on them so I can get a few tips.

We hadn’t planned it but this weekend turned out to be one almost entirely devoted to lighthouses.

Melanie: Thanks Claire I will try to remember that. The rain well and truly came down as the rainbow got brighter and soon saw me back on the road. After a detour in Bangor to stock up on groceries I met up with one of our party at the parking area for Llanddwyn Island. The light promised little, but spurred on by my companion we headed to the beach and the walk along it to the island. The island itself is only an island at the highest tides but the wind that day was fierce and it was not without some concern that we crossed the sandy causeway, with waves rushing towards us from the west. I had studied the tide times, and was reassured by a guy in a Land Rover doing maintenance work that at most we might get cut off for 30 mins or so. We struck up a march to the end of the island but my companion stopped at the sight of a small herd of ponies I was ready to walk by. Not to be left out, I duly got the camera out of my bag and approached the ponies slowly. Only then did I realise I had on my widest angle lens, so had to creep in even further.

The glow of light that had stopped us here was brief, so we soon headed to the tip of the island to its beaches, cliffs, buildings and relics that give the place so much character. There was a stormy mood to the sky that drew us initially to a high vantage point taking in  St Dwynwen’s Cross and the lighthouse of Twr Mawr. This required heavy use of grads and underexposure. It was a spot I went back to after the sun had gone down and took advantage of a different angle.

In between the two shots we were joined by our two other companions and Misty the dog who was having a fine time exploring the place. (Please be aware that we were there in December, between May 1st and September 30th dogs are not allowed on the island or the beach, there are clear signs indicating this.) The clouds remained dramatic and the mood dark we set off in different directions and got busy with our cameras. It must have been close to another two hours before we had some fun trying to find our way back to the car park in the dark.

Claire : On Saturday morning we arrived at Newborough Warren in the dark, with stars in the sky. I was very glad that the others in the party had checked this site out the day before as it was a long walk through  dark woods, to avoid a hard walk through soft sand, before we reached Llanddwyn Island. The sky began to glow but it was obvious a good sunrise would elude us as it was far too clear. After wandering around a bit I settled down to doing what I like best – playing with the surf.

One of the reasons I had been interested in this location was the view one gets across the straits to the  Snowdonia Mountains (as seen in Mel’s atmospheric shot above) but without a decent sky it was a bit disappointing and until dawn broke there were too many lights from the towns spoiling the view. This therefore was a compromise.

As the day progressed I continued to find ways to exclude that sky. We must have been the only people in the UK complaining about the sun!

As Mel has said the island has lots of relics and interesting structures – these are the Pilot’s Cottages, one of which is now a museum.

Mel: After our visit the evening before I found the cloudless skies of the next morning something of a challenge. I wandered around, not seeing stuff with my favourite from the morning being one taken early and even then perhaps a little late as the colours in the sky were on the wane.

Mel: Somehow  everyone managed to spend at least another 3 hours or so there such is the amount of interest around the place. As we made our way back to the car park we happened on a number of camera clutching individuals and were thankful for our early start as we had the best light of the morning to ourselves.

Claire: So it was back to base, and lunch sat outside in the garden (December, Wales and lunch outside are words rarely seen together!) while we recharged our batteries and decided on the evening shoot. It was decided to explore the western coastline and we headed towards South Stack Lighthouse.

This proved a difficult location as the gate to the actual island that the lighthouse is on was closed and there wasn’t a great angle to exclude the sky. We sat it out hoping for a sunset to add some drama but it wasn’t to be. This is the best I could achieve but gives an idea of the location.

Melanie: I failed to get anything I was pleased with from here. Again it was the absence of cloud in the sky and I was concentrating too much on the setting sun to think about going in closer and keeping out the sky. I like the way Claire found this ‘cruciform’ composition.If you look close you can just see another of our group blancing on a rock closer to the lighthouse!

Claire: The following morning we woke well before dawn, defrosted the cars and arrived at Penmon Point (Angelsey east coast) as the sky was beginning to lighten. We were greeted by the sound of a tolling bell that told us the direction to walk to find Penmon Lighthouse. A small concrete path led us safely down to the shore. The next few hours found us totally absorbed as the sun rose, the tide fell and clouds came and went.

Melanie: I’d forgotten about the bell. The frost of the night before gave us clear skies once more, but arriving in the dark meant we could get in some long exposures. It was a little tricky finding a spot to stand having to negotiate the slithering, seaweed-covered rocks.

Claire: It took quite some time for the sun to climb high enough to strike the lighthouse due to the mountains on the Welsh mainland but it was a pleasure to stand and watch the changing light.

Melanie: As we watched and waited cloud started to drift in.  By the time the sun broke through we finally got some of the sky detail that we’d been missing for the previous 24 hours.

Claire: The small island is called Puffin Island. The Puffins bred in considerable numbers at one time, with up to 2,000 pairs recorded. The Brown Rat was introduced accidentally to the island, probably in the late 19th century, and reduced this population to a very few pairs. A programme of poisoning these rats started in 1998 by the Countryside Council for Wales appears to have eradicated them, and the Puffin population has shown an increase since that date.

Melanie: I think we spent another hour here after the sun broke through and sadly it was time to say our goodbyes. As we drove back along the road to Beaumaris, it was clear looking back that there was a lot more to that little area than we had realised in the dark. I think it is the only UK trip I’ve been on when I’ve been without the appropriate OS map, I won’t do that again.

Conclusion

Melanie: For a short break I felt this was a very worthwhile trip. It was not as far from home as I had expected, our accommodation was good value for money. Llanddwyn was a real gem but it was clear the area had a lot more to offer than we had time to see.

Llynnau Cregennen

Location

The Snowdonia National Park covers 840 square miles of mountains, forests, lakes and river valleys and takes its name from mount Snowdon, which at 1113m is the highest mountain in Wales and England.

All photographers will have locations they have visited many times with a vision in their mind that requires the light and weather to come together in order to make the image they think should be possible.

Llynnau Cregennen, in Southern Snowdonia, is one such place for me. I have spent many a dawn at this location and only twice has the light come right.

The first occasion was in August 2008. The summer months are not my favourite time to shoot inland and the mists I really wanted would not be present but I knew the rising sun would be in a good position. I had only one morning available so got up well before dawn. There were no stars to indicate that the early rise would be fruitful but with only one chance to get some shots I decided to take the 10-mile drive from where I was staying. Ten miles is nothing but even though this lake is very accessible by car it takes time to reach on a gated single-track route, requiring sheep dodging, as they like to sleep on the warm tarmac.

There are two lakes and approaching from Dolgellou I recommend ignoring the first smaller one initially BUT the waters are often stiller as it is more protected.

The larger lake gives more options to get wide views of Cadair Idris (892m) a horseshoe shaped mountain, there is a small island with pines, a standing stone, heather in late summer and a nice boathouse.

Parking is at a public car park (with toilets and maps of walks). You may immediately believe that an accessible and beautiful lake would mean you would be sharing the view with many others but I have rarely have seen others here at dawn and on this occasion I was on my own – bar the sheep.

It was when I was opening the sheep gate before the first lake that I realised that the weather was about to work some magic. Stars were appearing and disappearing at a rate of knots and an early glow in the sky indicated that there was a good low-level gap in the clouds with all the activity being at high altitude.

By the time I’d parked I knew I had to work quickly as the light show had started and all the energy was going to be in the sky as the water was being broken by the approaching storm. I prefer to approach a location with time to think, walk a bit and consider options but on this day it was a mad dash to the shore. After a few shots I knew I was wrongly positioned as was trapped by a fence preventing getting a composition that was right as this shows. Nice but not quite right.

I therefore changed my lens and tactics to get this image.

Whilst happy to have caught this sky with the island I went home knowing I would have to return as the image I truly wanted was about the location, the mountain that is not in the shot above and also I wanted a mist.

It was in May 2009 that I was next in this area. Staying in Arthog, which is a perfect location to reach the lakes (a shorter route but steeper and more gates but having my friend Dougie with me made the gates less of a problem – thanks Dougie!).

We had already spent one morning and an evening here on this trip and got these scenes taken when the light was good but the sky lacked atmosphere.

It was the second morning visit that everything came together. It is worth noting that nothing on the drive up had suggested that it was going to be a fruitful journey. The sky seemed too clear. It wasn’t especially still either but as we rounded the last turn we saw that the dip the lake is in was full of mist and clouds were hugging one peak. We had struck gold – we were in the right place and probably the only place in miles where the conditions were showing any drama.

The next hour was a delight. We struggled as the mist came and went causing condensation on lens and grads. The rising sun gave exposure challenges and lenses had to be changed to make the most of changing conditions.

The following images tell the story.

So, do I need to return? The answer is YES. I want to catch images with the heather. This was taken a few years ago but I want a tighter composition.

I want to see what the smaller lake has to offer in winter.

I want frost and snow and ice and autumn colours. I want pink mists. I want moon shots…….

Some places just draw you back again and again but even if the light fails and you go home with nothing in your camera just being there is a joy.

Claire

As a postscript we met a fellow photographer, Andrew Kime, at this lake one morning. He had had a nasty accident with his camera, but despite this tragedy he was kind enough to share his local knowledge with us. Subsequently I looked at his website and would like to share his excellent work with readers here.