We arrived at our campsite near Betws-y-Coed after 1pm and it was still quite hot. So we set up camp and relaxed with a good book. After our evening meal, which was a superb Lidl steak, we headed out to a location used during the last ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ competition on Sky. Using the ‘Sun Surveyor’ app the sun should be setting along the length of the Llanberis valley which should hopefully light up Dolbadarn castle and mountain behind it.
We arrived at the car park in plenty of time and the sun was shining. We only had a 10-15 minute walk to the location and set up cameras on tripods only to be greeted with a bank of grey clouds obscuring the sun. We waited, and waited, waited, but it didn’t look like clearing. So I grabbed a few photos to see what I could manage in post processing.
This first image shows clearly what was heading our way…
Unfortunately with no sunlight available most images just look flat as you can see from the next image below which also has a black and white version to compare with it.
I grabbed one more image before we headed back to the car to avoid the rain.
Timing was perfect, just as we left the carpark the heavens opened and we had lightning all the way back which also continued past 11pm. We’ll try this location again if conditions improve.
Bateson's Travel log 