Pembrokeshire – Bateson's Travel log

Day 8 – Back to Grey Skies & High Wind

The weather has been much better than the long term forecasts which we reviewed before leaving home, so we couldn’t grumble when we set off this morning to greyer conditions. Vanessa really wanted to have another chance to photograph the seals, so we returned to the only beach we had spotted the seal pup before and made sure that the tide was out.

Luckily the seal pup was high on the beach so I decided to try getting down to its level with the drone, but remaining very conscious of its proximity so as not to disturb the seal.

The drone was about 40 metres from the pup when I took this, so I’ve had to magnify the image.

The seal did look up just as I took this, so I decided I was close enough and then returned the drone back to the take-off point to avoid any further disturbance.

Switching over to camera + 500mm lens I captured the pup looking up

From here we headed off to Abereiddi as there was a Blue Lagoon nearby. On arrival we had to park at the back of the beach (luckily the tide was out, but on the rise). A short walk brought us to the Blue Lagoon…

There was a placard explaining the purpose of this lagoon – Slate was quarried from Abereiddi until 1910. It was formed when the channel to the sea was blasted allowing the sea to flood in. The lagoon is very deep and a popular location for ‘coasteering’ – the sport or activity of exploring a rocky coastline by climbing, jumping, and swimming

There was a tramway from the cliff top to the port of Porthgain (covered on day 4) where the slate was transported to the port’s ‘road rock creation’ facility.

The water in the lagoon was definitely bluer than the surrounding sea water. I did wonder if the slate contained a copper content? The image below shows significant colouration in the slate.

We headed into St Davids for a coffee and sandwich and later headed off to Porthclais – a very small village harbour, but there really wasn’t much to see here, so we moved on. Vanessa wanted to try one more location, so I scanned the Google map coastline for a possible location and came up with Caerfai Bay and Caer Bwdy Bay.

The first location wasn’t as photogenic as expected so we walked east around the coastline towards the next bay, but we noticed the beach down in the crevice of the rocks which may provide more photographic opportunities – but not now, as the tide was an hour away from it’s peak. So if the weather tomorrow morning is suitable, we may try this location again.

The coastline along Caer Bwdy Bay looked more promising.

The Common Gorse flowers adding a hint of colour in the image – unfortunately we were only minutes away from the sun setting (behind the grey skies), so the light wasn’t at it’s best. Time to return before it gets too dark.

Day 7 – More Pembrokeshire Coastline

We had such a great day yesterday that we decided to repeat the exercise along a different stretch of the coastal path. So we headed down to Martin’s Haven in the south west corner of Pembrokeshire and headed out towards Marloes Sands. The sun was out all day, so we expected some good opportunities for photographs.

We walked into the blinding sunlight for about 1.5 miles before taking our first photo of Watery Bay.

We continued on towards Gateholm island and then headed on towards Marloes Sands…

These Sands have a very large number of rocks and boulders. Would probably be better at high tide.

2 miles was far enough for our dog, so we headed back towards the car, but this time stopping to take in the views (as the sun was behind us now).

The skies remained clear, so we headed back to Ceibwr bay to recapture the image of a few days ago – this time with some light on the subject.

The above image was so much better than the one we took during the aftermath of storm Bert.

Moving west along the path we looked to take a few more distant photos of this cliff face as the sun was setting…

..and finally (just before the sun set).

Day 6 – Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

Not wishing to upset any Welsh reading this, but the Pembrokeshire countryside doesn’t really standout compared to other areas of the UK, but where it excels is along its coastline. This was the main reason for coming here, so with good weather forecast, we decided to have a stroll along the coastal path. We couldn’t walk too far as our 13 year old dog would be walking with us.

We parked the car in the Solva harbour carpark which was along a south facing stretch of coastline to capture the best of the sunlight, then walked west along the path. The harbour looked interesting, but when we started there was a large grey cloud covering the sun, so we thought we’d have another look on our return.

The first incline would take us to the top of the cliff – did I say we had a concern about our elderly dog? She ran up the steps and showed us youngsters up. We walked about a mile and still the sun was obscured, so we continued until we came across an amazing coastal view. We stopped and waited for the cloud to pass, but only after it dumped a rain shower on us.

This was the image we were waiting for. The shower had passed behind us, but looking around gave us this bonus image…

Hopefully you spotted the rainbow in the top right of the image. Also note that today we could use the 10 stop filter to extend the exposure to 30 seconds and blur the water as there was virtually no wind.

Moving on a little we were soon sandwiched between two views (east and west), but once again waiting for the sun to appear.

Stood on a narrow peninsular this first image (above) was facing east with a 20 second exposure, whilst the image below was taken by turning the tripod around to face west.

Being conscious of our dogs stamina we headed back. The sun was now shining on scenery we passed earlier and stopped to take this image.

Unfortunately none of the beaches had seals, so we would have to try elsewhere to get more images. So back to Solva which was now in sunshine.

We arrived back at the carpark around 2pm and headed straight into the Harbour Inn for lunch (and a pint of course).

When we left, we only had about 75 minutes before sunset, so we set off in search of more seals, but we were unsuccessful because of the high tide which apparently encourages the seals off the beach to swim and fish. The sky was covered with a high cloud layer which we hoped might light up a fiery red as the sun lowered in the sky. So we headed down to a small harbour inlet in the village of Abercastle, arriving after sunset. We waited and waited for the sky to turn red, but not this time.

Day 5 – A Brighter Outlook

The motorhome stopped rocking around 5am this morning, so I had hoped for calmer weather today. Not a chance! We headed out to Strumble Head to photograph the headland with lighthouse and there was a possibility of spotting a few seals.

We arrived on the cliff top adjacent to an old building which was now used for spotting whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals etc. We met some keen ‘watchers’ of the seas who were looking out for porpoises. We on the other hand faced into the wind which was so fierce it nearly knocked us off our feet.

We patiently waited for the sun to appear to get a good image. I wanted to try to blur the water with a longer time exposure, but all I got for my trouble was a blurred lighthouse. So the image above is the best for the day.

Chatting more with the ‘Porpoise watchers’ they advised where we might spot a few seals – so off we went down towards the lighthouse.

By this time we were cold and battered by the strong winds, so time for a coffee and lunch. Hence we headed off to Fishguard to find a café – and enjoyed a nice bacon bap.

Last location for the day was Ceibwr Bay to capture another coastline image. We waited for about 1 hour for the sun to appear and light up the amazing rock strata – but like many other days, luck wasn’t on our side, so this was the best we could manage.

The sea was crashing into the rocks behind us but most of the sea spray dispersed before reaching us. The wind was the strongest we had experienced in the UK whilst taking photos so it was very tiring standing here for most of the hour. Hopefully tomorrow we will have lighter winds.

Day 4 – The Remnants of Storm Bert

Yesterday was a washout, so we spent the time in the motorhome experimenting more with Black & White conversions. But the forecast today was improved; we still expected some rain and very high winds, but it was worth getting out for some fresh air.

We headed off to a little port on the west coast called Porthgain which was about 25 minutes from our campsite. Due to the very grey skies, we thought that B&W might be the way forwards with our images, so lets see what they turned out like.

Climbing as small set of steps from the white building you get this view looking east into the port

But we preferred the view from the other side with the white building taking a more prominent position…

First impressions are that B&W is our preferred format.

The red brick structure at the back was intriguing and later I discovered this explanatory placard.

The port was originally built in 1851 to supply road stone around the UK.

Further exploration along the coastal path gave a different view…

Heading into the village we had a drink in the local pub, the Sloop Inn, which initial excluded dogs, but a contradicting sign on the door allowed well behaved dogs.

Next we headed further southwest to St Justinian’s to capture the Life Boat Ramp – hoping for some stormy seas, but despite it being very breezy, the seas weren’t as rough as anticipated.

The wind was incredibly fierce at the top of this cliff edge which made photography quite difficult. Afterwards we headed back, but with one stop-off to get some milk in the town of St David.

Whilst in St Davids we diverted to the cathedral which was set in an impressive location with ruins nearby (which we couldn’t visit as they were closed to the public).

Day 2 – The Calm before the Storm

The forecast was good so we planned an earlier start to aim for sunlight hitting the southern cliffs at the Elegug Stacks and the Green Bridge of Wales. Unfortunately I didn’t do enough research as we discovered there was an Army tank range between all the approach roads and the cliffs and the red flags were flying. So we decided to circum-navigate around the camp to Saint Govan’s Chapel and walk back along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. It wasn’t our day as another red flag and a closed gate prevented that approach as well. So the Saint Govan’s Chapel ended up being our consolation prise for the morning – which was quite interesting.

Heading over the cliff and down another set of steep steps we arrive at a stone chapel wedged in the rocks. The entrance at the bottom of the steps in the adjacent image.

Dating from the 5th or 6th Century, St Govan was reputed to be a hermit monk who guarded St Govan Head from Irish pirates. The image below shows a very basic enclosure:-

It was a difficult image to capture with strong lighting outside the doors and windows, whilst the inside was very dark. Stepping behind the camera and outside into the sunlight we enjoyed the full panorama of the location.

Down at the rocky coastline was another small arch which I photographed with a ‘6 stop’ filter to increase the exposure time and blur the sea.

Heading east from here we travelled on to Stackpole Quay which had a very large National Trust car park. The actual breakwater quay was a challenge getting to as I had to get down some metal caged ladders – barely enough room for the camera gear on my back.

To be honest, we were surprised at the size of the car park – it wasn’t representative of what we expected to see. Maybe most visitors take the Pembrokeshire Coastal path from here.

Time for some lunch, so we headed into Pembroke and visited the castle. The café inside was fantastic – hot, (not luke warm) coffee and filling packed baguettes. We would recommend this, but of course you’ve got to pay the entry fee to access it. The castle was better preserved than most we see, but we’re now past walking up and down the spiral stairs inside the towers. We’ll leave that to the youngsters.

Moving on, we travelled to Carew Castle and Tide Mill which was only 12 minutes away.

We arrived at the same time as a wedding party – we assumed they were having their wedding reception inside. One of the castle attendants made the comment that they may need more clothes as it was freezing inside – we were cold, but were wrapped up.

The sun was still making an occasional appearance, so we headed west for 45 minutes hoping for some late evening light on the rocky coast line near Skomer Island. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t playing ball when we arrived, so we had a short walk and took a few snaps – we need better light to do this area justice.

So far each location we have visited is within 45 minutes of our motorhome, so hopefully more locations to come, but the weather for the next few days doesn’t look promising, so this could be the last update for now.

First Day in Pembrokeshire

Yesterday we travelled from Southampton to South Wales arriving just after dusk at our campsite. Most of the major campsites are closed this time of year, but there are a few private sites that do remain open. We are situated just north of Haverfordwest which is roughly central to the Pembrokeshire area we want to cover.

Thursday 21st November: Today the weather was overcast so we headed off to Tenby to start the day.

We only had a few hours here which included a coffee in a nice dog friendly café. We then headed off to another location nearby for a spot of lunch, but unfortunately the café was closed. We headed over the cliffs and down to the beach via many steps – we just weren’t looking forwards to the return trip.

The beach was covered in boulders with a wonderful arch to focus our attention.

Fortunately the sun appeared from behind the clouds at the right time to bath the arch in sunlight for the next hour. Later we headed back up those many steps to the car. I started to carry our 13 year old dog, but when I put her down for a rest, she charged up the remaining steps – so she can walk the rest of the holiday!

We stopped off at a few castles on our return journey, but they were closed, so returned to the campsite for an early dinner (as we missed out on lunch).