Snowdonia National Park

About time for a waterfall. This is the Pistyll y Cain - the Falls of the King - hidden away in the depths of the Coed y Brenin forest, North Wales.

By a way of a change from all that grey and green, here's a blue one! This one of my favourite places in Wales, Cregennen Lake, near Dolgellau in North Wales on a beautiful day. I had just come down from Cadair Idris, the hill on the right with it's head in the clouds. I decided to stop off by the lake just to sit and look for a while, before heading a mile or so downhill to my cousin's farm. Whilst sitting there some lovely Cirrus cloud developed in the centre of the view, and I managed to catch them before they disappeared again. I hope I have managed to convey the peace and beauty of this place, it is very special - even more so when you have it all to yourself!

...Well part of them anyway. This beautiful cascade seems to get overlooked by the many visitors to the Ogwen Valley, possibly due to being a bit tucked out of sight. Due to recent wet weather and thaw from the mountains it was in full song when we visited.

Thanks very much to everyone who visited, especially to those who have 'Faved' and 'commented' it really is greatly appreciated.

Llyn Gwynant

Moody skies over the Ogwen Valley.

As you can see it's a touch burnt......A few days earlier someone did a (ahem) controlled burn but forgot to check the wind forecast.......Doh!

Sun or no sun.........

Watkin Path, Snowdonia

Snowdon in the distance.

What the title says really............

Overcast and windy according to the forecast......

River Conwy, well part of it........

Snowdonia, I'm going to miss you for a while......

Beautiful Snowdonia!

A little bit away from my normal stamping goround, just South of Betws-y-Coed is this fantastic little gem well hidden away, Fairy Glen.

I've shot the one in Scotland a few times and they share similarities, while this one is easier to get down to I found it a lot harder to shoot, it had been raining and all the rocks (that I was precariously perched on) were extremely slippery, there was one composition I fancied but I thought it was just too dangerous to try it on a day like today (Pete in being sensible shocker!) but seriously, being on my own there would be nobody to pull me out of the river, or my gear for that matter.

I lierally took 2 shots here that I was very happy with, the lush colours that run up the mossy steep walls are great, as it the deep browns/reds of the deep water, a truly beautiful place. A polariser is an absolute must here as some of the reflections can really ruin an image, think I used a 3 stop as well for the water.

Definitely be coming back again at different times of the day and year. to this spot. Maybe I'll try the more precarious perch next time....

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An early morning moment of calm at Ardtoe Jetty, looking out across Kentra Bay. A truly beautiful and peaceful place on the north coast of Arndamurchan, hope to get back there one day.

First visit to the Fairy.......need to return....

The boathouse and hills at Llynnau Ctegennen in Snowdonia before the sunrises.

The walk up Cadair Idris is a killer :-) whoever told me it was easier than Snowdon is a liar! On a more serious the note the last two times I've been landscape togging in Wales (both Mondays) the USAF have blitzed the Mach Loop with F15s so as I'm off work this coming Monday do I go for landscape or sit on the side of a hill and hope?

Just made it to this speck in the nick of time!

I love it when the weather forecast comes together!

Snowdonia

Sunrise over Snowdon

Dinas Emrys

Last trip out of the year, well I might sneak a shot or two of a certain lighthouse guarding the mouth of the Mersey...... I'll definitely have to pay this place another visit though..... Clouds though..............

Harlech beach, North Wales, a first time for me here and what a stunning place it is, the weather had been really poor this particular morning and I was basically looking at shooting black and white long expsoures on the coast as there was virttually no light at all and grey skies.

On the way to Barmouth the sun started breaking through some of the heavy cloud cover giving really intense light in shafts down onto the ocean below, knowing it wouldn't last I had to find somewhere to park up and try somewhere to get a shot....

With absolutely nowhere to park up I had to resort to dumping the car half on some grass nearby with the hazards on, not something I'd normally do but needs must...

This was the scene nearby with the shafts of sunlight breaking through the storms clouds and illinating sections of the beach and also the surf washing onto the beach, I just had to frame up wait for the couple walking on the beach to be illuminated by sunlight as it moved along the beach quickly with the aid of some strong winds, I don't normally like to shoot big sweeping scenes in this way but the weather here was just perfect to show this landscape off including the curvature of the beach, the couple walking amongst it couldn't have timed it better for my shot and for their stroll, and I didn't get a parking ticket.

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A weekend workshop with Alex Nail resulted in us being camped in a beautiful spot (Llyn Caseg-fraith) to the south east of Tryfan, Snowdonia for a gorgeous sunrise to kick off the day.

This was edited from an in-camera HDR jpg, as I had my camera set to save only the merged bracketed images, but I believe it is still a faithful representation of the scene, with perhaps a lightened foreground from what the eye could see and some enhanced reds in the grasses.

Nice sunny day for a change!

high energy waterfall at Coed y Brenin, carving through a rocky gorge.

Boat house.

Here's a rework of an image from a few years ago - the view from the top of Snowdon, looking down to the ridge of Lliwedd on the right, the black lake of Llyn Llydaw in the centre, and the sharp ridge of Crib Goch to the left. Moel Siabod is the peak in the centre distance. You never know, we may get another day like this during this winter, which would make a pleasant change from all the rain we have been having. Hope you and yours have a good one!

The beautiful cascade of Ogwen Falls, in full song following wet weather and snow melt from the mountains.

I'll get a sunrise here one day.........

There are probably worse ways to start the day.......

The view from somewhere in-between Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach I think.....might be a Half Man Half Biscuit lyric in there.......

well one of them........

Another from the trek round the Glyders

This is The south-east side of Tryfan, taken appromimately an hour after sunrise on a lovely hot day in Snowdonia.

The traffic up to Snowdonia the previous day was a nightmare. One stretch of the M5, south of Birmingham took around one and three quarters of an hour to progress around four miles. In total, the journey from Taunton to Snowdon took seven hours, without any stops!

I was over two hours later than my intended arrival time and Alex and Roger went on ahead to set up camp, as I didnt want them to miss the sunset, due to my late arrival. Some mis-heard directions over a bad phone line, whislt driving through the mountains led me to approach Tryfan from the west rather than the east and I ended up wandering around trying to find the planned camping spot for nearly two hours.

This day was spent climbing up to Tryfan summit, hopping both ways between the 'Jack and Jill' stones at the top, before returning to pack up camp, hike across the Glyder ridge, taking in Castell y Gwynt and doing an obligatory star jump on the cantelliever stone!

The weather had been hot and fine all day, but as evening approached, the clouds closed in, the wind picked up and we decided to make for lower ground to spent the night.

As this turned out, it was a very fortunate decision, as we awoke at around 1am to an almighty thunder storm raging all around us. The lightning strikes were distant as first, but seemed to sweep right over us, with several strikes being within half a mile or so. The thunder physically shook the ground beneath us and one very close strike, we estimated to be within about 200 metres of out tents made us physically shake too! It was like a bomb going off nearby. A fun and exciting initiation to the Glyder ridges, Snowdonia.

Isolated farm house nestled in the Afon Glaslyn Valley, Snowdonia

Reflections......that would make a change for me!

Coed y Brenin autumn colours