There was the occasional hole in this awful cloud
blanket. This was taken one beautiful still
morning near Abertafol just up the Dyfi estuary
from Aberdyfi, at high tide.........
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...and
this one from Frongoch Boatyard, a little further
up the estuary, one peaceful evening....
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...Tywyn provided a few decent sunsets over a
period of several weeks.....
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....while this is near Forge, a small village
close to Machynlleth. |
Here is one attempt to do something on a grey
day, at Tonfanau north of Tywyn. Luckily the
cormorants stayed still - this needed a long
exposure with the camera set up on a small
"tripod" made from rocks!
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But mostly it was dry so that gave a chance to
help friends unearth some 3-year-old seasoned oak
from the brambles and rhododendrons where it had
landed after being felled because it was unsafe.
Good to have the winter's firewood stash well and
truly in (just in case)!
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Here's an attempt at photographing holly berries
through flame and smoke. It was a bumper crop
this year by any standard..... very seasonal!
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Continuing on
the seasonal theme, a colder pattern started to
develop towards Christmas. This rather
innocent-looking shot of the
Machynlleth-Llanidloes mountain road in fact
shows fairly lethal conditions. Before the rain
had turned to snow (giving a thin coating), it
froze onto the road surface, which carried
several millimetres of water-ice as a
consequence. This section was almost impossible
to stand on in places, let alone drive on!
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Very seasonally indeed, this was followed up by a
decent Northerly outbreak which set in on
Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. Well, a cold
Northwesterly really, but in any case on
Christmas morning we gathered in the Red Lion and
watched the flakes falling out in the street.
Snow didn't settle in Machynlleth, but on the
hills it was a different matter and clearing
skies overnight into Boxing Day as the wind
veered northerly inspired me to have a tramp in
the hills. This is looking NE from near the top
of the Machynlleth-Llanidloes mountain road....
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....and
this is looking southwest from the top of the
pass towards the wilds of Plynlimon. Snow depth
varied a lot with 15cm in some places but less
than 10 in others - because the snow fell from a
scattering of convective showers, giving
localised variations in precipitation.
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A lot of other people had the same idea as me
judging from the footprints! My plan was to
follow the track towards Glaslyn and then strike
off northwards to the top of Moel Fadian and down
its northern flank to the mountain road....
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....here, halfway up Moel Fadian, the view to the
SW shows the upper reaches of the ravine of
Esgairfochnant...
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...while on
cresting the ridge I found a paraglider out
enjoying the warm sunshine!
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Here is a
telephoto shot from the top of Moel Fadian,
looking towards Glaslyn with Plynlimon in the
background. Plynlimon is often dismissed as an
unattractive mountain but its northerly aspect is
beautiful at any time of the year. This
wilderness offers some of the best walking
hereabouts - recommended!
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Coming down from Moel Fadian late afternoon
shadows picked out minature drifts around
tussocks of grass. Shoot these with a wide-angle
lens (28mm here) for maximum effect! |
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And so it was off back to town.... a fantastic
few hours spent among these beautiful hills. Such
a peaceful scene compared to the unfolding
disaster on the other side of the world. There
was a piece on tsunamis (among many across the
media) on BBC Radio 4's excellent "From Our
Own Correspondant" recently. It ended with
the rather chilling quote:
"'Man lives on earth subject to geological
consent, which may be withdrawn at any
time."
Something we would all do well to remember.
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