Prince William, Kate and a Silver Bay

Driftwood

I've been wanting to go back to this place for ages actually, but it's a big walk from the nearest car park, across many headlands and cliff-tops, but I'd made special arrangements with a local holiday site which made a big difference to me getting the late evening shots without having to cliff walk back in total darkness and in gale force winds. The other beauty about it's inaccessibility is the lack of people there, until the summer of course when powerboats, jet skis and yachts are all being launched there from the beach, and the holiday makers adorn the beach, don't get me wrong, this is a GOOD place and a stunning location to have a holiday but for me of course, winter time is the only time I want to be here, Hard to find solitude when power boats are toing and froing. That said, fighter jets launching from the nearby RAF base is not exactly quiet either ! :-)

Succession of Promises

The tide was at extreme ebb when I arrived, I pulled on my Wellies, KNOWING this would be a wet beach afternoon, and plodded down to the water's edge, well I say water's edge, the powerful windblown waves were racing maybe 40 feet up the beach on each plunge so I was immediately up to my knees in sea-water, the Wellies 'just' high enough to stop me feet getting soaked at first base! You can see why this place is called Silver Bay - the air was crystal clear, even with the waves creating so much spray, the wind was fresh and sharp, clouds doilyed their way across the smooth blue sky, mimicking the patterns of foam and wave crests in the sea below. On each retreat of the waves an immaculate smooth stretch of sand was revealed, hard and clean, except for the beautiful patterns left left by the back-surge.

Cloud Spill

It was cold once again, even in the sun, and my gloves were on for most of the walk, and especially useful when carrying my aluminium tripod, which is the only one I dare use in the sea itself. You see carbon fibre swells, 'furs up' and then snaps the immovable cast alloy brackets ! (see previous blog posts from late 2009). I walked the length of the beach in shallow sea water, fascinated and inspired by natures ease at creating pattern. I was enjoying the sound of the sea, though the roar of the jet engines was intense for the whole time I was there. Helicopters were taking off and landing and doing manoeuvres out at sea. I imagined soon-to-be-wed Prince William, piloting his chopper over large seas whilst Kate was somewhere out in the landscape taking photographs. I thought about sharing my flask of coffee with her if we bumped into each other, but we never did.

What Estate

And then something disturbing again, though I have seen it here before. The beautiful grassy headland with views right out over Cymyran, is fenced off with barbed wire and a large wooden gate which makes it quite obvious that no-one must walk on this cliff-top. Even more surprisingly the fence makes its way right out over the rocks as well, to stop anyone daring to get around via the coast. If it were a garden, or house, I'd sort of understand, but a grassy cliff-top with stunning views, and only a set of cattle-filled muddy fields behind hardly seems to warrant such defensive territorialism ? Even though there was no-one around I didn't break the boundary, but not out of respect, I find it immoral to stop maritime British people access to their own coast. Anglesey seems one of the few places where a coastal footpath is no such thing - Cornwall has much better rights of access, and think of how famous their coastal footpath is ?

Wave After Wave of Explosions

I crouched amongst the permitted cliffs to shoot huge explosions of waves pounding at a small gully. They were backlit by intense sunlight, performing against against a black horizon - massive contrast and massive seas (for Anglesey at least). My camera got covered in spray no matter how fast I hid it after each wave break, and I was making desperate but somewhat vain attempts to clean the filter using my Selvyt cloth!

Evening Rain

I retreated to the beach as one too many large waves soaked my Wellies. I made the most of enjoying the dusk, the incoming sea and surging waves in the half light. The jets seemed louder than ever, doing vertical ascents with their engines definitely aimed straight at me, I know ! William and his crews were still flying two helicopters all around the coast, hovering, landing, taking off, endlessly. My ears were ringing and my head was humming with all the noise. Almost back at the van, and through the dark clouds came an amazing salmon-pink light, spreading across the horizon! It reflected off the flat spots between waves and drew colour into the stormy depths. Then the rain started as I shot some frames of a huge log in the surf, washed up by the sea, the waves at this point actually filling my boots, and then the light was gone, as always happens, as quickly as it came.

Rain Started

I sat in the van with a hot coffee and two caramel wafers, and for the first time that day I found silence and relaxation. I didn't really want to turn the engine on, which would re-trigger noise. A beautiful location with so much potential, I just hope there are other days when the whole of the British RAF don't practice within half a mile of here! I'll be having a word with that William ! :-)

All words and images are strictly copyright © Glyn Davies 2011
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Lost & Found at Llanddwyn

February 14th 2011. My lovely wife is busy working, I'm out photographing, I guess I won't be her most loved secret admirer this Valentine's Day :-) Ah well, light is intense, sun is out, wind is breezy and the seas are choppy, in all ways a lovely day ! It's Monday, I'm safe to go to Llanddwyn, it will be quiet this time of week. I pass parked car after parked car on the long track down to the main car park. The car park is actually half full. I can see surf kites billowing over the dunes even from here :-( A notice a bus, vans and loads of people and dogs ambling about, how the heck can this be a Monday ?!

A Bow to the Elements

Well I'm here now, so I set off through the woods, on my bike ! I pass several couples heading for lovers leap (the Lighthouse) and three tough looking guys with a pack of hounds and terriers - they very nicely call in their dogs as I draw close, and pleasant greetings are exchanged, brightened my day further. I can't believe how fast it I am getting to the island on my bike but I soon have to drop down to the beach itself. There are crowds of people, and a mass of school kids and teachers all marching towards the island, clipboards in hand and little raincoats blowing them backwards in the hefty breeze. I drop into low gears and find hard sand, I whizz past them all until I hit soft sand and the bike comes to an abrupt stop, somewhat embarrassing :-) I push my bike over the ridge of sand forming the narrow strip of land between mainland Anglesey and Llanddwyn Island, and as it's very low tide I find hard wet sand once again. Back on my bike and an almost clear beach, just two sets of dog walkers. I pass them within seconds, heading out to the far side of the beach and the Malltraeth Estuary beyond.

Adrift to Starboard

In front of me, and before the old boat wreck, lay a huge channel marker, heavy, incongruous and well off it's mark, washed up as if a plastic bottle. I'm so far down the beach that apart from the occasional lucky naturist, few people ever venture this far so the buoy lay in clear virgin sand, no footprints anywhere. I plonk my bike down on the open beach and shoot a couple of hand-held frames frames of this surreal sculpture.

Sand Waves

Back on my bike and the going gets harder, the sand becoming softer and deeper the further I go. I have to stop as even the low gears aren't helping any more. I walk another 300 yards out to the far corner, a spit of sand where the estuary meets open sea. There are no footprint anywhere. I've never been this far before, well not on the sand itself anyway. The breeze is blowing delicate sheets of grainy sand across the spit and small waves and ripples are created, interspersed with thousands of small shells. Funny actually, as a landscape it doesn't really work for me, well in that light in particular, but in terms of close ups, detail and abstracts it was temporarily fascinating. I'd come here to escape summer crowds but it wasn't delivering the same results as the other end of the beach so I started back for the Abermenai side instead.

Exposed at Llanddwyn

Of course I can't really go back without re-visiting the old boat wreck, It's not particularly impressive if I'm honest, not like those at Dulas, but it's small mostly buried ribs are still intriguing, and form some sort of object based intrigue in this vast empty stretch of featureless beach. And then, the dreaded event happened ! I had just set up the framing for a vertical shot of the wooden posts jutting out of perfect sand, and two more intrepid dog walkers appeared maybe 100 feet away. The dog of course, a semi-cute little terrier style mutt had decided that I was far more interesting than his boring owners and came terriering across the bloody beach towards me, straight across the virgin sand and bounded up my bloody leg !! I looked at the owners in complete disbelief, not only do they have no idea that I find letting your dog jump up at strangers highly offensive, they had no idea that an artist was at work ! :-) Good job the scraggy little thing was cute or I'd have lobbed it into the sea :-) Anyway, 20 minutes of PhotoShop sorted out the paw-print-free image you see here !

I rode back towards the island, racing a fast incoming tide and hey presto, everyone had disappeared, well almost. I rode back through the woodland tracks and headed home early, well it was Valentine's Day remember!

All words and images are strictly copyright © Glyn Davies 2011
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Loving Llanddwyn Evenings

Saturn Crumbled

With just an hour or so to spare after a dreary day on Anglesey, I headed for the coast just for the heck of it, one of my usual haunts simply because it's vast, open and easy escapism. It's also why in the summer there is NO escape as hundreds of people swarm the beach every day, usually clogging up the first 100 yds of two mile beach !If not there is a pilgrim-like procession of little figures heading for the lighthouse, understandably but still nothing like the experience you get when you are here alone.

Heart on Fire

This evening, maybe because of the bitter Northerly wind, there were but three figures on the beach, and a lost lady and her dog stuck in the dunes. I pointed her in the right direction for the exit and she disappeared over a huge dune and was seen no more! It was now just me, the wind blowing through the Marram grass, a surprisingly calm sea but more excitingly, a break in the clouds, which increased rapidly. I wandered from peak to trough in the huge wave like dunes when suddenly a burst of colour caught my eye beyond the swaying grasses above me. A huge white cloud was picking up the late afternoon sun and appeared to be burning from the inside out, from deep orange to white. It rested on the dune top for me.

The Vortex

I scrambled to the peak and swathes of long grasses were snaking in the breeze, all aiming towards the dark horizon, along with the clouds. It was very strange, the open sea behind me, my tiny figure perched on this last stretch of sandy coast, with everything being sucked to the South East, no change there for Wales then :-)

Five Minute Ecstasy

When I turned around the dunes were on fire, a blazing torch of orange light was burning over the Irish Sea and the the sky was fluxing from blue to pink. The fresh salty air was now blowing in my face and I felt liberated and ecstatic, for I also knew this momentary pleasure would be over in a flash.

The Hidden Exposed

I sprang down the slope towards the sandy escarpment and shot a last frame of sunshine as it forced it's way into a normally dark crevice, wind carved into the soft land. And then the sun was gone. The temperature dropped rapidly and the chill started biting, funny how the warm red of sun is superficial deceit for the real season we are in. I even put my shooting mitts on now as I grabbed the tripod and headed for the foreshore. An enormous black rain-cloud was passing over Llanddwyn Island but surprisingly was only spitting at me whereas I could see curtains of pitch black rain falling over the headland. The surface of the shallow beach pools were roughened easily by the strengthening breeze and were now the only remaining bright patches of land as the evening sky was ebbing away with the tide.

Llanddwyn Squall

I made my way back to the van and the Heaven's opened, the sound so loud on the roof of the van that it felt like being under attack! I drove up the winding dark lane through the black forest, the headlamps picking out lurking tree-like figures at every corner :-) I reached the toll gate and the red light bounced off the wet track, beyond that and I was on my way home.

The Dark Woods (Lupin camera)

The Exit (Lupin camera)

All words and images are strictly copyright © Glyn Davies 2011
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