Thursday 20th to Tuesday 25th June 2024
We spent a long weekend at a meet of the Camping and Caravanning Club Photographic Section, held at Cae Clyd Campsite & Touring Park, at Pontllyfni on the coast to the south of Caernarfon. Our thanks to the stewards for their efficient organisation and warm welcome.
The site is in an ideal location and offers both touring and seasonal pitches with good facilities. We would definitely be happy to return.
Thursday 20th; Pontllyfni
After setting up on the evening of our arrival, we went down to the beach for a stroll. When we arrived we found a good number of other group members there, waiting to photograph the sunset.
Although the beach is quite picturesque, it was difficult stoney going. We made it as far as the estuary of a small river (the Afon Llifon) to the north.
We had a wander and did a bit of beach-combing before returning to the group to capture the sunset ourselves.
Friday 21st June; Trefor:
The small village of Trefor lies on the coast, about 6 miles to the south of our campsite.
After exploring the harbour, we took a walk further south along the cliff-top path across land belonging to the National Trust.
I have been playing with infra red photography and took a couple of images using a converted camera, one colour, the other monochrome:
Looking on Google Maps, we had identified an old granite quarry to visit which might have been good photographically, but when we looked at it on the hillside, we decided to give it a miss this time.
Saturday 22nd June; Anglesey:
We visited the National Trust owned property of Pas Newydd in July 2021. You can read the blog post on the following link: Plas Newydd . The house was closed on that occasion, so images were all external.
This time, we managed to tour the house:
An outstanding feature of the house is the huge mural painting by Whistler:
We also wandered around the grounds and found a previously overlooked dolmen in the field behind the visitor centre. How the cap-stone, which is enormous, was placed there 4000 years ago, is a mystery. There are many neolithic sites on Anglesey.
The grounds are known for the trees which present interesting photo opportunities:
They also overlook the Menai Straits where there were racing dinghies being sailed, among them, one who is a part of the British sailing team. The Straits are known to be a particularly challenging location for dinghy sailing.
A little inland from Plas Newydd, is another of Anglesey’s neolithic sites, Bryn Celli Ddu which is a burial mound, also around 4000 years old:
As it was just a few days after the summer solstice, there had been events here over the last fortnight. On this day, there was a gathering of people, some of which were Druids. I took this photograph of two people attending the event, who were happy to pose and kindly gave me permission to post the image in this blog:
Sunday 23rd June 2024; Caernarfon:
Parking Fufu in Penygroes, around 2 miles inland from the site, we cycled along the dedicated cycle path to Caernarfon around 7 miles away. The track follows the path of a disused railway line for the most part, with bridges across major roads. For the final part of the way, it runs alongside the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway line with a station at at Dinas, where we saw the arrival of a steam train:
The engine originally came from South Africa:
We saw it being loaded with coal before steaming on:
We were of course attending a photographic group meeting and the theme of the van window competition was “in need of TLC”. I think the following image might have been a contender:
Although I have posted an entry previously about Caernarfon (see link above for July 2021, Plas Newydd), I have a few further images to add:
Monday 22nd June; Dinas Dinlle:
We planned to walk along the beach between Caernarfon Airport and the sea, towards the southern end of the Menai Straits. We didn’t get all the way to the channel, but we had a really enjoyable walk.
It was a beautiful day and you had the feeling of being miles from anywhere. That is until an aircraft took off from behind us.
Tuesday 23rd June; Llanberis:
On our way home, we visited Llanberis where we explored an area on the banks of Llyn Padarn with some interesting trees and pools:
I also managed to take a photograph of a juvenile grey wagtail which was under the trees, calling to be fed:
"See-u-Later" 