36 HOURS IN: SNOWDONIA

Thursday 9th July, just days after the long-awaited relaxation of lockdown here in Wales…

Finally it was here. The moment I had been waiting for for almost four long and intense months. I was inspired and heard the Snowdonia mountains calling me. Leaving the well worn path along the Montgomery Canal behind, I loaded the car with my camera, lenses, tripod and, not forgetting, some food supplies of course and hit the road on a long-awaited solo photography trip in search of the light that has bought me so many happy memories over the last couple of years.

At long last, Wales was back open.

After a few quick photographs (above), my first stop was at Tal-y-Llyn lake. Officially known as Llyn Mwyngil, it is a 220 acre ribbon lake situated at the foot of the tallest mountain in the southern region of Snowdonia; Cadair Idris (Penygader). The River Dysynni flows from the hotel side of the lake in the west and flows through the village of Abergynolwyn until it reaches the sea, north of Tywyn on the Mid Wales coast.

The road that leads to Llyn Mwyngil is a famous sight and is very well known to photographers with hordes of eagle eyed shutterbugs often overlooking the valley that forms part of the Mach Loop as they watch for close ups of low-flying Tornado’s, F-15’s, Hercules and other aircraft.

The village of Llan Ffestiniog is located just south of Blaenau Ffestiniog at the foot of Moelwyn Mawr, translated as the Great White Hill. It is on this mountain that the Ffestiniog Power Station was opened in 1963. The power station has the ability to power the whole of North Wales for several hours, with 360 megawatts of electricity generated within 60 seconds if the need ever arises. The upper reservoir of the two that make up the power station is called Stwlan Dam and is visible near the summit of Moelwyn Mawr here in this photograph.

No road trip through Snowdonia is complete without a quick tea break with a view of the landscape.

The 13th century Dolwyddelan Castle on the Moel Siabod mountain range in North Wales. The castle was allegedly the birthplace of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) around 1170. If true, he was born in a structure that pre-dates the one seen today. The original was one of many fortresses that was built to command the mountain passes and hold off the English as they tried to gain control of the land. Llywelyn ruled the castle from 1201 until his death in 1240. During the reign of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the grandson of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, the English finally conquered Dolwyddelan in 1283, under the leadership of King Edward I.

Whenever I visit castles, I always try to take a brief mental time travel to try to imagine what life might have been like there once upon a time. It would be no good entering the castle grounds as a photographer or, probably more accurate for that era, a painter. Both would make me a sitting duck for the flaming arrows hurtling towards my head.

One of Wales’ most iconic views; the famous Snowdon Horseshoe as seen from the Llynnau Mymbyr lay-by. The peaks of Y Lliwedd, Snowdon, Garnedd Ugain and Crib Goch make up the Horseshoe. I took this opportunity to set up my stove by the lake to cook what was the first of many servings of tuna, pasta and sweetcorn. I’ve eaten my dinner in plenty of less aesthetically pleasing locations.

Foel Goch, one of the lesser-known mountains in Snowdonia measures in at 831m. It forms a part of the Glyderau range, lying between the popular Y Garn and Mynydd Perfedd. In the photographs below, morning light illuminates the eastern face of the mountain. I stayed in the first spot for over an hour, eventually the light hit just right and I was able to capture my photograph before moving on to find another composition.

It’s for this, as well as many other reasons, that I love photography. Light has the power to transform a landscape completely, therefore forcing you to be attentive and present in a world that encourages constant distraction and short attention spans.

Standing on Pont Pen y Benglog in the Ogwen Valley below. The cloud-covered mountain in the background is the famous ridge of Tryfan, the slope in the left foreground of the photograph forms the base of Pen yr Ole Wen.

Llyn Idwal and the Devil’s Kitchen have always made for one of my favourite places in Snowdonia to photograph. I seem to find a new composition whenever I visit and the weather has rarely disappointed me. Here the late morning sunlight brings an interesting tree to attention, with Pen yr Ole Wen making up an incredible background.

The lake, or ‘Llyn’ as it reads in Welsh was named after Prince Idwal Foel who was a grandson of Rhodri Mawr, an ancient King of Wales. Legend has it that the Prince died when he was drowned in the lake, after an unsuccessful revolt against the English. Though an interesting story, this is just the stuff of legend after all and The Chronicle of the Princes of Wales records that "Idwal son of Rhodri, and his brother Elised were killed by the Saxons" in 941, which could suggest some kind of battle took place, though it doesn’t completely rule out the initial story.

Shall we play a game of ‘spot the rock climbers’ on the Idwal Slabs below?

With the sun setting, I made my way to Llyn Padarn in Llanberis in search of a tree that had evaded me so far in my photography journey. Famously named ‘The Lonely Tree’, people have travelled from all over the world to photograph it and share the images to a dedicated Facebook group.

Before finding the tree, I took the opportunity to photograph the beautiful Dolbadarn Castle, a castle again constructed by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth in defence against the English in the 13th century.

The Llyn Ogwen boathouse always proves to be a bit of a tricky one to photograph. Not only is it one of the more popular spots for photographers, you’ll often see a tripod set up on the mound behind the boathouse as you approach the Ogwen Visitor Centre, but there is very limited space to find an interesting angle. With Llyn Ogwen being the last location of this Snowdonia trip due to the death of both of my camera batteries, I had to work hard and against the clock to find something that I was happy with.

The long road home and a view of Cadair Idris to guide me back.

Until next time.

I absolutely loved putting together this little project from my favourite place in the world. It started with a little jolt of inspiration, sat inside on my own on a Thursday afternoon and ended with a shift in the way that I want to do photography; more time alone I have now decided.

Over the last two years, Snowdonia has been responsible for me finding parts of myself that I never even knew existed. On top of these mountains, around the valleys and the lakes, I became an artist, not only taking photographs but learning to write about them and my experiences too. I often wish that I could be a better writer, it’s something that I’m working on. I still wish that I could be a better photographer too. But that’s life, I guess. There’s always room for improvement, no matter how good you think you are.

The first part of my ‘36 Hours In:’ series.

If you can think of a place for me to adventure to for the next instalment, head over to Instagram to let me know.

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