Photo Journal: Southwest Wales
If you say the words ‘travel in Wales’ to anyone from the UK, you’ll most likely conjure up in their minds a picture of wet weekends away, trudging through mud and the kind of rain that comes at you sideways. Wales hasn’t had the best reputation when it comes to tourism, and that actually applies to a lot of the UK thanks to the overbearing shadow of mighty London. Even as locals, the majority of us often forget that there’s more to the UK than we’re willing to give it credit for. In a very British fashion, we skip over our surroundings and instead look to the sunnier shores of countries in Europe for our holidays, just a cheap ticket and a couple of hours away by plane. It’s something about the sun; we can’t resist escaping to warmer pastures.
After having returned to the UK now after three years of travel, I would say I’m on a bit of a mission to see a lot more of these tiny isles. It’s a funny feeling, being so in love with the world and coming home only to realise that there’s so much of your world you’ve left untouched. I’ve spent the last month exploring places within one hour’s drive from where I live, and even that alone has unlocked parts of England I never thought could be that beautiful.
I recently wrote a post about a journey through Wales I took back in November – no doubt an absurd prospect for most of you familiar with the country as the weather in the winter months is notoriously damp. But somehow I’ve managed to spark something; comments on the post and via social media have followed a similar theme – ‘I’ve never thought to go here, and I never knew it was so gorgeous.’
Nearly every comment has mentioned how much the reader has enjoyed the photos, and even though writing is my focus on this blog, and by no means consider myself a photographer, I thought I should put the rest of my photos to good use. After all, the pictures I shared in that post were just a few of the shots I managed to capture.
So make yourself a cup of tea, and let me take you on a journey through Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire in southwest Wales.
Brechfa Forest and Carmarthenshire
Peeking through Brechfa Forest, Carmarthenshire
My family walking along a trail in Brechfa Forest
Thick forest crawling up Brechfa’s mountainsides
Snapshot of timber production in Brechfa Forest
Some of Brechfa’s local residents
Layers of foliage in Brechfa Forest
A view over the hills of Carmarthenshire
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Looking out over Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Pembrokeshire’s famous coast is off into the distance
The rest of this church was blown away in a storm decades ago – this is all that remains
Just one of the many houses dotted around Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
One of Pembrokeshire’s more impressive cliff views
Tide out on Newport Sands in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Birds taking flight, Newport Sands
Washed up boat on Newport Sands, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Looking out from Newport Sands to the cliffs beyond
Rainbow over the cliffs of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
A rainbow meets the sea in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
The sun hits the rocks at Fishguard Bay, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Sun seeping into the cracks of the rocks at Fishguard Bay
Washed up on the beach at Fishguard Bay, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Soaring overhead at Fishguard Bay
The sunset hits the cliffs at Fishguard Bay
Hazy sunset at Fishguard Bay
Jagged rocks at Fishguard Bay
Aberaeron and Cei Beach
The signature colourful houses of Aberaeron
Another typical Aberaeron view – pastel houses and the town church
The harbour at Aberaeron, Ceredigion
The curve of the coast on Cei Beach, Ceredigion
Sun setting over the cliffs at Cei Beach, near Aberaeron
Don’t forget to check out the full story for more on this area of Wales
Have you ever been anywhere that looks like this?
God, I haven’t been to Newport Sands in about fifteen years. Far too long.
We’ve been talking this past week about what we’ll do after our housesitting in Portsmouth ends at the beginning of March and we’ve discussed spending the last three weeks of the month travelling through Wales. Clearly, there’s still so much I need to see and revisit.
Nice, Dale! Can highly recommend this area if you’re going that way then. That said, it’s all rather beautiful so you’ll be onto a winner anywhere you go. Three weeks is a great amount of time for it, too.
Oh I’m a little bit in love with your blog and I’m glad I found you through Twitter! Your photography is so beautiful and I am itching to do some travelling and attempt to capture some stunners like these. Gorgeous, gorgeous blog.
This is the sweetest comment – thanks so much, Winnie. I’m glad I found you too! I followed you because you wrote about Cereal Magazine recently and anyone does that has my heart from the get-go, and I liked your photos 🙂 Happy to inspire some travel, and Wales isn’t too far away! Happy we connected too.
I love Wales, in particular the Pembrokeshire Coast but also the Wye Valley and Brecon Beacons. I have visited twice in Winter and we had beautiful sunny weather.
So it wasn’t just me being really lucky with the weather then. I’m so glad to hear you has some beautiful sunshine too. I’m definitely going to take a trip to the Brecon Beacons soon, thank you for the nudge!
Beautiful photos. I’m planning on road-tripping the UK in April/May and I’ll definitely have to add some of these places to my list.
That’s so exciting, Lindsey. You will no doubt have a fantastic time, and you’ve picked a really great time of year to see the UK. If I had to picked one, I’d say Pembrokeshire Coast NP should be top of your list. Message closer to the time if you need exact locations of these places, but you should find them okay!
Lovely photos, Emma! There’s something beautifully eerie about your shots of Brechfa forest. I’ve actually always wanted to go to Wales, maybe this will be the year.
Thanks Grace! Brechfa is actually a pretty eerie place, so I’m glad I managed to convey that aspect of it. You should certainly fit Wales into your upcoming travel plans – just across the water for you!