Photography Blog
Photography Blog
AN OPEN-TOP TOUR OF WEST WALES
19/07/2026
Day 1, 15th July. Owing to a calendar mishap we do not leave home until 10:30 after both of us having a trim-up from Mel the mobile hairdresser. We are heading for south-west Wales, a route with which I am familiar having travelled to Swansea frequently whilst working for Alcoa. Although this is a 4-day trip we are taking Ziggy the Z4 to allow some open-top motoring as the sun is due to shine. We take the Heads Of The Valley road but manage to miss my first planned lunch stop, Asda at Merthyr Tydfil, as I recalled it being directly off a roundabout when it’s actually off a slip-road. Not to worry, we’ll stop at Swansea West services at M4 junction 48 but we miss this too as it’s actually at Junction 47! This called for a first ever stop at Pont Abraham Costa at junction 49 for a Coffee and shared sandwich. We are booked into The Golden Lion at Newport near Fishguard for 2 nights and decide to go straight there, arriving just after the 3pm check-in time. A pleasant enough room but an expensive round of drinks! We are booked into for dinner at 6:15 so take a stroll around the village and the nearby estuary before calling in at the local Spar for essential supplies and returning for a nice dinner in the restaurant.
Day 2, 16th July. A nice breakfast and we set off on a tour suggested by Chat GPT, starting at Stackpole Quay, a National Trust property on the Pembrokeshire coast. A second visit for me, an interesting place with an abundance of wildlife on the cliff tops. Next stop is St. Govan’s Chapel. Although this is a third visit for me I follow the sat-nav directions to the post-code in my guide book and arrive at …. Broad Haven South. A quick check in a different guide book provides the correct post-code and 10 minutes later we park up close to the chapel and venture down the 52 steps and take some images of the quaint little chapel. As usual on a weekday the road to The Green Bridge of Wales is closed due to army manoeuvres so no opportunity to revisit this location. On the way to Stackpole we had passed through Pembroke and Mrs. M was keen to have a look around so we retraced our steps and parked up below the castle. We had a good look round, called in at 2 pubs and checked out the charity shops before heading back to Fishguard and the Lower Town where, unfortunately, the tide was out which meant that photo opportunities were limited. I decided to make the short trip to Strumble Head, which was worth it despite the very narrow roads as we were treated to the sight of a couple of seals. Returning to Newport we had dinner in The Castle Inn and watched England capitulate to Argentina in the to the delight of a few sad Welsh natives whose chances of reaching a World Cup semi-final are precisely zero!
Day 3, 17th July. Breakfast in the Golden Lion and we set off for Mwnt where my parents’ ashes are spread. We park-up and have a quick look in the little chapel before walking partway round the hill and returning to “support” the small kiosk near the beach by buying a tea and a coffee. There is a distinct lack of wildlife although a fellow photographer confirms the the choughs are still around. We move on towards our next stop, the red kite centre at Bwlch Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre. I had read that the kites were fed at 3pm so we had some time to kill and were looking, without success, for a pub. Expecting a turn on the right I was taken by surprise by the sign for the centre on the left, so too was the driver behind me who took great pleasure in calling me “ an arsehole” - it’s a price you sometimes have to pay for driving an open-top BMW, I expect it’s “ the green-eyed monster” effect. No sooner had I recovered from the shock of the verbal assault than I had another problem to deal with; I had parked in a disabled space and jumped back into the car to move to somewhere more suitable but was thwarted as Ziggy refused to go further than a couple of feet before engaging Park and blocking the entrance to the car park. AI (notAA) to the rescue, chat GPT advised that the likely cause was that the car door was open and the seat belt not fastened…which is exactly what the problem was. On apologising to the driver whose path I had blocked I checked with him about the kite feeding time…2pm, not 3pm…how lucky we were that we didn’t pass a pub! It is an amazing sight as hundreds of kites descend to grab the scraps of meat that they are fed. As it’s now around 3pm we head back to Aberystwyth to check-in at the Staling Cloud, a Marston's Inn with rooms. A pleasant room with very welcome air conditioning. Dave on Reception gives us directions into the town, “10 minutes to the centre, 15 minutes and your feet will be wet as you’ll be in the sea”…he was right about the 10 minutes. A drink in The White Horse and dinner in the Athro Lounge and then another couple of pub visits before strolling back to the Starling Cloud.
Day 4, 18th July. An average breakfast. Yesterday Mrs. M spotted a sign to the Magic of Life Butterfly House so we decided to pay it a visit. Although it was a bit further off the main road than we expected we eventually arrived at the car park, paid up and went in. It was like walking into a swarm of computer-generated butterflies…but they were real. Expensive but well worth it. We moved on to Hafod, a National Trust property and one of my mother’s favourite places although the journey was not one of my favourites with some very steep and narrow roads! Although the church was interesting there was not much else to see although with a bit more walking things may have improved, as it was it was too hot for a lot of walking.
Retuning to Aberystwyth for a chilled afternoon; lunch in KFC (Mrs. M’s choice), a couple in The Bottle and Barrel micro-pub and then, at the barman’s suggestion, a stroll along the seafront to the Glengower Hotel which, despite being at the far end of the promenade, was buzzing and clearly very popular. A stroll back to The Starling Cloud, one drink “to be sociable” and we called it a day.
Day 5, 19th July. A below average breakfast and a straight drive home. Good weather, the top down for most of the time, a very enjoyable trip. There are some images in the Wales Gallery.
Day 2, 16th July. A nice breakfast and we set off on a tour suggested by Chat GPT, starting at Stackpole Quay, a National Trust property on the Pembrokeshire coast. A second visit for me, an interesting place with an abundance of wildlife on the cliff tops. Next stop is St. Govan’s Chapel. Although this is a third visit for me I follow the sat-nav directions to the post-code in my guide book and arrive at …. Broad Haven South. A quick check in a different guide book provides the correct post-code and 10 minutes later we park up close to the chapel and venture down the 52 steps and take some images of the quaint little chapel. As usual on a weekday the road to The Green Bridge of Wales is closed due to army manoeuvres so no opportunity to revisit this location. On the way to Stackpole we had passed through Pembroke and Mrs. M was keen to have a look around so we retraced our steps and parked up below the castle. We had a good look round, called in at 2 pubs and checked out the charity shops before heading back to Fishguard and the Lower Town where, unfortunately, the tide was out which meant that photo opportunities were limited. I decided to make the short trip to Strumble Head, which was worth it despite the very narrow roads as we were treated to the sight of a couple of seals. Returning to Newport we had dinner in The Castle Inn and watched England capitulate to Argentina in the to the delight of a few sad Welsh natives whose chances of reaching a World Cup semi-final are precisely zero!
Day 3, 17th July. Breakfast in the Golden Lion and we set off for Mwnt where my parents’ ashes are spread. We park-up and have a quick look in the little chapel before walking partway round the hill and returning to “support” the small kiosk near the beach by buying a tea and a coffee. There is a distinct lack of wildlife although a fellow photographer confirms the the choughs are still around. We move on towards our next stop, the red kite centre at Bwlch Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre. I had read that the kites were fed at 3pm so we had some time to kill and were looking, without success, for a pub. Expecting a turn on the right I was taken by surprise by the sign for the centre on the left, so too was the driver behind me who took great pleasure in calling me “ an arsehole” - it’s a price you sometimes have to pay for driving an open-top BMW, I expect it’s “ the green-eyed monster” effect. No sooner had I recovered from the shock of the verbal assault than I had another problem to deal with; I had parked in a disabled space and jumped back into the car to move to somewhere more suitable but was thwarted as Ziggy refused to go further than a couple of feet before engaging Park and blocking the entrance to the car park. AI (notAA) to the rescue, chat GPT advised that the likely cause was that the car door was open and the seat belt not fastened…which is exactly what the problem was. On apologising to the driver whose path I had blocked I checked with him about the kite feeding time…2pm, not 3pm…how lucky we were that we didn’t pass a pub! It is an amazing sight as hundreds of kites descend to grab the scraps of meat that they are fed. As it’s now around 3pm we head back to Aberystwyth to check-in at the Staling Cloud, a Marston's Inn with rooms. A pleasant room with very welcome air conditioning. Dave on Reception gives us directions into the town, “10 minutes to the centre, 15 minutes and your feet will be wet as you’ll be in the sea”…he was right about the 10 minutes. A drink in The White Horse and dinner in the Athro Lounge and then another couple of pub visits before strolling back to the Starling Cloud.
Day 4, 18th July. An average breakfast. Yesterday Mrs. M spotted a sign to the Magic of Life Butterfly House so we decided to pay it a visit. Although it was a bit further off the main road than we expected we eventually arrived at the car park, paid up and went in. It was like walking into a swarm of computer-generated butterflies…but they were real. Expensive but well worth it. We moved on to Hafod, a National Trust property and one of my mother’s favourite places although the journey was not one of my favourites with some very steep and narrow roads! Although the church was interesting there was not much else to see although with a bit more walking things may have improved, as it was it was too hot for a lot of walking.
Retuning to Aberystwyth for a chilled afternoon; lunch in KFC (Mrs. M’s choice), a couple in The Bottle and Barrel micro-pub and then, at the barman’s suggestion, a stroll along the seafront to the Glengower Hotel which, despite being at the far end of the promenade, was buzzing and clearly very popular. A stroll back to The Starling Cloud, one drink “to be sociable” and we called it a day.
Day 5, 19th July. A below average breakfast and a straight drive home. Good weather, the top down for most of the time, a very enjoyable trip. There are some images in the Wales Gallery.
