Autumn in Trawsfynydd

I had just finished a Sunday shift at my ‘main’ job, it was 5.00pm eleven hours since I had started and I needed a break!

Unfortunately I had another 5 work days before the next weekend, and I decided then and there I was going to have a weekend off. And not only a weekend off but I was going to treat myself and my wife to a weekend away. So the following Friday we were off to the Royal Goat Hotel in Beddgelert.

Nestled under the Snowdon mountain range Beddgelert is one of my favourite places in the World. It always allows for a reset and clarity.

The second reason for heading to North Wales was to attempt to get some flight time in and capture Autumn and it’s myriad of colours. I had done some research and Llyn Trawsfynydd, has some ancient deciduous woodland and a dam that looked worth exploring looking on the satellite view of Google Maps.

Saturday was a wash out. I don’t recall any significant time that it wasn’t raining, so R&R was the order of the day! It also involved the rugby world cup, a trip to Porthmadog for some lunch and a few drinks in the evening.

We woke up to Sunday looking promising. The sun was shining and the forecast looked good until late afternoon, by which time we would be ensconced in the Alpine Cafe in Betws y Coed enjoying tea! So we packed up the room threw the gear, dogs and the wife in the car and headed out for a quick drive to the lake.

The research I had done prior to arrival put us at a wild camping spot with a 3 mile walk to the Maentwrog Dam in the North West corner of the lake. Deciding that the walk back would be a little too much for our aged puppers, Michelle walked back to pick up the car as you could reach the dam by road and that left me to explore the Dam for at least an hour. Although a visitor to the lake as a child, I’d never seen the dam and was really happy to capture the juxtaposition of the dam against the Autumn colours to be found in the ravine below that I couldn’t see from my take off site.

The colours would probably been a little more vibrant in the following month or so, but there was enough contrast to create some beautiful images. A little longer to explore and it would have been nice to track up the ravine on the opposite side of the dam to ‘reveal’ the imposing structure that rises up to dominate the landscape.

All in all it was good to get an hours flight time in, and to be surrounded by the mountains. And I’m already looking forward to going back.