The Elidir Trail Falls, Powys, South Wales, Autumn
Our last full day in South Wales.
Our last full day in South Wales.
We’d previously enjoyed some waterfall action at Cwm Rhaeadr near Llandovery. But that was just one waterfall, even though it was a mighty one.
Deep in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park one can find Waterfall Country, home to a myriad of waterfalls. Easily the most popular trail around here is the Four Falls Walk, which we’ve done before way back in 2018. However, word is that this particular trail has become even busier.
Instead, for our last full day, we elected to walk the Elidir Trail. Somewhat less busy but the waterfalls are no less impressive.
We were not disappointed, and beautiful light for woodland and gorge walking aided us for our final day.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–3.8 zoom and Laowa 9mm f2.8 prime lenses. RAWs converted in Capture One for iPad, then developed and finalised in Affinity Photo for iPad.
The Elidir Trail Falls, Powys, South Wales, Autumn by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The Elidir Trail gorge heads upstream where it forks into two distinct sections. The shorter branch is a simple diversion to the viewing point for the main waterfall of the area, called Sgwd Gwladys. After a day or two of rain, the gorge was wet and the atmosphere was moist. Thankfully, that resulted in beautiful soft reflected light in this autumnal scene.
An ultra-wide composition of Sgwd Gwladys, and possible one of the greatest waterfall photos I’ve ever managed to shoot. A dead tree provided nutrition for a whole collection of fungi, serving as my foreground interest with Sgwd Gwladys gracefully rushing over a shelf in the distance.
We gingerly navigated the slippery and mossy boulders to get as close to the falls as possible whilst the light shining down into the gorge was still complementary. Rusty autumn leaves provide colour contrast in the foreground.
Further up the main gorge created by the River Neath (or Afon Nedd), a group of early-20s lads examined a potential swimming and diving spot.
Autumn in a micro scene, as the afternoon sun pierced the clouds above for a particularly strong burst of light.
Here the gorge and river widens up, allowing more autumnal light to pour into the scene on these two cataracts.
Towards the top of the Elidir Trail an almost impossibly perfect autumnal waterfall scene emerges as we clamber down the gorge to gawp at Scŵd Ddwli.
The name of these falls, Scŵd Ddwli, translates roughly to “gushing falls”, which we found to be wholly accurate. Around the edge of the plunge pool, rusty autumnal leaves had gathered making for a lovely composition.
Though we neared the end of the Elidir Trail, and the clouds had gradually covered the gorge, we got a final explosion of light from the late afternoon sun, shooting beams across the falls.
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Llyn y Fan Fach, Brecon Beacons, South Wales, Autumn
If I had one main personal goal for this fortnight in South Wales we’re enjoying, it’s to get up one of the mountain ranges in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
If I had one main personal goal for this fortnight in South Wales we’re enjoying, it’s to get up one of the mountain ranges in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
There’s a few mountain/hill ranges in the Brecon Beacons National Park, the main two I was interested was either:
The Brecon Beacons, at the heart of the national park, which includes South Wales’ highest peak Pen y Fan (886 metres/2,907 feet)
The Black Mountain, sometimes known as the Carmarthenshire Fans.
On this occasion, we elected to hike up the Black Mountain range above the mountain tarn known as Llyn y Fan Fach.
The day promised to be glorious, with puffy white clouds and strong sun in the crisp autumn air. Though we were disappointed at the sight of Llyn y Fan Fach halfway up the climb (it seems to be in the process of being emptied), the views on the way up to the peaks were absolutely astounding.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–3.8 zoom and Laowa 9mm f2.8 prime lenses. RAWs converted in Capture One for iPad, developed and finished in Affinity Photo for iPad.
Llyn y Fan Fach, Brecon Beacons, South Wales, Autumn by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
After exiting a busy car park we started the ascent up the Beacons Way path direct towards the tarn. Looking to the east I nabbed this quick shot of the criss-crossing hills towards Bryn Blaen-Wysg.
About halfway up the path is a small hut where the dam is. Above it are these fish hatcheries which were originally used as filter beds. The rounded hills at the bottom of the path are in stark contrast to the shapes of the Black Mountain, as you’ll see.
As we climb the views get ever more extensive. The last time we visited Llyn y Fan Fach, back in October 2018, there were few people around. This time the car park was full and cars had been dumped on the grass verges along the road leading to the car park. Apparently this area became vastly more popular after being featured in a 2020 TV series “Secrets of Britain”.
From the left, Fan Brycheiniog and Picws Du come into view, with their heavily glaciated and steep northern craggy faces. Morning sun was attempting to break through the clouds above.
Wow, am I right? After seeing the state of Llyn y Fan Fach, we quickly continued our ascent up the Black Mountain. The views looking back to the peaks were too incredible to ignore. The tallest peak, Fan Brycheiniog, is on the left, or strictly speaking its “nose”, Fan Foel. This is followed by Picws Du, Cefn Twrch, and Waun Lefrith.
The hike up the western slopes of the Black Mountain is steep, and the drop down to the tarn is sheer… but I mean, look at those views. The light got more intense, too, as the clouds started to dissipate and reveal the sun.
These peaks are primarily composed of Old Red Sandstone, laid down around 400 million years ago, with bands of Carboniferous Limestone. I wanted to find some of the exposed red sandstone as a contrast to all the grass.
More cracks of ruby red sandstone which I wanted to emphasise with a vertical composition towards the Black Mountain peaks.
My lovely Lisabet, being immensely more brave than I as she stands atop an exposed crag with a 500ft sheer drop beneath her.
This was about as close as I dared go to those crags, with the beautifully curved glaciated wall of Waun Lefrith in the distance.
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Retro Reworking: Pembrokeshire & Brecon Beacons, South Wales, Autumn, 2018
I think we’re due a break after the year we’ve had.
I think we’re due a break after the year we’ve had.
Happily Lisabet and I was able to book our usual two-week September/October break. Where to go this year?
We felt that Scotland, as much as we dearly love the country, would prove too costly with 2022 petrol prices. What about Wales? It’s been a good while since we’ve visited, moreso since we’ve been to South Wales in particular.
South Wales it is, then!
Until that glorious day, I decided to see if I could:
Find my old South Wales photos from 2018, and;
Convert and/or reprocess them.
Point 1 was a success, and I was able to retrieve them from one of my old external hard drives. The issue? This was the period when I was shooting with the beautiful Sigma dp0 Quattro, which produces RAW files (X3F and X3I) that barely any software can read. On the machine I use these days, a 4th-gen 12.9” iPad Pro, I quickly suspected there’d be no way I could read these files.
Thankfully, I wasn’t quite right.
It’s true I can’t read X3I files on an iPad. These RAW files are made using Sigma’s SFD (Super Fine Detail) mode, where the camera automatically exposes seven frames and merges them into a single super high quality RAW file. Only Sigma Photo Pro can read these files, on Mac and Windows.
However, the frankly fantastic Affinity Photo for iPad can read Sigma’s normal X3F files. During my 2018 exploration around South Wales I, unfortunately, shot mostly in SFD mode (X3I files), as I was still very much at the tail end of my HDR phase.
I do still have some singular X3F files, though, and these I’ve been able to convert in Affinity Photo for iPad and go through my current workflow.
So… until I’m in glorious South Wales again, enjoy these reworked photos from my 2018 trip! They were all shot using my camera at the time, a Sigma dp0 Quattro with a fixed 14mm f/4.0 lens. Converted in Affinity Photo for iPad, developed in RNI Films, and finished off again in Affinity.
See my 2018 HDR-esque Pembrokeshire work on Unsplash.
Pembrokeshire National Park
Brecon Beacons National Park
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Brecon Beacons, South Wales: Autumn Series
A modern reworking of a series of photos I shot on our South Wales holiday, autumn 2018.
Sgwd Gwladys (pronounced “Sgood Goo-LAD-us”, meaning “the Lady Falls”), found on the Elidir Trail in the Waterfall Country of the Brecon Beacons National Park, South Wales.
A modern reworking of a series of photos I shot on our South Wales holiday, autumn 2018. A lot has change since then, in terms of my eye, my taste, and my vision, so I figured I’d do justice to these photos that I probably overworked first time round.
All shot on my main camera at the time, a Sigma dp0 Quattro with a built-in 14mm f/4.0. Editing and colour grading all manually done by myself.
Sgwd Clun-Gwyn (“SGOOD clun-goo-in”, meaning “Falls of the White Meadow”), found on the Four Falls Trail. Just an epic sight.
Sgwd y Pannwr (“SGOOD ee pann-ooer”, meaning “Falls of the Fuller”), which we were able to get right next to after a particularly gruelling hike down the ravine. The roar and sheer power of the water…
An unnamed waterfall on the Elidir Trail towards Sgwd Gwladys, with a glittering of autumn colours dashed around the scene.
A series of cascades tumbling toward Pontneddfechan, with stronger afternoon light pouring through the canopy of the forest ravine.
An overcast long exposure at Llyn y Fan Fach with two of the sloping peaks of the Carmarthen Fans.
A composition towards Llyn y Fan Fach’s west end, showing the sheer wall of the Carmarthen Fans.
Heading back down from Llyn y Fan Fach, the various tributaries that run of the Carmarthen Fans stream together into this little pool, which I stopped by for a long exposure composition.
Hiking and Photography in South Wales
This year we’re spending two weeks in South Wales: first week in the Brecon Beacons National Park, and the second in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
It’s become something of a tradition in Casa del Hexabet to take a two-week hiking holiday somewhere in the UK. Typically this is somewhere in Scotland, which has led to wonderful experiences in Glencoe, Skye, Torridon, Arran, and more.
We love Scotland dearly. But sometimes, variety is good.
This year we’re spending two weeks in South Wales: first week in the Brecon Beacons National Park, and the second in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
I’ve only ever been to South Wales once, many years ago; I stayed with a load of friends at Castle Farm, near the tiny hamlet of Capel-y-ffin in the Black Mountains of the Brecon Beacons National Park. My memories were of lush, green valleys, rolling hills, sheep, a huge absence of people, and expansive views.
I was pretty much at the start of my photography journey back then, so I’m very much looking forward to expanding my South Wales experience with new eyes, especially around the Pembrokeshire coast, which I’ve never been to. Below, you can see some of my early attempts at capturing the scenes around the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Particular highlights I’m looking forward to in this year’s South Wales trip: Pen-y-fan, all the waterfalls, Llyn y Fan Fach, and practically the entirety of the Pembrokeshire Coastline.
Here’s to good light!