Solva - South Wales.

[John 2]

For our short break last week, we stayed in a place called Solva, near to St Davids. Lovely little fishing and leisure boating area reminiscent of some of the Devon/Cornish coast. Came as quite a surprise. Not the best of weather for photoraphys but it only rained on one day. These are just out of interest really, if you don't know the area.

[bnnrcn]

Hi John, it seems to be a very peaceful place , I can really feel the green and the sea I would crop the half of the area between the boat and the bottom part of the frame in #1 and I would crop #3 from the bottom to eliminate the metal table.

[FrankMi]

A very pleasing set John, and very well presented.

I agree with Binnur's suggestion for a crop in #1 but for #3 it would have been nice to have someone seated at the table, relaxing and taking in the view. I love how the village adds interest to the second one and wish that the bend of the inlet could be seen on the right of the last one.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Mike Buckley]

Agreed with everything mentioned by Binnur and Frank. Thanks for sharing these images.

[ajohnw]

I know the area pretty well but spend more time to the south. These are pretty well chosen shots. As holiday areas Pembrokeshire is fairly quiet for most of the year. St David's tends to heave in the main holiday periods in the summer and the population of areas around Haverfordwest increase noticeably as well. No where nearly as bad as the Tenby side of the Cleddau estuary though. Maybe Little Haven is an exception to that but as the name suggests it's small and there is a fair amount of holiday accommodation nearby.

Beaches are mostly tidal and a lot of the coast is cliff often without any direct access apart from the coastal path. They run a bus service called the Puffin Shuttle along the coast so it's possible to walk a section and than take a bus back to the start. It's pretty strenuous walking in places especially at the southern end. The path is 186 miles long. They no longer seem to mention the total height climbed if some one manages to walk the entire length. It's very up and down in places and was a pretty impressive number. The path has it's own web site

http://nt.pcnpa.org.uk/website/sitef...e.asp?PageID=2

As the beach areas are tidal and a lot of local people walk their dog pets are well accepted and areas clearly marked on a couple of beaches. We generally use poo bags. Only fair really. Accomodation is usually pet friendly as well.

We did have a caravan permanently sited near Hasguard Cross a while ago. The site was very popular with divers who I assume had their own boat or maybe they travelled to Neyland.

Dale is a sort of wind surfing and dingy sailing centre. Tuition and hire is available but it shuts down over the winter months. They also run rib trips at speed from here.

For Skoma Island read puffins and other sea birds in profusion at certain times of the year. It needs a bit of a warning about gear. I found this

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wil...03/123551.aspx

The RSPB people do give the crowd a rest part way up the steps from the landing point. If people go just purely for the birds do check for suitable times of the year. It's a place that unfortunately is difficult for me to visit thanks to the NT car park attendant. Our dog goes with us everywhere and while it's completely happy being left in the car for rather long periods of time things change if left behind - howls and cries and likely to attempt to escape.

Weather is variable and often comes and goes rapidly. It's not unusual for the area to get very high sunshine hours per year but rain can come and go.

If people want to tour around it's probably worth bearing in mind that Haverforwest is a little bit like Rome - all roads go to it. If touring it probably pays to consider that aspect to save driving along the same road to go some where every day. This can be pretty noticeable in places like Solva and St Davids.

Beach type holidays are probably best taken on the Tenby side of the estuary. I only ever go there out of season as it can get very busy. There are some great beaches to be found.

Doing my bit for the West Wales Tourist Board. Tourism in the area has dropped off rather a lot over the last 10 years but seems to be picking up a bit again.

John
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[deetheturk]

Lovely images John of a beautiful place, thank's for sharing!

[John 2]

Thanks for the comments all. I wouldn't disagree in general term that these need more work. They were only for interest because the area is so attractive. I tried to use the puddle in the first as a sort of lead into the frame but ...........??

John, I was dyeing to get out to Skoma to take some shots of Puffins. It's a sort of photographer's right of passage. However, we have a dog and of course they are not allowed on the island.

Binnur, Frank, viewpoints were a problem. What looks like scrub on the headland is actually about 5 foot high and getting a clear shot from there or from someone's garden, was a problem As it is the shot with the table was a quick grab from the garden of a rental cottage which fortunately was unoccupied at the time. We could cheekily claim we were viewing it in anticipation of a future visit.

[ajohnw]

I thought I should warn people about dogs and Skoma. It's worse than people might think in some ways. What is likely to happen is that the NT attendant hovers around the car, a bit of crowd develops peering in the car of course and the dog does what any dog owner would expect - barks etc. He may not hang round the car any more now as I had a little discussion about dog behaviour when I found him lurking round the car in Haverfordwest.

Suppose the following shouldn't be mentioned here but dogs cars and hotter weather are a problem and I see dogs left in conditions that really aren't a good idea. There is a little gizmo that people aught to be able to buy that isn't difficult to make. It just needs a piece of steel bar near the diameter of the part of the car that the boot latches on. Bend a hook on one end to go round that and a loop at the other end. A triangular hoop is easier. Then hook the bar over the car end boot latch and close the boot on the other end and lock the car as normal but probably not with the dead locks on as the alarm may go off. When parking just make sure the rear end isn't in full sun and the dog is likely remain cooler than you will.

The hook on the bar needs to be long enough for it not to detach when pushing down. It can only be engaged at an angle. Only problem is that 6 to 8 mm bar is probably about right and needs some hammering and ingenuity to bend.

John
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