Llyn Dinas is a described as the jewel in the crown of Snowdonia’s national park.
It’s a lake with a lovely path surrounding it which makes a very nice walk.
Legend has it that a red dragon and a white dragon fought on this lake with the red dragon winning the fight and sending the white dragon into the lake forever. It’s why there’s a red dragon on the Welsh flag.
There are two boathouses on the side of the lake (road-side) which are often the focal point of many photographs of this location, and more likely in an early morning/misty scene.
I noticed that the boathouse to the right as you view it looks like it’s seen better days with a visible loss of bricks in each of its sidewalls.
With the bright afternoon sunlight, I couldn’t get a particularly good shot but it was interesting to see that a cormorant was scouring the lake and had just caught and ate an eel right in front of us!
As you walk round, you can’t help take in the beauty of the lake. I did some shots but the harsh light didn’t do me any favours, and I had decided from the car I wasn’t going to do this walk with my full bag and kit/tripod etc.
There was a set of small waterfalls off the main path which were pleasant enough, and gave me chance to practice handheld slower shutter speeds.
On our return walk, Kathryn’s excellent compositional skills were on show again as we saw this bridge we had walked over on the way round.
I had taken a shot of this bridge straight on which was a very flat/dull image. Kathryn suggested a side on shot with the lovely flora colours.
I positioned myself as low down as I could with the tilting screen on the camera in full use. I decided to omit any sky as it was too bright with little cloud or detail on offer.
Focusing was tricky and not wanting to have the hassle of focus stacking, I increased my aperture to increase the depth of field and hope that foreground and the bridge in the background was acceptably sharp.
No far from the bridge was a lovely scene towards the lake with a stream in the foreground providing a nice leading line.
Ideally, I could’ve done with my polariser here to reduce the reflective white effect on the stream in the immediate foreground but the late afternoon sunlight was providing fantastic light on the trees in the background, and the reflections in the water on the lake looked really good.
I got a half decent shot of the lake now, better than at the start of the walk with some stones as leading lines. The sky was a challenge with little detail on offer on this bright sunny afternoon.
As we headed back, I saw some amazing underwater reeds through the water and climbed carefully over some rocks to get closer.
There wasn’t really a composition to be had that I was content with, but when I looked to my left, I could see the access bridge at the start of the path in the distance with some fantastic reflections in the water.
I saw that the sun was shining through the trees, which immediately made me wonder if a sun star would be on offer.
I took a few shots, ramping up my aperture to get the sun star and in post production I’ve managed to bring out a little more detail in the left hand area below the sun which emphasises the dappled sunlight shining over the leaves of there trees and bushes.
The sunlight was also dappling some plantation in what looks like lupin-style plants for which I grabbed a shot.
Beddgelert
On our way back, we stopped at a quaint looking village Beddgelert, which stands in a valley between the rivers Glaslyn and Colwyn.
I took a shot of the old houses and river from the main bridge.
Beddgelert is a small village (population of 455 as at 2011 census) and is named after the legendary hound Gelert.
Gelert is a legend but involves a story of its own sad and tragic death.
Llewelyn the Great returns from hunting to find his baby missing and it’s cradle overturned.
Gelert has a blood-smeared mouth and believing the dog to have savaged the child, Llewelyn draws his sword and kills Gelert.
After the dog’s dying yelp, Llewelyn hears the cries of the baby, unharmed under the cradle, along with a dead wolf which had attacked the child and been killed by Gelert.
Llewelyn is overcome with remorse and buries the dog with great ceremony, but can still hear it’s dying yelp. After that day, Llewelyn never smiles again!
There is a grave marking the legend of Gelert along with a statue of the dog.
After that tragic story, let’s get back to the photos…!
I also shot a fantastic woodwork carving of the welsh dragon which sits in the front garden of one of the houses.
There was a nice set of flowers bedded into a carriage with cottages in the background that made a nice snap.
Beddgelert has other claims to fame…
The village is also linked with the Rupert Bear stories, as Alfred Bestall wrote and illustrated some of the stories whilst he lived in the village, in a cottage at the foot of Mynydd Sygun. There is even a small area known as ‘Rupert Garden’ in the village, dedicated to the Bear; a short walk from Alfred Bestall’s old home.
Many films have made use of the scenery around Beddgelert; most notably The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman.
Other more modern films such as Tomb Raider 2: Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life have also been filmed here; starring Angelina Jolie, although I can confirm I did not spot Angelina there on the day were were there!
On the return trip…
On our way back to our cottage, we stopped at the roadside for a couple of shots opportunistically as the evening light was lighting up the nearby hills and there was a small stretch of water that had some nice reflections.
All in all, a really nice day out, and one or two real keepers in terms of images in the bag.
Onwards and upwards…