…from heavenly ethereal to eerily supernatural:
Herewith some recent views across the Menai Strait – from the island of Anglesey above Beaumaris to the Welsh mainland.
We’ve just returned from a week’s stay on Ynys Mon. It was our first March visit to the island, our usual time-slot being late December, and our arrival coincided with both the spring equinox and a spring tide. In fact we had never seen the low tides so low. When the sea went out, sand banks never glimpsed before, became exposed.
You can just make them out in the first photo. This reminded me of the tales of the Roman invasion of Anglesey around 60 CE and how Governor Suetonius Paulinus equipped his army with flat bottomed boats to deal with the uncertain depths across the strait. But it is possible, too, that there are/were low-tide paths, known only to locals. Perhaps Suetonius Paulinus found himself an informer. The conquest anyway was bloody: the object to smash the power of the Celtic tribes’ druid priests who made their last stand on the island.
There’s more about this at an earlier post: Island of Old Ghosts.
For the mystically or meditatively inclined, you can see how weather watching can enthral; you never know what may happen next; all the elemental forces conspiring: the ever changing light, coastal winds, cycles of convection and condensation, the lunar-solar ebb and flow of tidal waters.
So much weather in a week on this tiny corner of the planet. We had hot sun, biting winds, cloudless blue skies, deep gloom, rain (though not so much for Wales), drizzle, mist, stormy and glass glittering seas.
Late one afternoon we watched, with some sense of awe, as this white cloud moved low along the mainland shore, spilling out like dry ice till it reached the Great Orme headland.
And then one evening…
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At other times the mainland looked gauzy. It could be a mirage. Or there again it reminded me of the magic painting books we had as children – the wash of colours emerging from the empty page.
Copyright 2025 Tish Farrell
Lens-Artists: Wild This week Egidio at Through Brazilian Eyes wants to know what wild means to us. Go see what wild means to him.
A wild-looking coastline indeed! I love your more delicate ethereal shots in particular 🙂
Yes, my favourite too.
Isn’t Nature the most interesting thing about where ever we are? We just never know what is in store for our visits..Thanks for sharing your visits.
Thanks, Beverly. So much to look out for wherever one is 🙂
I loved your WILD Tish. Your images are simply beautiful and your narrative, excellent. We’ve had that kind of weather here. A thunder shower, followed by sun, then rain, more sun. I just watched the clouds move across the sky.
Many thanks, Anne. It’s a soothing pursuit, cloud watching.
My mother enjoyed watching the clouds. I enjoy them too, but not when I get caught without an umbrella in one of their downpours.
Oh definitely need to have a brolly handy 🙂
These are lovely, the ethereal shots in particular. Such delicate colours!
Lots of haziness – both ends of the camera 🙂
Great set, Tish! I love the evening shot looking across the Menai Street…pastel colours a delicate kind
Thanks, Sue. Watching the Strait was a little like sitting in a picture gallery 🙂
That’s a good way to look at it!
Weather or not you can whether it, great photos. 👏
Cheers, John.
That’s a lovely variety of wildness, Tish. I used to get too much water on those painting books and they ended up like a bog. A novel idea, weren’t they? I much prefer your ethereal wildness xx
I remember some soggy pictures too, Jo. But it was so exciting getting a new book.
Enthralled with each and every photo – have you a new camera or is it the magic of the Menai?
The additional Roman history bit much appreciated – out native inhabitants gave so much in exchange for straight roads and bathhouses!
Many thanks, Laura. No new camera. Just my little Canon ixus capturing Menai magic, and maybe me remenbering to prop it on something.
And yes – the price of straight roads and bathhouses. I’m guessing the latter didn’t impress, but roads that brought armies and violated clan domains and sacred territories – a chilling thought.
only we are left to appreciate those straight roads that take the car as the crow flies
Indeed. And there a good few stretches on Anglesey. I seem to remember Thomas Telford recycled a few sections when building the Holyhead to London highway – this for the benefit of transporting Irish MPs to Parliament. Which also required the building of Menai Bridge so they didn’t drown in the Strait.
heaven forbid!
I’m thinking they enjoyed their picturesque twisty paths, and heated water for washing on their own hearths just fine 👌
Tish, I’m speechless. What gorgeous views and photos these are! Those clouds are wild. So much beauty!
Many thanks, Egidio 🙂
I remember those magic painting books and love how you made that connection with those beautiful photos with the subtle wash of colors – wonderful post, Tish (and now…. not sure what I want to feature for this theme…. hmmmm)
Many thanks, Yvette. Nice to know you too remember magic painting books.
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Looks very spiritual and inspiring.
Absolutely, Rebecca 🙂
Stunning images Tish, these look wonderful. Looks like a great place to just watch.
Thanks, Leanne. A very good place for losing all track of time.
How wonderful your observations Tish, and to learn a few historical fact while enjoying your beautiful photos! Much enjoyed.
So pleased you enjoyed this, Agnes.
Beautiful painterly images. I remember those magic painting books where you just added water! Looks like you had a great week.
It was a good week, especially when out of the wind! All the magnolias were out in gardens across the island, and daffodils and primroses everywhere.
After last year’s awful wet spring when everything seemed to get destroyed by S&S, this year is delightful – so many primroses and the magnolias haven’t been destroyed by the wind and rain. I agree that the recent wind has been brutally cold! My mother would have called it a lazy wind as it blows straight through you and not around!
There are not (sadly) so many wild places in the world any more Tish. You have captured quite a beautiful spot in so many of its personalities, really well done.
Many thanks, Tina. And it’s true, there aren’t too many places where humans have not left their mark. Even vertiginous Welsh mountains have old stone walls running up them.
This is an extremely beautiful post..like a painting. Menai Magic.
Many thanks, A-C. It did feel magical too.
Amazing atmospheric photos
Thanks, Pauline. Welcome back!