The ticket machine at the National Trust Cwm Gwdi car park provided a time check of 04.04 hrs, surprisingly I had not dithered and no delays on the journey, meant I was well ahead of schedule. Which was just as well as I managed to miss the feint path I needed to take in the valley wood and continued instead on a more easier to follow trail into the bracken clad lower slopes. Recent high winds had flattened the bracken, obscuring trails and resulting in me thrashing my way through it, until reaching the open hillside. The small consolation of the steepness of the hillslope meant I witnessed several shooting stars, aided by the fact that there was no cloud.
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| Aside from contrails an almost cloudless sky. |
The lack of cloud was disconcerting, the prospect of clear skies and cool blue shadows is not an appealing one. A record shot was made of the absence of cloud over much of mid Wales, to be fair there appeared to be a bank of cloud over the distant eastern horizon, which meant the quality first light would be compromised.
Things panned out pretty much as anticipated, the predawn twilight resulted in some wispy cloud and contrails turning pink, the quality first light went missing in the cloud on the eastern horizon and some warm light provided some relief for an image of the heather moorland with contrails some relief against an uninspiring sky. Sigh.
A wander ensued and a nice scene was found of a Rowan tree surviving against the odds of sheep grazing and storms, with the Brecon Fans as a backdrop and some potential for a future trip. Then it was back to the car, reflect on the importance of a sky for a landscape photograph and not for the first time reflect on how inaccurate Met Office forecasts are for dawn.
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