Pembrokeshire again - this time with added heat

The Hiscocks family have been holidaying in far west Pembrokeshire for 50 years. Regular readers of this blog will have seen previous posts of our times down here. It's a spot that holds a special place in our families heart, with both my parents ashes scattered on one of the beaches here.

Normally, of course despite usually coming down in August, the weather can be mixed, and packing raincoats and warm clothes is pretty mandatory. Although we needn't have bothered.

For the first time I can remember, we had a week of wall to wall sunshine, and more amazingly, the heat to go with it and virtually no wind. With the UK basking in the second heatwave of the year, and the driest first half of the year since 1976 it was as warm as the Mediterranean normally is - although large parts of the Med were experiencing even hotter weather this year.

As always, we had a fantastic time. The local campsite owners where the rest of my family stay, say it's been very quiet all year, but I thought the area was heaving - certainly during the week we were there.

We stayed in a town house slap bang in the middle of St Davids. Very handy for shops, pubs (if you could fight your way to the bar) and restaurants (if you could find/book a table). What was very evident was that nearly all hospitality places, from cafes to restaurants and pubs, were hiring and short staffed. The problem is that there's nowhere, or nowhere affordable, for potential short term staff to stay for the summer. Holiday lets are far too expensive, and temporary, affordable accommodation is in very short supply.

However, on to the holiday!

We started by calling in at Solva on the way as we usually do, and climbing the Gribyn hill on the side of Solva harbour, one of my favourite places anywhere. The views over St Brides Bay are gorgeous. We then called at the campsite to catch up with those of my family who were around, before a bunch of us drove to Strumble head for a short 30 minute coast path walk round to a secluded rocky bay called Porthsychan. Secluded that is apart from the seals. There were several bobbing around in the bay watching as we swam, picnicked and generally lazed about for a few hours. 

Glorious Solfa/Solfach from the Gribyn. 

Stumble Head light

Saturday was a lazy day, catching up with family on the campsite before popping to Caerfai Bay in the evening for those that wanted to swim or paddle board.

Caerfai

Sunday saw a trip to Scolton Manor, just outside Haverfordwest. Somewhere I'd never been in all our years of holidaying in Pembrokeshire. It was OK, although to be honest there wasn't that much to see or do. Still a nice walk in the woods, an ice cream made for a pleasant couple of hours.

There be dragons at Scolton

On Monday a few us us climbed one of the local rocky hills, Penberry/Penberi, a 175m lump of rock not far from the campsite. Not an overly strenuous climb, but required some wading through bracken and gorse, but the views were worth it across to Ramsey Island , Stumble Head and as far as Skomer and towards Milford across St Brides Bay. We also saw a smoke form a wild fire on a small island just off the coast. 

On Penberry/Penberi

View towards Ramsey Island from Penberry/Penberi

In the afternoon we had a pre-booked power boat trip around Ramsey with Falcon Boats - fabulous as always, and despite having done these trips before, learned some new stuff from the experienced and knowledgable crew. We saw seals, oystercatchers, peregrines, kittiwakes, guillemots, jellyfish, shags, petrels, fulmars and more.

Exploring a sea cave on Ramsey Island

That evening the "kids" (anyone under the age of 27) went to a local (just outside the gate) pizza place, whilst the oldies had a great catch up meal in our holiday home.

Tuesday saw us do a long beach day on our favourite beach - Abereiddy, home of the famous Blue Lagoon, an old slate quarry. Parking's a nightmare, and managed by the coasteering groups so an early start saw us get there for 8.30am whereupon there was a slight altercation between my elder brother and a car park attendant (a "you can't park there" altercation, but eventually resolved amicably(ish). The altercation was interrupted (and probably resolved) by the sight of a dolphin pod swimming in the bay - a rare treat here indeed. After that it was seven hours of lazing, kayaking, swimming, jumping of rocks (not me) and more picnics.

Blue Pool, Abereiddy

Abereiddy Bay

Intrepid explorers

Wednesday saw our two (grown up) kids have a lie in, whilst Anne and I went for a four mile circular walk on the stunning coast path alongside Ramsey Sound. It was a fairly gently stroll, before the sun got too hot. Again, wildlife was spotted regularly - oystercatchers, choughs, shags, but the highlight was spotting a seal, and then realising that it was adjacent to a rocky cove where a mother seal was feeding a newborn seal pup. In the evening we had a decent meal at the Bishop's pub/restauarant in St David's.

Mother seal and pup

Ramsey and Ramsey Sound

Our last day on Thursday (we had to be out of our house by 9am on Friday!) a gang of us went to Picton Castle & Gardens just outside Haverfordwest. It was the hottest day of the week, uncomfortably hot to do too much, so a wander around the gardens hunting for shade, a picnic and an ice cream was all we were good for! The highlight of the day was the owl Gardens and zoo - we watched Freddie the otter being fed, alongside an excellent and knowledgeable patter by his keeper, and then a similarly engrossing talk from the owl keeper as he flew four of five of the 25 odd owl species they have there, including a glorious eagle owl.

Freddie the otter

Eagle owl

The day was topped off as I took some pictures of the rising Sturgeon Supermoon over St Brides Bay, a great bookend to the fabulous sunsets we saw all week.

Sturgeon Supermoon over St Brides Bay

One of the glorious sunsets 

We were, as always sad to leave and come home, but happy in the knowledge that we will, of course be back, whether it's next years family break or maybe just a day or two to pop down the M4 - after all, it's barely a couple of hours away.

Just don't tell anyone about this place........

All my photos are available here

Twitter: @Statto1927 Flickr: 

https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

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GAS gone? Maybe....

GAS. Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

A condition affecting many people in different ways depending on their hobby (or profession I suppose), but for photographers, it's the continuing search for the ideal piece of kit. A never ending circle of "the grass is greener" where camera kit is concerned. For some no doubt it's just the opportunity to buy more and more stuff.

In the last 10 years or so I've had the following cameras (at least). A Fuji compact (model escapes my memory), a Sony travel zoom, two Panasonic Lumix TZ travel zooms (one of which I still have), a Canon 100D SLR, two Canon 77D DSLRs, A Fuji X-S-10 mirrorless, a Panasonic FZ330 bridge and a Sony RX100vi travel zoom (both of which I still have). The Canon's and the Fuji X-S10 as  interchangeable lens cameras (ILC) also required me to have an assortment of lenses and I've probably had about 10-12 lenses for these cameras over that period.

Some of these cameras serve (or served) explicit purposes. The original Sony travel soon, both Lumix TZ's and the Sony RX100vi were/are small, pocketable travel zooms bought expressly for the purpose of taking photos on travels abroad. Good enough for excellent photos without the weight and hassle of bigger ILC's. The bigger SLR/DSLR/Mirrorless ILC's promised better quality shots with their bigger sensors and large lenses, but that didn't always translate in practice. Most cameras these days will take good enough shots for most people unless you're what's called a "pixel peeper" studiously and minutely analysing photographs for the minutest of defects, or blowing them up and printing poster size or beyond. Most crap photos frankly come down to user error, so learn how to use the camera and in most cases you'll be fine, whether using a phone camera, a cheap camera or the most expensive gear.

Anyway, the long and short of it, was that my bigger (and more expensive) ILC's like the Canon's and Fuji-X-S10 rarely got used because I could never be hassled to take the camera and an assortment of lenses with me. It was easier to take one of the travel zooms or my small Panasonic FZ330 bridge (all in one) superzoom. On the plus side, the travel zooms, were/are small and the RX100vi particularly takes an excellent photo with it's large one inch sensor, and the RX100 family is frequently considered amongst the best in class. I bought this ahead of our Mediterranean cruise this year and it doesn't disappoint. It's expensive though, with the newest Mkvii retailing at over £1,000. There's little wrong with earlier models which are still available, although do compare as the specs vary slightly from model to model . 

My FZ330 takes excellent photos, but it's Achilles heel if it has one, is that its sensor is small, classed as a 1: 2/3rds sensor. Good enough for most shooting but struggles in lower light or when you'll be wanting to enlarge or crop shots.

Having got fed up of buying and then not really using my ILC's, and after almost a year of procrastinating, I've bitten the bullet and traded my X-S10 and all it's lenses and bought a Panasonic FZ2000 bridge camera. It's an older camera with the first units shipping in 2016 (although this one is brand new). Despite its technological age, it's still an absolutely fantastic camera. There's a good, well balanced review here by one of my favourite camera reviewers, and another more recent review by another person who uses the camera regularly here.

The Panasonic FZ2000

The FZ2000 (or FZ 2500 in the USA - don't ask me why) is like my FZ330 on steroids. It's big - bigger than the X-S10. It's classed as a "compact" although I can guarantee you it isn't, weighing in a whisker over 2lbs or just under a kilogram. It has an excellent Leica fixed lens (no more buying and carting multiple lenses around), has a bigger one inch sensor (like the smaller Sony RX100vi), and a 24-480mm zoom which will cover most scenarios from landscapes to portraits to telephoto wildlife.

This means I now have good options depending on what I'm doing. Travelling abroad where weight and size is more troublesome, the Sony RX100vi serves admirably. For specific shots where I want more zoom, or have a specific project or target in mind and don't mind the weight and size, the FZ2000 will work. For anything in between or when specific circumstances dictate, the FZ330 will suit - for example, we're shortly going on our annual trip to west Wales. We'll be going on a boat trip where I need zoom, but don't want to take a non weathersealed £750+ camera for fear of dropping over the side, which discounts both the RX100vi (not weathersealed and not enough zoom) and the FZ2000 (too big, not weathersealed). The FZ330 is ideal. Weathersealed, longer zoom and smallish size. And of course not forgetting my iPhone 13 Pro which itself takes excellent shots giving me another option, and one that's with me all the time - after all the best camera is the one you have with you.

I really like the FZ2000 camera and I'm going to enjoy using it. I haven't had much chance yet, but here's a quick sample of what it's capable of. 

Dahlia from my garden

And I'm hoping, ultimately, that now that I have all bases covered, that my GAS is at least for the moment, sated.

Finally, a shout out to the Cardiff Camera Centre in Morgan Arcade Cardiff, where I traded my gear and got the FZ2000. Helpful, friendly staff. Recommended.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks