Farewell To Wales And Friends.

Sep 2, 2012 (posted from Hamburg - that's still to come. (Sorry).

Only a sample of photos are here. Use the link at the bottom to see all today's photos.

A terrible tragedy befell me on Tuesday in Wales. I "lost" one entire day of photos. Using two camera cards, back and forth and back and forth, I formatted one, apparently at the wrong time, and poof!, the photos were gone. Even with a special program that "rescues" deleted files there was no getting them back from the digital ether. I did find photos from Martha's Vineard from two years ago! But not my Tuesday photos from two days ago. Weird. And so demoralizing. Those scenes are now only in my memory but I'm very sorry because, as a photographer (and not so much a writer as you can see or read), it's hard to convey the beauty of that day - a visit to a remote beach that could only be reached on foot. But thankfully, Stacey took photos and I'm sharing those  with you.

The beach was called Three Cliffs and so was the bay which it embraced.
Before we trekked to the beach, we spent an hour or so at the Gower Heritage Center - concentrated around a 12th century water mill which drove all kinds of machinery - in the early days, it ground corn and other grains. As the industrial revolution developed, all kinds of machinery was adapted to the power it derived from the stream running through it: sawmill, carpentry tools, metal grinding, and so on. Each different tool in various rooms surrounding the main wheel had belts that would drive the machine. We were intrigued by the early engineering that went into this. You can read a brief history here.

The 300 year old water wheel replaced an older less efficient one.
Photo by Stacey P. Weinstein

A Welsh woodworker at the Gower Heritage Center. The
wood turning machine was water powered. Cool!
Photo by Stacey P. Weinstein

The walk out to the wate (about a mile) was through an open cut in the surrounding forest that got wider and wider until we reached the beach and the bay. It was surrounded by tall hills that became cliffs next to the water. Cut by the water over the ages, one of the three cliffs had become a bridge of sorts as it been bored through by the ocean. Spectacular.

Three Cliffs beach and bay. We walked a mile to get there.
Stunning beauty!    Photo by Stacey P. Weinstein

Dinner that evening was at a restaurant that Ann and Alex frequented. It was in the Little Langland Hotel and they used to live right across the street. It was walking distance and a lovely meal ensued. After we walked back along the beach promenade lit by the full August moon. 

The boys - a lovely dinner.

On our last day, another walk through Mumbles. It was a rain on-and-off-day and we wanted to hang around home.

Mumble houses on our last day's walk.

Tomorrow we'd be off for Heathrow and had to leave very early. It had been a magical week for us. Like all trips, you never think it's going to end and suddenly it's over. Wales was awe-inspiring and we didn't regret coming here for a moment. 

As far as hosts, Ann and Alex were the best. But that's what you get when you go to visit friends. Ann, Mark and I go back to our student radical days at Brooklyn College. It was so good to pick up again, this many years later. And we all clicked.  I'm hoping we can do this again some time later. For now, it's goodbye Wales ... we loved you!

A farwell group portrait before we drove off to the airport.

The next day we drove four hours to the airport. Jane and Mark flew home to New York. We took a two hour flight to Hamburg. And so, the blog continues ... in Germany!

To see all of today's photos CLICK HERE.