I was very lucky to be able to camp in the small village of Goginan just outside of Aberystwyth between the 7th and 9th of September 2021. My friend Ali had first brought this location to my attention and was integral to helping me set up this trip, I really can't thank her enough. Below is the journal entry I wrote about this trip where I first used my 4x5 camera.
This place is gorgeous, in fact, I didn’t think communities like this even really existed anymore – let alone on my doorstep! I arrived by bus – it would have been a 20 minute journey if not for some roadworks we encountered on the way – and Ali walked me past her mum’s house so we could collect the dog. Cadno, “Fox” in Welsh, was named appropriately as he’s the most beautiful, red-coated dog I’ve seen. The tips of his tail and toes are white and he wanted to do nothing but run around and be fussed over.
We walked across fields whilst Ali pointed out who lived where until we turned onto a paved road and through a gate. Next to a small stream there were some picnic benches basking in the sunlight and a shed surrounded by flowers with a sign above the door reading “CYFNEWID LLYFRAN GOGINAN BOOK SWAP”. Open the door and you’re hit with the smell of wood and books. The shelves are stacked floor to ceiling and there are some folding chairs and cushions tucked away in the corner. Lush plants line one of the walls and the stream can be seen bubbling in the sun through the small windows. This is the definition of cosy.
Following the path behind this shed, stream running parallel to the right of us, we reach the community field. The residents pooled money together and set up fund-raisers to purchase this field for community events from easter egg hunts to live music. There are football nets, rope swings, fire pits, compost toilets in a DIY building, and right at the very end I can see my home for the next two nights – a massive bell tent.
When I say it was big, I mean it was huge! The inside of this thing is bigger than some of the bedrooms I’ve had in student rentals. There are solar powered lanterns on a line outside and a gazebo just to the right with some tables and benches underneath. Inside the tent there is a pile of cushions and beanbags for me to use, as well as a box of pots/pans/plates/cutlery etc if I need it. A couple of large rugs are laid out on the ground sheet and colourful bunting spiderwebs out across the ceiling. On the central pole hang some handmade decorations – painted shells and strings of beads. There are two sticks strung up with handstitched patchwork mats and blankets draped over them. These were too beautiful for me to use however, so I left them hanging and just visually studied them.
This is where I dropped my bag off before we left to take Cadno for a walk in the shade, it had become a sweltering 29’C and Ali had promised me a much-needed spot to dip my feet in the water.
As we walked along the roads and paths to the woodland, residents waved and greeted us with a smile. Buildings set way into the hillside, the forest encroaching on the gardens and lanes surrounding them. This place wasn’t so much being reclaimed by nature as it was living symbiotically alongside it. We walked through a farmstead and could hear the sheepdogs in the kennel making a fuss at Cadno’s scent. The trees here are tall, branchless until the very top for the most part, where they explode into a lush green canopy. As we sat with our feet in the stream, throwing sticks for Cadno to chase into the water, the sun was streaming through the leaves above us casting a brilliant yellow-gold glow onto everything surrounding us.
Ali’s mum met us back in the field, she had brought me an air bed, duvets, a pillow, and some fire supplies! I protested her kindness, but she insisted. Whilst I did have a roll mat and sleeping bag, even after the air bed had deflated – as they always do - having that extra padding beneath me from the duvets was very welcomed.
The sun was setting, and the sky was clear, so I decided to start up a fire. There were fire lighters and long matches in with the wood Ali's mum gave me, which was a nice change from the cheap lighter and foraged fibrous material I usually use. Listening to the fire crackle whilst I have a green tea and my beans and rice is my happy place. The night was so still, and it gave me the room to think that I don’t normally get in my bedroom sat at my pc.
Bats began to appear, as did the milky way above me. It’s hard to believe that I’m not even 8 miles out of town and the stars are this visible. I laid down for hours just looking at the sky and thinking about lots of stuff but also not much at all. The fire had begun to die down, and the owls speak up. I wanted to save some wood for the next night, so I let myself savour the night sounds for a little longer before extinguishing the fire fully and making my way to bed. I could easily live here; in fact, I’d give up a lot to be able to.
I fell asleep to the sound of light rain, but luckily I woke up to nothing but songbirds and a breeze. I sat outside drinking a green tea and eating some warm porridge I had made on my stove. The plan was to meet up with Ali and she would take me to the castle fort overlooking the Rheidol. Once I got the text saying Ali was up and ready to go, I made my way to her mum’s house where she was staying. We sat and chatted with her parents whilst she finished packing her lunch before we headed off across the main road with Cadno in tow. The walk there was pleasant, the sun was shining and it was for the most part either flat or a very shallow incline. We walked across fields, down some country roads, and past some horses. For a lot of the walk we were on paths that went through fields of sheep, Cadno close by us the whole time so as to not worry the animals.
We eventually reach a gate, Ali tells me the land is owned by the hydroelectric company. There is a big sign telling us not to trespass, something that wasn’t there the last time Ali came up this way, but as the footpath is denoted on my OS map we decide to pass through the gate anyway but to stick religiously to the footpath. This is where the only major bit of incline is, and it is only once you get close to the top does the view of the valley and river below begin to appear in our sight. It’s breathtaking.
There are views of the Rheidol snaking down toward Aber where it reaches the sea. In the other direction it curves behind hills further in land. The other side of the valley is the track the steam train travels along, making it’s way up to Devil’s Bridge. The valley carries the sound of the train from where it leaves the station in Aber, and every time the whistle is blown the sound makes its way up to you on this old forgotten hill fort, Castell Bwa-Drain. This was the first time I had ever put film inside my 4x5, and what a place to take it for a spin. I took a couple shots down into the valley, metering for the shadows and using an app I had downloaded to aid in finding an equivalent exposure to what my light meter told me.
Ali knew this place well and over lunch discussed all the details of the nearby locations she had spent so much time in. Cadno loved it up here and frolicked in the grass and wildflowers as we poured cups of tea and watched the train chug by. Places like this feel so magically different to more urban historic settings. Away from the hustle and bustle of modern day life you can really sit and think about the people that worked and lived here in years past. The intentions of building on this spot, the harsh weather conditions they had to face, and the beautiful clear views they experienced on a day-to-day basis. It’s hard to explain exactly how places like this make me feel because it's such a physical reaction, but boy do they make me feel. If I’m ever unsure on whether I’m doing the right thing in regards to my work and concept, all I have to do is get back out there and feel the history of the landscape.
I’m not sure how long we stayed there for, but after finishing our lunch and taking a few more pictures we made our way back using the same route as on the way there. Once back at Ali’s mum’s house, she showed me a few places I could walk the next day on my map as Ali wouldn’t be accompanying me due to work. The plans for the next day were much longer than the walk to the hill fort so I knew I would have to have an early night and early start if I wanted to be back in time for the bus to Aber. The night itself was similar to the one before. I lit a fire and ate my dinner to the sound of bats and owls. The rain came earlier this night than it had before so I extinguished the flames and settled in for bed.
After waking up and having some tea and breakfast, I packed my bag with the necessary things before heading off northward. The start of the walk followed a paved road up through some woodland. The trees were tall and the canopy was thick, the sky threatened to release some rain on me but I was prepared for this as I had my waterproofs on and thermals in my bag if needed. Along the road I encountered the odd house, most looked empty but some had signs of life, life well lived at that. Eventually I reached a small clearing lined with little cottages on either side before quickly turning back into dense forest. It began to spit but nothing I couldn’t handle and the trees shielded me from the worst of it. I tried to get a shot of the light streaming through the needles but due to the cloud cover there just wasn’t enough light to compose the image let alone take one in a reasonable amount of time, so I decided to wait until I had reached the ridge of the hill I was climbing.
Emerging out of the woodland I was greeted with stunning views down onto Cwmerfyn. There were a handful of sheep milling about to greet me, and a red kite circling above us. For most of my hikes I’ve been on for my degrees I’ve had people come with me. This was maybe only the second one I was doing for the purpose of Uni work I had gone on by myself and it really gave me time to take everything in fully and be able to focus solely on my project concept. Being by myself with my camera and the landscape really hits differently to when someone else is there. Not to say having someone come with me is bad or somehow lesser, it’s just a very different experience. Alone I could feel myself in relation to the landscape and my camera, I could focus on things more intently than if I was conversing with someone or worried about holding them up due to the time it takes to take an image with a pinhole lens. I stopped to take a picture looking down over the valley before packing up and following the ridge along the hills.
The view from the top was incredible. Seeing all the slate interspersed with purple heather and reddish brown bracken created an almost painterly quality along the sides of the valley. The rain had really started to pick up by this point, and the clouds above were getting darker and more dramatic by the second. Whilst I was now fully exposed to the elements atop the hills, no shelter in the form of trees, it wasn’t enough to hold me back or dampen my spirits. Weather like this adds an air of exhilaration to a walk as wild as this. As the path begins to squeeze between two outcroppings of slate, Llyn Rhosgoch comes into view. This is the first point this whole trip I’ve come across other people, except those outside their homes, as there is a couple fishing in this lake. The clouds were really impressive even though the rain had begun to let up so I decided to stop here and capture an image with the lake in the background and a few sheep creeping their way into the foreground. From this point onward the route I was taking seemed to be mostly flat or only gentle inclines until I would reach the point I have to descend into the valley before coming back up to meet the edge of the forest I entered by.
After packing up my camera once again I continued along the path, taking in the beautiful falls and rises of the land, dotted with clumps of trees and large formations of slate. The water in the lake was glassy and still, reflecting the dark sky above. Once I reached the shore of Llyn Blaenmelindwr I was feeling a little hungry so sat down on a rock to eat my lunch. I could see the rain start up again as fat drops of water disturbed the surface of this second lake. The speed of the rain picked up quicker and quicker until the sky broke loose with an almighty downpour and I had to quickly pack up and continue on my trek. Looking at the map it seemed that there would be some tree cover not too far away but once I reached it on foot I could see so much of it had been cut back and new saplings were growing in its place. I had no choice but to continue on the path, no shelter from the rain or icy wind.
Whilst I feel many would find this miserable, for me it was anything but. All of my important equipment was safely in drybags within my rucksack so I had no worry for that, and not only was this cooling touch of the rain a nice respite from the heat of the days previous but the Welsh landscape is perfectly suited for this greyer, harsher weather. The darkness of the slate surrounding me was mirrored perfectly in the sky above, and the wind whistled past at fast rates. This was once again a time where I could only imagine what this location was like for the humans living and working here over the course of history. Did they travel these paths and feel the biblical awesomeness of the landscape in the way I was now? Without the modern comforts of insulation and central heating was there any inkling of the pure joy and admiration I had at the landscape before me? Did they enjoy the sound of boot on stone and rain on leaves in any way similar to me? Who were these people and what were their lives like?
The next spot I managed to find any shelter was a carpark under some tall trees at the edge of Llyn Pendam. I was met with bemused looks from people sat in their warm cars as I set my bag down and shook the rain out of my hair with a grin. I only stopped for a minute to reorient myself and wipe my map cover clear to check when I next had to turn off the path. The rain was still beating hard as I made my way around the top curve of the lake, there was now a little bit of canopy shielding me from the wind and keeping what was round the curves of the path a surprise. I had reached the furthest point of my planned walk now so knew I’d soon have to think about making the descent into the valleys.
The rain had begun to let up a little, and there was a break in the clouds. Due to how high up I was at this point I could see streaks of sunlight beaming down onto Cwmsymlog valley. This is where I decided to take what would be my last image of the walk. Due to using large format and having film slides instead of rolls I had a lot less frames available to me, before I went out I assumed this would be difficult to adhere to, but I’ve since found that’s not the case at all. It makes me consider each image thoroughly before I shoot it and I’m not taking pictures for the sake of taking them. There's been times in the past as well when I’ve ended a walk with only a portion of a roll shot and I have to go out again to finish it before I can develop it but as this is sheet film I don’t have to do that anymore as I develop it frame by frame. To think I went on a full day walk and only took 3 images is something only a year ago I would have thought impossible, but here I am feeling empowered and amazed. The process of setting up my camera and taking out all the little bits from my bag is a very deliberate and magical experience, and I hope to get that across in each shot I take.
After packing everything up I stayed a while to fully take in the view, but I couldn't stay too long as I had a bus to catch and multiple paths I could take back down. From here until I began to descend into Cwmerfyn valley a lot of my route would take me across fields where the paths are not as clearly marked due to being old sheep tracks. I had to keep a close eye on my map and orient myself with what landmarks I could see to make sure I would enter the valley at a point I could pinpoint on the map. The rain had stopped by this point and the sun had come out again, even if only for a while. I decided to take the shorter route back down, but this would mean I would have to crest the hills first and have a steeper journey down into the valley, my bag was heavy from the get-go but doing this whilst soaking wet meant I could really begin to feel just how heavy it really was.
It began to spit rain on and off as I made my way past houses in the middle of nowhere with lushly overgrown gardens. Sheep were still dotted around wherever they wished to roam. After what felt like hours I was finally able to see Cwmerfyn in the distance. For the first time since the morning I was walking on paved road again, swapping the sound of wet grass or gravel for the slap of rubber soles on tarmac I made my way down through the village. Every now and then a dog would bark as I, a stranger, walked the road close to their home. Once I got to a small bit of tree cover near a bridge I stopped to take a rest and drink of water before beginning the steepest climb of my journey so far, back to the edge of the woodland where I took my first image of the day.
By this point my shoulders were sore and my feet were heavy, but my mind was in one of the best places it had been for a while. I had only been walking under the cover of the thick forest for minutes before the heavens opened up again and the downpour was as heavy as ever, even under the trees I was still getting soaked again. The sensations of the landscape, especially woodland such as this, during these kinds of conditions is something I could never tire of. Maybe after a third of the journey back down this road a car travelling in the opposite direction stopped to ask if I wanted a lift back to Goginan but if I’m honest you couldn’t have paid me to accept it. I wanted nothing else than to be exactly where I was at that moment in time. The road itself was basically a shallow river at this point as the water travelled downhill, but my feet were still dry and my spirits were high.
Once I got back toward the flats of the village I had to leap across some of the deeper puddles before reaching my tent and beginning to pack my belongings. I left all of Ali’s mum’s blankets and fire supplies in the tent, if it had been dry I would have carried them to her house but I thought it would be best to just pop in on my way past and let her know they were there so she could collect them in her car once the rain had stopped. The walk back up to the main road was only short but required some wading through puddles. I wanted to keep my feet dry so had to walk very slowly through parts so as to not cause ripples to overflow into my boots. It wasn’t long until the bus arrived, and once it did I was certainly the wettest passenger on there but also the happiest. I think a day like this would have been miserable to many but it only strengthened my certainty in what I’m pursuing and why and I won’t forget how it made me feel so alive.
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