Drowned Valleys; A concept I fell in love with years ago, an Atlanta under the sea maybe, or more prosaically, the sea came further in between two hills. Whatever, Solva is a drowned valley, once in Medieval times an important port but now just host to holiday yachts and boats.
But if you climb to the top of the cliffs and wander along the narrow ridge of rock between Solva and the next valley, you get a very Welsh feel to this part of the coastline. So my photos of 2005 will show the little hidden valley next to Solva, with its small river running through down to the sea and the rounded beach.
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| The narrow rocky ridge between the two valleys |
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| The right hand steep hill is the one to make your way down to this fairly inaccessible boggy valley. The path goes up on the other side which would take you to St. Elvis Farm. |
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| The air is so clean around here that lichens thrive happily |
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| Always follow the path |
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| We farm on soft soil land but the rocks thrusting through, so often seen in Wales, reminds us of the beginning of the Earth molding itself |
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| At the headland there is an Iron Age fort/settlement. I think there must be an Iron Age settlement every half mile along this stretch of the coast. |
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| Tortured by the elements. Hawthorns grow to great age. |
That's a little corner of Wales we never visited which is odd as we went to Tenby and Pembroke and Cardigan and everywhere further west and north but missed St Davids and that bit of coast - sadly - as it looks beautiful
ReplyDeleteI think it is less lived in Sue but as you say very beautiful. Also, maybe I am not a fan of towns and will always seek out the countryside. Solva sadly has many of the cottages down as holiday cottages, and just checking the cottage where I used to stay £600 a week.
DeleteWhat a beautiful view from up on top! I don't know if I'd be able to make it up and down those great hills, tho. :)
ReplyDeleteThey are not very large, only rather steep and of course covered in gorse Ellen, so you take the small paths down and slip and slide.
DeleteI know that Elvis Presley is still revered by his many fans but I didn't realise that he had achieved sainthood! I guess that you went there yourself but to see a picture of the burial chamber near St Elvis Farm - go here:- https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1191664
ReplyDeletePrepare to be surprised though I was going to write all this down tomorrow. Start with Elvis's surname Presley/Presceli? The saint Ailbe (6th century) name translates to Elvis as well. According to Breverton, the American Presley family have Welsh names. Anyway coincidentally, the 27th February, which is today is St. Elouis (another name of Ailbe) is his saint's day.
DeleteAlso, to quote Breverton's Book of Welsh Saints. "There is an ambiguous Saying of the Wise" that this saint who had several names (another one coming up) is that a tolerance and understanding of homosexuality seems to be a mark of his character.
Delete"Hast thou heard the saying of Elvyw.
A man wise without a peer?
Let every sex go to where it belongs"