St David’s Head - Jan-Eric Osterlund

*Looking south from a point near St David’s Head with Whitesands Bay to the left and Ramsay Island to the far right*

St David is the patron saint of Wales. He lived in the westernmost area of present day Pembrokeshire. He was a monk and founded a monastic community in the 6^th century. In order to become a saint you have to perform miracles. St David’s most famous miracle was when he was preaching to a large crowd and people at the back complained that they couldn’t hear him. He then raised the ground so the people at the back stood on a hill and a white dove settled on his shoulder. Probably the least meaningful miracle you can think of. The last thing Wales need is another hill!

St David’s Head – of course named after St David – is the westernmost part of Wales and the point which is closest to Ireland. I stayed in Wales a couple of days to photograph the landscape around St David’s Head and the puffins on Skomer Island and also the very beautiful Cathedral of St David. I stayed at Roch Castle (see images below). Roch Castle was built in the late 12th C and served as a stronghold defending the Anglicised Wales from the independent Welsh to the North.

The castle was built by a Norman knight, Adam de Rupe. He probably took the name from the rock on which the castle was built, “de Rupe” meaning roughly “of the rock”. It has since had a varied history until it recently in the 21^st C was converted into a small and very pleasant hotel.

Roch Castle, where I stayed during my photography

Roch Castle provides lovely views in 360 degrees around the castle and I stayed at the top floor. To the west, less than a mile away is St Bride’s Bay and Newgale Beach. And looking out from Newgale Beach (see the image below) you can far away see how the promontory ends with St David’s Head.

*Newgale Beach on a lovely June afternoon*

I continued further west, passing St David, the smallest city in the United Kingdom and after a few hours capturing the beautiful cathedral I continued towards St David’s Head. Just south of St David’s Head is Whitesands Bay. Legend will tell us that St Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland was standing at Whitesands Bay looking out west towards Ireland and decided he would travel to Ireland to convert the country to Christianity.

*Whitesands Bay. This image is captured 4 hours later than the previous one, which explains the different light. St David’s Head can again be seen in the distance*

*From Whitesands Bay I walked along the coast towards the headland. The sun had now turned westerly, as we are looking out into the St George’s Channel*

*Looking back along the coast and Whitesands Bay can be seen in the background lit by the sun that soon will set.*

And the last picture from my walk towards St David’s Head is actually the one I had as the first in this blog looking south, where Ramsey Island can be seen just to the right in the image. My next blog will be about St David’s Cathedral.