Scanned from 35 mm colour transparencies and colour prints. Photography by John Ball - 1968, 1990, and 1991.

The spectacular coastal scenery of Caerfai Bay (left) is about one mile south-west of Cross Square in St David's. Except at high tide, the bay offers an excellent bathing beach, popular with children and adults alike. The beauty of the cove is enhanced by the colours of the rocks which consist of green, purple, and red sands and muds laid down in the Cambrian geological period, over 700 million years ago. Around the headland and immediately east of Caerfai Bay is the secluded Caerbwdi Bay. This unspoilt and attractive cove offers a small area of sandy beach at low tide, but is mainly shingle, pebbles, and rocks.

Descriptions adapted from: St David's and North Pembrokeshire edited by D. T. Jones, published in 1966 by D. G. Hampson, St David's, Pembrokeshire; and Detailed Guide to the Beaches and Islands of Pembrokeshire by Tony Roberts, published in 1979 by Tony Roberts, Pembrokeshire Handbooks, Abercastle, Pembrokeshire.

Inland, the terrain around St David's is largely flat and featureless but the coast is rugged and dramatic. My photographs of Caerfai Bay and Caerbwdi Bay demonstrate the spectacular nature of this section of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, with its sheer cliffs and tiny coves.

Image 1:

September 1968

Caerfai Bay

Image 2:**

September 1968

Caerfai Bay, viewed from the public footpath on the headland to the west of the bay. The footpath is part of the 180-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

Image 3:

April 1990

Caerfai Bay, showing the colourful rocks.

Image 4:

September 1968

Caerfai Bay, viewed from the public footpath on the headland to the east of the bay.

The brown patches in the ocean are seaweed growths on the sea-bed, demonstrating the clarity of the water. The track which can be seen leading down to the beach is susceptible to rock falls.

Image 5:

May 1991 

Image 6:

September 1968

Image5, 6:

In spring, wild flowers (Image 5) clothe the steep slopes alongside the track leading down to the beach. A notice (Image 6) reminds us of the danger of falling rocks.

Image 7:

May 1991 

Image 8:

May 1991

Image 7, 8: The beach at Caerfai Bay, viewed from the track leading down to the shore. The ebbing tide is uncovering the clean, firm, sandy beach.

Image 9:

September 1968

The weather in Wales is fickle! Atlantic breakers crash into the rocks at Caerfai Bay after a stormy day. The air is wet with salty spray.