Wales, London, and Bath

In October, we went to Wales. We had already been to three of the UK's four countries, so Wales was the last one left. We stayed in a village called Betws-y-Coed, at the foot of the Snowdonia mountains.

The next day, we went for a hike, combining two routes into one loop: the Miners’ Track and the Pyg Track.

We started at Pen-y-Pass, followed the Miners’ Track past the lakes to Glaslyn, then returned along the Pyg Track. Our route didn't go up to the summit of Snowdon (i'm not suicidal).

The Miners’ Track was originally built to serve the Britannia copper mine. You can still see its remains by the lakes.

Near the manor house where we were staying, we visited Fairy Glen, a narrow gorge on the River Conwy near Betws-y-Coed. The constant damp keeps the rocks and trees covered in mosses and ferns.

Later that day, we walked to Llynnau Mymbyr, the lakes near Capel Curig. From there, you can see the Snowdon massif.

After Wales, we went to London for two days to see Sam Yates’s production of Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy, then headed to Bath.

Bath grew up around hot springs in Roman times, when it was known as Aquae Sulis. It became a fashionable spa town again in the eighteenth century, when much of its present-day appearance took shape.

Pulteney Bridge in Bath was inspired by Palladio's design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice, which was never built there.

Bath's houses get their honey colour from the local Bath stone, a Jurassic limestone that was already in use in Roman times.

We spent the last few days in the UK in London, and I only took a handful of photos on my Yashica Mat.

Goodwin’s Court appears in records as early as 1690. Before that, it was Fishers Alley. The bow windows were once eighteenth-century shopfronts, with people living and trading behind them. The alley still has its nineteenth-century gas lighting.

At a camera shop, I was looking for a case for my Yashica Mat. The shopkeeper found an old one priced at £30 and simply gave it to me: “Take it.” When I looked surprised, he said, “Yes, life is short.” I took his portrait.