Mary Reed
I have lived near the levels all my life; my earliest memory would be travelling from Cardiff with mum and dad and three siblings along the coast road to the car ferry, at Beachley to take us to England. Yes, before any of the bridges were built to cross the River Severn. Living in the city we were surrounded by houses and traffic; the coast road was like escaping; the flat landscape emerging as we bumped along. I must have had a window seat in the car as I vividly remember the water crashing in the gap between the ferry and land. I also remember travelling on the ferry being a very young child this was a great adventure; it was an open car ferry and did not take long to get to Aust.
The Aust terminal was featured on the cover of a Bob Dylan album in 1966; the same year that the first Severn Bridge opened, and the car ferry closed after 40 years.
Many years later, whilst on a walk near Chepstow, with my husband and children we came across the old derelict ferry in its resting place.
As a teenager, I would travel from Cardiff to Newport by train, I had a wonderful sense of independence and anticipation; the journey took you through the flat lands of the levels where you could see for miles watching the wild horses and birds enjoying their freedom.
More recent memories would be of a wildlife photography course at Magor Marsh, an interesting day but the weather was against us. I must go back to take some better shots! I am an avid photographer, and after joining the Living Levels writing group during Covid-19 lockdown, I wondered how I could integrate both interests.
Luckily, I have access to a light aircraft, so took to the air with my camera to photograph the levels and get inspiration for my story.
I started the photographic journey at Beachley reasonably early in the morning. The light was good. I asked the pilot, my husband, to circle, so I could take a shot of the bridge then continue along the coast towards Newport Docks.
The flatness of the land struck me, along with the colours of the countless rectangular fields, with a scattering of wind pylons. I could not see much livestock from 2000 ft and where was the railway track? The sea defences were clearly visible; it was harder to make out the road structure to get you to the few houses or farms on the coast. Scattered villages filled the landscape until Newport came into view, it looked so close, but what was that interesting white building ahead? It turned out to be the West Usk Lighthouse, a navigation aid to the docks. A large cargo ship was manoeuvring to enter. I thought I would try and get a photo on the way back, as I was on the wrong side of the plane!
The next thing that caught my eye were the remains of Llanwern Steelworks, some structures are still in use but most of the site was flattened. It still looked colossal from the air.
Onwards towards Cardiff Docks and the sea defences were noticeably smaller. Wind farms come into view, how things have changed! Cardiff Docks nearly empty, I thought why have we never flown this way before? We were tuned into the Cardiff ATC listening to pilots gaining permission to enter airspace; we stayed well clear. We kept a good lookout as we turned to head back along the coast returning to the Gwent Levels. Was the ship still in view? Oh no, the light is not good from this side of the plane!
“A train, a train” I exclaimed but too late, it was too fast for me to photograph! Or was it?