Walking up Glanmor Terrace in New Quay, Ceredigion, this afternoon, we could see hills and mountains curving all round Cardigan Bay. The furthest westward ones we could see were almost exactly on the alignment of the road we were on.
Projecting this line on Google maps, I think we were looking at the western edge of Snowdonia, north of Criccieth, at a distance of at least 55 miles. We were probably a couple of hundred feet above sea level, which would have helped. Inland views were extensive on our drive back eastwards as well.
I have been able to see Snowdonia from New Quay previously, in 2022 (as noted in post 663).
Looking at the Viewfinder Panorama for the view south of Snowdon, there’s an incredible possible view over all of Cardigan Bay, right down to St David’s Head. Being slightly elevated in New Quay looks like it gives a great view of the reverse of this panorama:
The red light specs were upgraded a few years ago, and high structures are now more prominent at night than they used to be, especially at clusters such as Canary Wharf or the City of London.
I used to work long ago in the Piccadilly Plaza high rise in Manchester, and from the top floor (28th) west facing window, ironically in the telephone PABX room, with binoculars you could just see the top of Liverpool Cathedral. I wonder if that has red lights nowadays. You could see the Clwyd Hills high point well beyond it, Moel Famau, 1,800 ft, more often.
Last night I was on the Woodhead Pass eastbound, and just past the Derbyshire boundary marker the road rises to give a great view across moorland to Emley Moor transmitter. It was dark and cold and the mast lights were very clear. I had a good view from the passenger seat and I could make out a cluster of vivid red lights low on the horizon just to the left of the mast. This cluster of red lights appeared to be the skyline of Leeds city centre.
And from the same spot, in an east-south-east direction, the red lights of the two chimney stacks at West Burton near Gainsborough were visible.
The red lights of high structures are notably more visible these days, especially clusters of city centre buildings from afar.
I’d be interigued to know if Liverpool at night is visible from Manchester. I remember the Picadilly Plaza tower being the highest in the city, but with the arrival of higher buildings around the bottom of Deansgate there must be some far-reaching views. I wonder if the gantry dock cranes at Seaforth are visible from the high-rises of Manchester city centre at night.
These visible long lines of sight at night with the help of red lights, led me to thinking about how far away some masts could be seen at night. Winter Hill has been mentioned in a recent reply about being seen from a point north of Settle, and I have seen the mast lights at night from the outskirts of Stoke.
From the Cat & Fiddle I have seen Winter Hill very clearly at night, and I would imagine under the right atmospheric conditions that it might be possible to see the transmitter lights of Moel Y Parc mast in the Clwydian Hills from the same spot on the road to Buxton.
