Photographer uncovers hidden gems on mammoth walking tour of the UK

Zoltán Romvári and his partner Mariann Molnár wanted to photograph some the country’s less popular and lesser well-known places and produce a guidebook in Hungarian, Slovak, Polish and English.

Zoltán Romvári and his partner Mariann Molnár

The first of thousands of photos was taken in March 2023 on a beautiful spring day on the North Wales coast with the couple walking the Wales coastal path, along the Llyn peninsula.

Last weekend, Zoltán and Mariann reached the 500th km mark having completed the entire North Wales coast, half of Anglesey and the Llyn peninsula as well as part of Meirionnydd, the Ceredeigion coast and part of Pembrokeshire.

They are about a third of the way through the mammoth tour of the UK with side projects including Snowdonia and the comet Nishimura being added into the project and the hunt for the often elusive Northern Lights.

Zoltán, who is 43, was involved in a road traffic incident in January, which hampered the couple’s progress as he battled his way back to full fitness.

Clarach

Zoltán, who is originally from Hungary and now lives in Orford, said: “During my recovery, I dug into an older project because it fit perfectly with this tour.

“We included a truly spiritual journey that touched all the important stages of St David's life.

“This extended through Ceredigion to the whole of northern Pembrokeshire.

“We were only able to complete this at the end of May and quite slowly due to my physical condition, but it was a trip of a lifetime and spiritual refreshment to look into the life of the patron saint of Wales, to whom the cathedral at the end of the road pays tribute.

“Not to mention how much it helped me recover mentally.”

St David's

He added: “The most recent trip concluded this section.

“There was again a side story here as we looked into the life of the great poet Dylan Thomas during the war.

“He spent time around New Quay, so we also hiked along the Dylan Thomas Trail and we wanted to celebrate the 500th km in Aberystwyth.

“With a little cheating, we crossed the 500th km right next to the Camera Obscura with perhaps the most picturesque view of Cardigan Bay in the background.

“What a way to complete Anglesey!”

Llandudno pier

Zoltán has taken thousands of photographs and Mariann has created several paintings and pastel drawings while they have both been researching the places they have visited.

Zoltán said: “The tour has been going on for 17 months, we have covered a lot of merfolds [Hungarian miles] and used countless campsites, Airbnbs and holiday parks as well as simple wild camping spots.

“The tour itself, if we only look at the actual route, is currently 500km long, with the full path around 1,370km.

“We have taken 673,608 steps so far and we have sampled more than 30 local beers and countless bakeries, pubs and restaurants, all documented so they can be included in the project.”

Zoltán and Mariann don’t know when they will finish the full walk – maybe sometime in 2026 as they keep adding in smaller projects along the way.

Later this year, they plan to launch a social media page and website documenting all the secret beaches, small churches and historical places they’ve visited over the past two years in Hungarian and English, and Polish and Slovakian as well.

Zoltán said: “Our goal is to combine art and hiking, since my partner is a painter and I am a photographer, and we are both nature lovers.

“It is certain that we will continue because we still have 900km of walking ahead of us and so many wonderful places to visit and memories to make.”

Aberystwyth