Down by The Waterside

Sights and Sounds by The Waterside – Reviewing the Walk

Looking through the sights and sounds from my walk this week at The Waterside, Felindre, I find I am already looking forward to my next visit. On this walk I have focused on some of the details of the place, in particular the different effects of water, both in sight and sound.

Looking at the lake

It can be a challenge to keep seeing things afresh, but however familiar we become with a place or situation, the conditions are always different from day to day, both in our surroundings and in ourselves. Taking the opportunity to try and see and think about things from a different perspective, both the big picture and the details, can be very helpful and The waterside is one of the places, for me, where I can do this.

It is different to the many other places I walk because a visit to Sue and Steve in this small, secluded Welsh valley involves connection and conversation with others as well as observation and appreciation of the beautiful surroundings.

Walking is important to me for many reasons – one of which is free-thinking time and exploration of ideas. Creative conversation with others as a part of the exploration can be a helpful consolidation of thoughts or a chance to further explore alternative mental routes and this is one of the things I get from The Waterside and Collective Headspace.

A Watery Waterside Soundscape

[spacer height=”20px”]

Waterside footbridge

Lingering Around the Lake

Lingering around the lake at The Waterside is a very easy thing to do. On my walk this week the weather was good – sunny and almost still with just the lightest of breezes from time to time.

reed island

A walk here is more about wellbeing than exercise and whatever the weather conditions, there is huge advantage to be gained from a quiet contemplation of the place and the space.Continue reading

Water at The Waterside

My Walk this Week – Water at The Waterside

My walk this week is somewhere I visit regularly. The first Friday of the month I go to The Waterside, Felindre where Sue and Steve Heatherington welcome all who come along for creative conversation. Sue has also been posting about water in the valley this past week at Sue Waterside!

Waterside Details-5

You never know who you are going to meet but there are often faces I have become familiar with over the last couple of years. The conversation is often philosophical but also casual and so it is easy to talk. The place itself helps to prompt this and alongside Sue and Steve’s hospitality and their entertaining alpacas (yes, that’s right, alpacas!), this secluded Welsh valley is a fantastic place, whatever the weather, to clear the mind, explore and develop new thoughts and ideas and take a contemplative walk around the lake.Continue reading

Soaring – Reviewing the Walk for the Old Mill Foundation

Rhossili hang gliding

While the day was calm for our memorial for walk leader Mike Aspland and to raise funds for the Old Mill Foundation cancer hospice, there was enough lift for the soaring of hang gliders to take place in this popular spot for the activity – Rhossili Down at the end of the Gower Peninsula. If you would like to donate to the Old Mill Foundation, please visit their website and click the “Donate” button.Continue reading

My Walk this Week – Waterside Woodland

The Waterside-Felindre Woodland

My walk this week is another waterside woodland walk. More specifically, this walk was one with a different purpose to my usual health and wellbeing and observation walks. Visual and aural observation was certainly a part of it as I was looking for potential natural material for a weaving frame. The woodland in question is at The Waterside-Felindre, a place I have presented on this blog on a few occasions, though I hope always in a different way or showing different aspects of the place.Continue reading

Walking with Woodland Wildflowers

There were many more wildflowers than these on my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers. As we passed through the woodland behind Parc Le Breos House the main group of walkers were all chatting away and I could only keep my fingers crossed that they were also taking in their surroundings and enjoying the colours and sounds of the environment.

I love the range of sounds to be heard on any walk and in this instance I include in that enjoyment the sound of people ahead of me talking in the distance.

The next Taste of Gower walk will be this coming Friday 26/08/17 – details here.

Woodland wildflowers

Woodland wildflowers

Distant Voices in the Woods

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Under the Woodland Bridge

This was a first for me – viewing the railway into Swansea from underneath. For some reason it had not occurred to me that the Tawe riverside footpath would, at this location, inevitably pass under the railway.

There is something fascinating, even exciting, about the combination of natural and man made – wood, leaf, concrete and iron – the different (and similar) scales has as much to do with my fascination as the juxtaposed materials and textures.

Railway Bridge and trees

The reflection of the bridge in the waters of the river below provides a link between the hard functional materials of its construction and the more natural woodland lining the river.

Both the railway and the footpath were in use on this Sunday morning with plenty of walkers, joggers, children and dogs enjoying the woodland. However, I didn’t either see or hear a train during my walk.

Walking Conversations

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Walking and Talking

Having left the fields and re-entered the woodland on this Taste of Gower walk at Weobley Castle on north Gower, we encountered yet more gates. There were many more gates and stiles on this walk than I have shown and this can sometimes cause delays if the group of walkers is large, but on this occasion it did not seem to be a problem.

Of course it may have been an issue of which I was unaware, hanging back from the main group as I was and taking photos of the conversations ahead of me as well as the colours, textures and patterns of different gates and mossy walls.

Woebley Walk-24

The soundscape below features a number of the gates on this walk. They do not appear in the clip in real time, instead I have composed this piece to emphasise the different sounds of the gates on the walk – its as though they have their own language.

Weobley Gates

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see more of the post, thank you.