Watching the river

Watching the River

The third of my local walks this week is along the banks of our main local river – the River Loughor. I fought my way across the marsh and through dense brambles and knotweed on one side to reach a point on the eastern bank I hadn’t stood at before.

Oak leaves and river

On finding I wasn’t able to get far along the river due to the brambles, I retraced my steps and crossed the bridge to explore along the western bank at another part of the river I had only seen before, but not walked along.Continue reading

rusty fence

Local Viewpoint and Not Being Lost

I was asked twice on this walk if I was lost! I know the viewpoint well and the various routes to it but this was clearly not evident to those asking the question and I can only wonder what expression I had on my face to prompt it.

Local viewpoint

This viewpoint looks over my local landscape to the Loughor Estuary and the Gower Peninsula. As with the other local hills, it is a great place to climb to if you feel the need to rise above things rather than explore the more enclosed environment of the forest. Continue reading

Local walks - valley view

My Walks this Week – Local

Did you notice that? The title for my first post this week is plural – and the walks are all local to me, well known and well loved. And the photos I shot were all taken on my iPhone again!

looking up

The four walks from which I have images are not described in detail but are a small selection of shots I couldn’t resist taking. This first walk takes me from my house to a local woodland and every time I do it, which is quite frequent, I stop at the same three points along the way and take a photo in the same direction.Continue reading

Fuchsia

Autumn Reds in the Garden

I am lucky enough to have a long garden down which to walk each morning and enjoy the changing colours, patterns and textures it presents along the way. I don’t know what I would do without this resource for my wellbeing. Being outside my door, it is the closest that nature could be to me and much as I enjoy my walks to local marshes, woods, hills and further afield, I don’t know how I would manage without our garden as well.

dogwood

The reds are really coming through now, but there is more to come as Autumn proceeds. For now we have the berries, rosehips, fuchsia and dogwood.

I’m not one for controlling nature but if we didn’t do some maintenance jobs, it wouldn’t be long before we couldn’t move in the place. And so the garden heap is still waiting for a convenient dry evening to be burnt before the cuttings from the pruning of our cherry tree can be moved into place to await their turn for a bonfire.

Welsh Poppy

Before and After

So on my saunter down the garden for “my walk this week”, this is what our flowering cherry tree looks like – after the pruning it was given a few weeks ago. Our friend Joe did a fantastic job of untangling branches from telegraph wires and opening the tree out to allow more light amongst its foliage. You can see the before and after photos is in the image set below.

Cherry Tree

The tree is still green but in other places the greens are changing to yellows with the brightness of a lone Welsh poppy still standing out against the backdrop.Continue reading

Winter Jasmine

My Walk this Week – Autumn Garden

My walk this week is not so much a walk as a saunter down our garden. Having completed a very hectic few weeks of work, I allowed myself a short mid-week lie in and so didn’t set off down the garden to our studio until mid morning. The day was fairly bright, although it had been raining through the night – the result was one of bright colour and it lifted my heart and brought a smile to my face.

flower pots

I wouldn’t ever claim our garden is worthy of being placed next to many others “fancier” ones I know of, but I love it just as it is. It seems to be in a permanent state of being in the middle of things being done – but perhaps that is how a garden should be!?Continue reading

Bath City Centre

Bath – Reviewing the Walk

Bath Abbey sits, as you might expect, in the centre of the city. The Roman Baths are next to it and while I took a shot of the baths ceiling with its dome, I didn’t have the time to justify the cost of entry and I am sorry to say I didn’t go into the abbey either. So now I have an excellent excuse to revisit the place, and next time I will take my family – and if that’s not a good recommendation of the place, I don’t don’t what is!

Bath Abbey

So my original reason for going to Bath was to see the Contemporary Tapestry: Here and Now exhibition at the Holburne Museum. I was able to take a very enjoyable look at the city as well – its parks and architecture, its quiet and more noisy areas. On my home, prompted by my viewing of the tapestry exhibition,Continue reading