Tag Archives: woodland

Pirate Day at Gower Heritage Centre and Reviewing the Walk

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Spot the pirate in this final image from my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers. It seems Gower Heritage Centre had a pirate thing going on that day as was apparent from the staff costumes and various other piratical objects around the place once we had been served with our teas and coffees etc. and sat down in the cafe.

It was a great walk – the weather stayed more or less fine for us and I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love Three Cliffs Bay. By this time we will have done the next Taste of Gower walk at Penclawdd on North Gower and I will be posting about that in two three weeks time.

Gower Heritage Centre

Gower Heritage Centre

Taste of Gower Heritage Centre Walk Soundscape

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Taste of Gower Walkers at Gower Heritage Centre
Helen and Charlotte from Gower Unearthed
Giant’s Grave
Taste of Gower Walkers
Woodland wildflowers
Across the Water – Bristol Channel
coastal wildflowers
Three Cliffs Bay, Gower
Stepping Stones
Three Cliffs
Stones in Circles
Monochrome grasses

 

Gateway on Gower

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Leaving the woodland by a kissing gate on my walk this week held the Taste of Gower group of walkers up enough for me to catch up with them . . . momentarily! It wasn’t long before their conversation became a murmur in the distance and the quietening ambience took over in this area between the woodland and the sea of the Bristol Channel.

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

kissing gate

Quietening Ambience

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Across the Water – Bristol Channel
Notthill – National Trust
coastal wildflowers
coastal wildflowers

 

Walking with Woodland Wildflowers

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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

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Taste of Gower Walkers
Woodland wildflowers
Woodland Wildflowers
Woodland Wildflowers
Woodland Wildflowers
Woodland Wildflowers

Underfoot

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Moving up from the beach at Whitford Point my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers meandered through the woods to continue this circular walk from Llanmadoc on the northern tip of the Gower Peninsula.

The ground underfoot was now mostly a soft carpet of pine needles and so for those walking barefoot (just one, not me), the transition from the sand of the beach would have been a relatively comfortable one. I was tempted to go barefoot myself, remembering the experience being described by Nan Shepherd and Robert MacFarlane in their books as one which puts you in contact with the ground (literally) in a way that walking in boots cannot, however sensitive and sympathetic you are to the land.

woodland path

Woodland Footpath

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Woodland Footpath
Taste of Gower walkers
Bare feet
Yellow Flag

 

 

Hidden in the Trees – Reviewing the Walk

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The endpoint of my walk this week at Penllergare Valley Woods was the cafe at the northern end of the valley. The cafe was only developed in the last few years by The Penllergare Trust who are restoring the gardens to something t like their original state in Victorian times. Much of the work is done by volunteers and if you are interested in helping or becoming a friend, visit their website for details.

Penllergare Valley Woods cafe

Below I have selected some of the photos from my posts this week which you can view in sequence while listening to the soundscape of the walk. Click the play button and then the first thumbnail image to review the walk.

Penllergare Valley Woods Soundscape

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Valley Viewpoints and Detail

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There are a number of “viewpoints” along the various upper footpath routes at Penllergare Valley Woods. Some reveal the amazing range of greens to be seen in so many trees. Others allow you to look down on lower path networks or reveal the contrast between trees and water.

Penllergare Valley Woods - lake

As I near the end of my walk this week, there are cultivated details to be seen as well. The yellow welsh poppy may grow naturally all over the place, but the old tree stump these wildflowers are springing from may have had a helping hand in the positioning of plants. If so, then it was very well done!

Welsh poppies

Penllergaer Woods-30

The Sound of Water

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In any Welsh woodland you are unlikely to be far from the sound of running water – or any other part of Wales for that matter, woodland or not. Penllergare Valley Woods is no exception and on my walk this week, I could have recorded any number of water sounds.

The sound from the stretch of river seen below was quite gentle but it is by no means always like this.

Penllergaer Woods-15

River Sound

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Enjoying the Waterfall

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There are people hidden in this first photo today from my walk this week at Penllergare Valley Woods – you can just see them near the centre of the image. They are enjoying the area on the river where the waterfall from the lake flows over the rock arrangement constructed by John Dillwyn Llewellyn back in the 19th century when he was developing the original valley gardens.

Penllergaer Woods-8

The colour of the rhododendrons in this image is accompanied by foxgloves below, and then there is the beautiful yellow of buttercups in a marshy looking meadow displaying the lushness of the environment at this time of year.

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