Hazy Days

It was a very hazy day but the views from the hills were still great.

Swansea Walking Forum meet once a month and although this has often been a matter of sitting around a table and sharing the news of different walking groups in the area, this week we met at Garnswllt Activity Centre and went for a walk first. What an excellent idea! Climbing up the Garnswllt end of Graig Fawr, we took nearly 2 hours to complete a circuit that provided beautiful hazy views across the hills and over Ammanford. Following the walk we were able to sit down with a cup of tea and biscuits in the Activity Centre which has been excellently converted from the old village school.

It was a beautiful day and the larks were singing their hearts out up above us. I had taken my recording kit and held back a little in order to record the sounds of without the chatter of the group in the background. Listen to the sounds below – either click the play button or the mp3 file name.

Garnswllt Larks

View over Ammanford

Walking forum walk from Garswllt

Walking forum walk from Garswllt

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Waymarkers

The footpath, the rock and the signpost.

All are waymarkers from my point of view and if I were doing a StillWalks production of the area I have been posting about all week, I would certainly make use of objects like these in the photography for the video to help provide a sense of progression through the landscape.

The area is of course the Loughor Estuary near Llanrhidian on the Gower Peninsula and I walked in both the directions that this signpost is pointing.

Btw, I consider the word “waymarkers” to be one word (like footpath or signpost) but the computer seems to be arguing with me – stuff the computer!

Signpost

Loughor Estuary

Estuary footpath

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Landscape or Seascape

Are salt marshes landscape or seascape?

Both I guess. On this day it was landscape with some sea remaining in the gullies of the salt marshes. But with the lie of the land, it doesn’t take long for it to be covered by sea. The Loughor Estuary, situated between the Gower Peninsula and Carmarthenshire in South Wales, is a fascinating place. Always changing with the water and the light, the sunshine and the rain.

Loughor Estuary

Loughor Estuary

Loughor Estuary

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Broken Boat

Black and white or colour? That was the question.

The light at the time of taking these two shots suggested the results you see below. It was typical of the days through the back end of this Winter (when it wasn’t rainy or blowing a gale) – the light was constantly changing and although the sun was always there, the clouds that regularly obscured it and the wide expanse of the view across the salt marshes of the Loughor Estuary in South Wales provided me with a photographic challenge.

old boat

salt marshes

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Pools of Light

A network of salt water gullies and holes on the Loughor Estuary.

Pools of light is a bit more poetic than puddles near Llanrhidian. Living at the northern most point of the Loughor Estuary in South Wales, I can travel up either side of the salt marshes that make up the estuary and get beautiful and spacious views across from either the Gower Peninsula on the eastern edge or the Carmarthenshire shore on the western edge.

I have heard that if any of the ponies that graze there are caught on the marshes when the tide comes in, they simply stand where they are until the tide goes out again because of the danger of falling into one of the gullies or holes.

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Puddles-30

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Spring Sights and Sounds at Clyne

This week’s featured StillWalks video – a walk through Swansea’s Clyne Gardens.

The video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Hereford Cathedral

Not affected by the flooding River Wye, Hereford cathedral is still undergoing repairs.

The tree in this photo conveniently hides the scaffolding covering the main side entrance to the cathedral. I was tempted to enhance the effect of the lowering sun on the front of the building but decided in the end that it was enough like a picture postcard already!

Hereford Cathedral

This new StillWalks video will be here to view all week and will then be changed to sample length. I hope you enjoy it and comments are welcome.

You can use the Donate button below to help pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “City River Walk – After the Flood” which features York and the River Ouse. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Rising and Receding Waters

Water levels rise incredibly quickly but it can take a lot longer for them to recede.

The peak of the water level in the River Wye at Hereford was probably several days before we arrived there and as can be seen, it covered the park and playing fields nearby. We were unable to complete our walk on a circuitous route  because we were not waiting suitable shoes for the mud the flood had left. I suspect it will be some time before it is practical to play on the fields again.

River Wye flooding

Flooding in Hereford

This new StillWalks video will be here to view all week and will then be changed to sample length. I hope you enjoy it and comments are welcome.

You can use the Donate button below to help pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “City River Walk – After the Flood” which features York and the River Ouse. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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