Cwmdonkin Flowers

Posted on 22/10/201322/10/2013 by Alastair

I know Cwmdonkin Park in Swansea has had some development work done in it recently but I do not know if that work included the flower beds. I wonder what flowers were there when Swansea’s poet, Dylan Thomas, used and wrote about the place.

Echinacea

You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Autumn Lakeside Walk” from Gnoll Park, Neath, South Wales. Click the image below to watch the video.

Cwmdonkin Park Recce, Swansea

Posted on 21/10/201321/10/2013 by Alastair

Last week I had an unexpected walk around Cwmdonkin Park in Swansea. The park is well known for its association with Swansea’s very own poet Dylan Thomas and it has recently had some work carried out in it with a grant from European funds.

It was a good time to be there as this work had been completed and the colours were changing with the season. The sun was shining and if it hadn’t been for the noise pollution of a park worker blowing leaves away with a noisy machine, it would have been perfect. The noise (which eventually stopped) did not stop me getting a number of photos on my iPhone and I will be posting these here through the week.

This weeks featured StillWalks video can be viewed at the bottom of this post and last week’s video will revert to the sample version.

Autumn Lakeside

Posted on 20/10/201320/10/2013 by Alastair

Some advance images from next week’s featured StillWalks video – “Autumn Lakeside Walk” from Gnoll Park, Neath, South Wales.

This is the last day for this week’s featured video “Quarry Walk – Autumn Rain”. You can see this at the bottom of this post.

You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video. Click the image below to watch the video.

Old Industry

Posted on 19/10/201319/10/2013 by Alastair

Behind the new apartments and Discovery Centre in the Millennium Coastal Park at Llanelli, there is another discovery to be made. Llanelli has recently been seeing some significant developments and they are good to see.

However, just because something is old and unused does not mean it has no interest. Walking back towards the Discovery Centre, the remains of industry in the area can be seen and I was drawn over to take a closer look. All photos taken on my iPhone.

This last shot is of one of the old hydraulic rams used with the dock gates in the old Llanelli dock yard.

Thistle in the Sand

Posted on 18/10/201318/10/2013 by Alastair

These thistles are naturally designed for this environment. More than that, they look as if they have been designed full stop! Their colour, pattern, shape, form, texture – all fit perfectly with other aspects of the area, particularly the spikiness of the grass and, of course, the contrast of the soft sand.

You wouldn’t want to sit down on one! Those spikes are mighty sharp and I guess this may be a hazard to be aware of during the Summer months in the Millennium Coastal Park at Llanelli. All photos taken on my iPhone.

Llanelli Beach – Landscape and Architecture

Posted on 17/10/201317/10/2013 by Alastair

It seems evident from these photos, that the buildings along Llanelli sea front were not built using the material that can be found on the beach. The worn brick in the foreground of the first image is one example of the wide array of fascinating stone like materials that can be found (see yesterday’s post).

The apartments beside the Millennium Coastal Park Discovery Centre seem to me to be out on a bit of a limb from the rest of the town but the residents have an excellent view of the wider part of the Loughor Estuary and across to the Gower Peninsula and the old Victorian cast iron attraction of Whitford Lighthouse.

The Millennium Coastal Park is a popular place at the weekend and in fact, you will see people enjoying the walks there on any day of the week. People do not generally feature in the StillWalks videos I produce but that is not always the case and more coincidental than deliberate. However, if I am to produce a StillWalk of this area, I think I will need to include both sound and images of people if it is to reflect what the place honestly. That said, there will be fewer people there on a blustery Autumn day than on a beautiful Summers day but it is strange that the photos below have not one person in them as it was relatively busy on the day. All photos were taken on my iPhone.

Building Blocks on the Beach

Posted on 16/10/201316/10/2013 by Alastair

The beach at Llanelli is not all patterns in the sand (see yesterday), there are also many patterns in the stones.

Stones? I don’t think that is quite the correct description! Bricks, metal, clinker, copper and parts of walls would be a more accurate description.

Swansea, on the far side of the Gower Peninsula, used to be known as Copperopolis. In the early 1800s 90% of all the copper-smelting capacity of Britain was based within twenty miles of the city, and it seems there is still evidence of this on the beach in the Millennium Park at Llanelli.

There are more photos of these fascinating objects on the StillWalks Flickr Photostream – all taken on my iPhone.

Patterns and Prints

Posted on 15/10/201315/10/2013 by Alastair

What are these pimples in the sand? What is that strange cone shaped object in the sand?

We took a walk along the beach in the Millennium Park at Llanelli, Carmarthenshire last Sunday and not for the first time I thought “I have to do a StillWalk of this place!”

I’ll post some more reasons for this thought over the next couple of days. All photos taken on my phone because we went for a walk, not a photo shoot!