Autumn sumac

My Walk this Week 130 – Soundscape for an Autumn Valley

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My walk this week in a damp, misty Welsh valley Autumn landscape provided me with a fantastic and varied soundscape. The walk took me up one side of the valley and back down the middle where the river was further engorged by rushing tributaries.

water gushing

Having enjoyed the Autumn colours of a Staghorn Sumac, I descended the twisting path towards the river and recorded its approaching sound as I went. I have kept most of this clip included in the soundscape below (making it longer than usual) because the changes in its timbre as I twist and turn are, to me, fascinating and beautiful. Also included Continue reading→

spiky foreground

My Walk this Week 130 – It Must Be Mist

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Mist or fog – whichever you think it is depends on where you are in relation to the cloud that creates it. Near the start of this walk I was able to look down on the mist/fog in the valley below, but as I climbed up the side of the valley, so it thickened to become more fog like.

mist and crow

But early morning fog is apt to clear or at least move and it is the latter that happened on this occasion – at least until later in the day when the sun finally raised the temperature and dispensed with the dampness. The gloom was very atmospheric and I didn’t mind in the least as I stopped to photograph and listen to my surroundings. The sounds included electricity pylons and cables fizzling in the moisture filled air and temporarily the sound of Continue reading→

beads on feather

My Walk this Week 130 – Damp Autumn Walk

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My walk this week is on a damp Autumn morning. You can’t see it in these photos but the valley was full of mist and the clouds low overhead. The seasons are changing and while bright sunny days can be the most enjoyable, there is also a fantastic range of beauty to be experienced on damp days like this.

Autumn Beeches

The geese and ducks were clearly enjoying the water both in the air and under them and the dampness did not take away the crunchiness of fresh fallen Autumn leaves underfoot. The light, however, was dim and it is that more than anything else that makes a sunny day enjoyable.Continue reading→

weather coming in

My Walk this Week 129 – Down from Rhossili Down

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Climbing up the Down from the village of Rhossili on my walk this week at the end of the Gower Peninsula, was not a problem – it’s fairly steep but I like climbing. Less so do I like coming back down again and on this occasion my knees had decided they had had enough.

Rhossili Bay beach path

This has happened on one or two occasions when walking but I have never let it stop me. I do, however, need to pace myself and not go rushing off at the start of a walk. Descending from the Down four years ago is one of my clearest memories of the walk. Continue reading→

Distant Down walkers

My Walk this Week 129 – Atop the Down

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Looking at more pics from my archive of a walk on Rhossili Down four years ago takes me to the top of the Down where I met some Gower ponies as well as other people. The ponies are wild and there are many of them all over the Gower Peninsula moors and marshes. Strictly speaking, they must be (legally) owned by somebody these day but I’m not sure that makes any difference to anyone.

track in sunlight

I have left out many of the photographs I took that day only because the fifteen I have picked for my posts this week do a good job of feeding my memory and are sufficient to describe the place on a day like this one was – sun shining blindingly with a wind blowing up from the sea with the ridge of the Down providing an occasional and welcome respite from the bluster of it.Continue reading→

Worm's Head, Gower

My Walk this Week 129 – Rhossili from the Archives

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My walk this week shows images from my archive and a walk along Rhossili Down at the end of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.

looking down on the bay

For all the changes in environmental circumstances from day to day or even hour to hour, these photos from 2014 cannot show any potential differences in the underlying structure and general appearance of the place. The pace of change on a geological time scale is not the same as our lives and although it is true that we sometimes see rocks fall from a cliff or even cliffs collapse as a result of erosion from the sea, the overall changes can be almost imperceptible.Continue reading→

Rowntree Park, York

My Walk this Week 128 – Rowntree Park Soundscape

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The soundscape for my walk this week in Rowntree Park in York, is formed by buggies and bicycles, footsteps and wheelchairs, skateboards and birds, children and adults – all enjoying the mid afternoon sunshine and warmth.

tall grasses

The sound file below describes and refers to the images in this and the two previous posts for this walk but does not say anything about the strange object amongst the trees that I noticed in the shadows from a distance. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I reached its other side – I assume it refers to an aspect of York’s history but as there was no information on it I cannot say for sure.

I did not explore the whole park on my walk but enjoyed every minute of it from the pergola to the ponds, the gates to the grasses, and all the activities of calm relaxation surrounding me. I like the gates to the park’s southern entrance, and their shadows, but have only just realised how closely they match the pattern of growth in my photo of tall grasses below!

Rowntree Park Soundscape

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strange object
texture and colour
It’s a giant helmet!
Relaxing in Rowntree Park
tall grasses
shady woodland
Rowntree Park, York
Rowntree gates
exit shadow pattern