A recent trip to North Wales gave me the opportunity to explore a little of two potential locations for StillWalks productions. The first one wasn’t planned, but I had time after my scheduled meeting at Colwyn Bay to walk down to the expansive beach. The end of day sun was low and contrast and patterns high on the broken pier.
Hello to everyone, existing and new visitors to the new StillWalks blog. Thank you for visiting anew and thank you for relocating with me if you are already a follower.
NB If viewing this on a mobile device, the registration to receive emails at the bottom of this post.
Things should look very much the same on the blog and hopefully our migration here will be seamless. However, other aspects of the website have changed and there is now a new StillWalks package to which you can sign up or register an interest. To find out more about “Walking The StillWalks Way”, click the link to view a short presentation.
Meanwhile, back on my walk this week at Llansteffan Castle in Carmarthenshire, I thought I would start with a photo from the beginning of the walk because the view from the castle allows you to see into the distance, albeit hazy, and of course this is what I have been trying to do with StillWalks – see into the future.
Following on from yesterday’s post, a more detailed look at the stonework of Llansteffan Castle reveals all sorts of fascinating patterns, textures and colours. I’m not sure what is going on in with the surface patterns on the last shot, but it looks as though it may be additional to the actual stone itself.
These walls, seen (or well camouflaged) on my walk at Llansteffan Castle have some fascinating textures and structures but . . . tomorrow is the day of moving this blog so –
Tomorrow I will be relaunching and relocating the StillWalks website and blog and must ask all followers who wish to continue receiving their daily dose of images and sound from the StillWalks blog, to click the link on Thursday’s post and the following days to relocate with me to the new website.
Thank you to all my existing and new followers.
Along with this relaunch we will be at The Waterside with publisher Management Learning Resources (MLRUK) to promote the new StillWalks package for organisations and individuals. That’s on 7th April from 10 – 12. Details and directions can be found here at The Waterside.
Walking around Llansteffan Castle in Carmarthenshire was great fun but first . . .
Later this week I will be relaunching and relocating the StillWalks website and blog and must ask all followers who wish to continue receiving their daily dose of images and sound from the StillWalks blog, to click the link on Thursday’s post and the following days to relocate with me to the new website.
Thank you to all my existing and new followers.
Along with this relaunch we will be at The Waterside with publisher Management Learning Resources (MLRUK) to promote the new StillWalks package for organisations and individuals. That’s on 7th April from 10 – 12. Details and directions can be found here at The Waterside.
Now, back to this week’s walk and the murder holes! There were plenty of opportunities to look through walls at the castle which Julie was particularly interested in. Some of these would have been used in the traditional way (for a castle), i.e. shooting enemies with arrows! The most blood curdling, however, were the “murder holes” through which boiling oil would be poured on attackers entering this part of the castle.
Looking round a gnoll on the hill I have been walking up this week revealed this (bath)room with a view of the hills beyond.
Stone and brick construction is not the only element of ruin – the trees here are very exposed to the wind and quite a few of them have fallen under the pressure. Nature will have its way though and the ruins have been well colonised by the roots of plants and trees fighting against both natural and man-made elements.
More images from this walk can be seen on Instagram and/or the StillWalks Facebook page and Twitter.
Pattern is all around us but sometimes it is more noticeable than others. Earlier on my walk this week I focused on the textures around me. However, it was the patterns that were in my sights for these shots.
You may think that I have an unnatural interest in barbed wire – and you may be right! If you would like to see where this interest comes from, please visit the fibre page on my other website – alastair-duncan.com (There is something weird going on with the home page menu on this site which I will sort out asap).
More images from this walk can be seen on Instagram and/or the StillWalks Facebook page and Twitter.
Considering that the old WWII radar station on Rhosilli Down is in ruins, I was definitely walking under the radar when I reached this point on my walk this week. The light and shade on the old slabs of concrete made for some interesting abstract patterns in the landscape.
Walking back towards the seafront from the marina in Swansea Bay I passed three of the many sculptures situated in the Maritime Quarter. These are three of several weather vane art works for which Robin Campbell was responsible as an architect working with Swansea Council in the ’80s and 90’s. I can remember sculptor and potter, Martin Williams, working on this first piece in the studio next door to mine (see yesterday’s post).
The weather vanes are clearly all still fully operational as the wind direction indicated by each tallied with the others. If the wind seemed calmer in the shelter of the marina on this walk, on my return to the seafront it was again obvious and bringing further murky weather over from across the bay at Mumbles where you can just about make out Mumbles Lighthouse.
