Driving Rain

Driving through driving rain is not a pleasant thing to do but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any views worth photographing. I took these shots before setting off on my return journey from the Mawr hills and decided not to do anything with the smudge of rain water on the lens which can be seen to the right of the horizon line.

The weather was bad, the atmosphere gloomy and the landscape dark. The grass on the road verges was perhaps not as dark as is shown in these photos, but the presented atmosphere is certainly accurate to my memory of the scene.

upland road

upland road

Wind and Mist

The blades disappeared into the cloud and it was difficult to see even the nearest of these wind turbines through the wind and rain. Whatever you think of wind turbines, you would have had difficulty seeing the Bettws Wind Farm on top the Mawr in weather conditions like this.

Bettws Wind Farm

 

Bettws Wind Farm

Going Slow on a Misty Mountain Road

This should not be described as a mountain road as the Mawr uplands are not a mountain. Given the conditions at the time, however, there is no way to tell where this road is or where it is going. The only clue is the language on the road – SLOW, or in Welsh ARAF.

mountain road in mist and rain

hill road in mist

Seeing Through the Rainy Season

If last week’s photo series was about changeable weather, this week’s is about the apparent permanence of moisture during one of the rainy seasons in Wales – there is certainly more than one!

I was recently up on the hills of the Mawr ward near Swansea to assess the conditions for a scheduled project production day . . . what a joke. I couldn’t believe the weather on my journey up there but thought “the weather is so changeable these days, you never know, it might clear“. Ha! Wishful thinking indeed.

Having said that, I had my waterproofs with me and decided it would be good to try and capture something of the atmosphere of the place in these wild conditions. So here is a short accurately descriptive sound clip to accompany the first two images of the week.

Mist and rain on Mawr

Mist and Rain on Mawr

Historic Elements of the Landscape

I photographed these old fence posts towards the end of my production walk on Rhossili Down. I don’t know what their history is with regard to the pattern of holes but the second image shows an old WWII radar station facing out to sea at the end of the Gower Peninsula.

Also included in todays post is the collection of images from this past week along with a few that were not included in the individual posts – I hope you enjoy 🙂

Old Posts

Ruined WWII installation

A Sense of Freedom

I wasn’t able to ask the ponies and I didn’t ask the people, but I like to think that they were both enjoying the sense of freedom that can be felt in places like Rhossili Bay. Whether it be on top of the Down or down in the Bay, the sense of space and freedom is the greatest attraction for me and many others.

Rhossili Down is not that high but being next to the sea means that you are able to appreciate the full scale of this feature, particularly when you look down to those tiny people on the beach below.

People on Rhossili Down

Ponies on Rhossili Down

People on Rhossili Beach

Part of the Landscape

Rocks and villages – I love the way the scattering of rocks in this Gower landscape seem to reflect the scattering of buildings in the village beyond.

The view is from the top of Rhossili Down looking north west across the Loughor Estuary towards Carmarthenshire. The weather is fine (at this point) and I am enjoying a beautiful production walk for a StillWalks video which, as yet, I have not managed to complete!

Rhossili Downs

Rocks on the Downs

 

Walking the Cliff Paths

Rhossili, Rhossili Bay, Rhossili Downs, the cliffs, the beach – all are popular places throughout the year at the end of the Gower Peninsula. It’s not difficult to see why and fortunately the large expanse of the bay and the hills above mean that it rarely feels overcrowded.

Cliff path

Man on the Downs