Category Archives: Landscape

My Walk this Week – Parched Paths

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My walk this week shows the changes that have taken place in this location since six weeks ago – the ground is now parched where it had been lush and green. The character of the landscape has changed and presents a greater sense of the mediterranean than Wales.

parched path

In Wales we say it either was, is, or is going to rain, and it is true that we get what some would say was more than our fair share of it. However, it is also true that we get dry spells (from time to time), but not usually with the heat that we have been experiencing all over Britain for a few weeks now.Continue reading→

kissing gate 1

Eight Gates and A Churchyard

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My walk this week included nine gates, not eight, but the gate to the old churchyard on my local marshes was open and so is not included in the soundscape below.

Churchyard gate

The old St Teilo’s churchyard is a fabulous place and the walk across the marshes, alongside the River Loughor is also a local route I enjoy immensely. If doing a linear walk rather than the circular route,Continue reading→

rusty tangle

Naturally Tangled

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Rusty old coils of wire tend, naturally, to get tangled in time – take a close look at the grass seed head below to see the naturally tangled growth within it.

seed head

I was amazed to see the apparently squirming life going on inside its bulbous form. The patterns on the longer seed heads also provided me with visual excitement about the fast Continue reading→

footpath

My Walk this Week – Keeping To the Footpath, Following the Rules

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My walk this week follows the rules and my local marsh footpath down to the old St Teilo’s churchyard. It is a walk I love and have done (and posted about) many times. But there is always something new to see as the the conditions are always different. One of the first things you come upon when leaving the park above the marshes is this metal gate notice telling you to “KEEP TO THE FOOTPATH”.

keep to the footpath

I’m not one for sticking to the rules but I am sure that, like me, most people walking here do keep to the footpath because it takes you were you want to go and follows a very attractive route.Continue reading→

lambs looking back

Looking Back Down the Hill

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Looking down isn’t always the best thing to do – certainly not if you want to see where you are going – but it is also necessary if you want to be able to see the details underfoot of where you are. In the case of the lambs in today’s featured image, looking back down the hill at me is a matter of curiosity, the curiosity of the young.

dewey web detail

Their mothers had led them up the hill away from me as I approached on the descending lane, but they halted half way up to check me out. I too halted many times on my walk, first to look andContinue reading→

new bracken

Rhododendrons Valley

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Mauve and violet Rhododendrons used to almost fill one of our local valleys and although they were cut back significantly some years ago, my walk this week proves they are still there, and in much greater abundance than is shown in my photographs.

Rhododendron valley

The whole side of the valley used to be a mass of bright purple at this time of year and was a phenomenon to behold. I know rhododendrons are not native to Wales or the UK but, unlike Japanese Knotweed or Himalayan Balsam, I don’t generally have any issue with them, thoughContinue reading→

holloway footpath

My Walk this Week – A Countryside Hike

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Hike is an exaggeration for my walk this week but I was wearing my hiking boots which, with the hot weather we have been getting recently, was unusual. Though boots may make my feet hot, they are still much more comfortable to wear when climbing hills and crossing a multitude of terrains, than open sandals are.

country lane

So on my “hike” I crossed the river, climbed the countryside lane and entered the holloway (or hollow way as it is sometimes written), to climb higher – Continue reading→

Waterside Wander

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My walk this week was more of a lazy wander. The warm sunshine and the relaxed atmosphere at the Welsh Valley Alpacas Open Day prompted a meander more than a walk and that is what we did (see the two previous posts for this week).

ribwort

Returning from the top of the valley at The Waterside – Felindre we first met some of the male alpacas with their new shorn hair-dos. Then, sitting on a perfectly placed bench, I soaked up the atmosphere and photographed (yet again) one of my favourite wildflowers,Continue reading→