My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Heritage Centre

Posted on 22/08/201620/08/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week is another Taste of Gower walk organised by Steve Lancey for the Gower Landscapes Partnership. This time we set off from the Gower Heritage Centre at Parkmill and of course returned there for tea and bite to eat later on. Steve worked hard to get everyone to sign the register and then we set off up the road to Cwm Green and the “Giant’s Grave”. This is a neolithic chambered tomb which Helen and Charlotte, from Gower Unearthed, told us all about – fascinating stuff about which you can find out more here.

The cwm was busy with many scout troops camping but from here some of the group returned to the Heritage Centre while others of us carried on through the woods behind Parc Le Breos House.

The next Taste of Gower walk will be this coming Friday 26/08/17 – details here.

Gower Heritage Centre

Taste of Gower Walkers at Gower Heritage Centre

Helen and Charlotte from Gower Unearthed

Giant’s Grave

Back on the Valley Floor – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 21/08/201611/08/2016 by Alastair

Back on the valley floor at the mountain centre above Corris where I started of my walk this week in the mountains of Wales, I am very pleased that I carried on in spite of the mist. I am not stupid when it comes to hiking in mountains and had it not been for the fact that I had a clear track to follow, I would have been very hesitant about carrying on when it was obvious that a thick(ish) mist was descending. I got my reward at the top though when the weather cleared.

I will eventually finish the StillWalks video for this walk but in the meantime you can Play the soundscape below and have a look through selected images from my posts this week.

Ty’n y Berth Mountain Centre

Misty Mountain Walk Soundscape

There is an interesting “tinkling” sound in this soundscape at around 3:15 – 3:30 minutes – can anybody guess what it is?

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A style of gate

stone edge

old fence wire

Descending mist

mountain wildflowers

Mist and grass

Looking down through the mist

Clearing Cloud

Mountain track

Looking over the edge

Light and Shade

Misty Mountain Ridge

Evidence of Sheep

Sheep on mountainside

Valley floor

Clearing Cloud – Revealing the Landscape

Posted on 18/08/201611/08/2016 by Alastair

Clearing cloud – yes! Just as I started to head back down the mountain, having decided that the mist was not going to lift and my walk this week would not have the potential views of Wales’ mountains and valleys that I had hoped for, the sun broke through and the scene below me was revealed. I was so pleased 🙂 and in awe at the views.

The walk / climb to this point had been . . . mmm . . . atmospheric. However, despite the mist it had still been very enjoyable. But to be able to look at the other mountains around me and the valleys below is always a wonder that cannot be experienced on a screen. Having said that I will of course endeavour to produce a StillWalks video from this walk that goes some way to presenting the experience and hopefully draws people in to join me in my memories of it.

Clearing Cloud

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Clearing Cloud

Mountain track

Mountain and Cloud

Monochrome Mountain and Cloud

Mountainside

Looking over the edge

Tal-y-Clun

Full Circle and Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 14/08/201610/08/2016 by Alastair

I started my walk this week with a post of 360 degree views of Swansea Bay at Crymlyn Burrows. Now after getting excited about so many of the patterns and forms in the sand on this expansive beach, I have come full circle. Back in front of the Bay Campus of Swansea University the view is as good as ever but after all the subtleties of sand I was surprised by the glare of contrasting colour in front of the Great Hall on the campus. The grass was new and the paint on the tables was new too!

Mumbles Across the Bay

Contrasting colour

Virtually all sound from the city and the motorway was being blown inland by a light breeze on this peaceful morning walk and the sound of distant birds and people along with my footsteps on the sand is most of what makes up this calm soundscape.

Crymlyn Burrows Beach Soundscape

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Swansea Bay Campus

Swansea Bay – Port Talbot

Sand Piper

Sand Patterns

Sculpted by the Flow

Sand bank

Sand Patterns

Beach Perspective

Dry and Drying

Crymlyn Burrows

Mumbles Across the Bay

Leaving the Beach and Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 07/08/201602/08/2016 by Alastair

Reviewing my walk this week I realise that the railway line running across this bridge separates not only the beach from the town, but also something of the wind as well. The beach at Colwyn Bay in North Wales is a wide open expanse across which the wind can blow unimpeded until it reaches the railway embankment above the promenade. However, this barrier does not run the full length of the bay by any means and so I imagine, like Swansea’s seafront in the south of the country, the sand gets blown far into the streets nearby.

The soundscape below illustrates the point at which the wind starts blowing – just as I cross the road to the promenade at the pedestrian crossing. My favourite sound in this soundscape is towards the end – the rhythmic rattle of metal on metal in the wind before I return to the road.

Leaving the beach

Colwyn Bay Soundscape

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Glimpse of the bay

Running into the wind

Crossing to the sea

Colours in the Sky

Paragliders in the surf

Paragliders

Wild and Windy

Looking out to sea

Wind blown sand

Sand Drift

Sand Haze

Sand and Tide

Dark Sea and Weathered Fence

Pier Structure

Patterns of Natural Sand Art

Posted on 05/08/201601/08/2016 by Alastair

The wind on my walk this week on the beach at Colwyn Bay had been going to town (so to speak and literally!) when it comes to creating patterns. Not just the wind of course – its take the combination of wind and sea to create these particular patterns. In the first image they appear to have been brushing each others hair while in the second there has been more apparent friction with the sand ripples developing a multitude of blisters

Sand Hair

Sand Blisters

Sand Drift and Textures on the Beach

Posted on 04/08/201601/08/2016 by Alastair

The sand in Colwyn Bay was filling more than the gaps between rocks and it wasn’t long before my shoes were filled as well. Where the surface sand had dried it was easily blown by the wind, creating a strange sense of movement on solid ground. The sand drift smoothed out textures as it caught on rocks and other beach features and appeared as a haze higher up the beach as it flowed across a concrete groyne.

Sand Drift

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Wind blown sand

Sand Tangle

Sand Drift

Sand Haze

Paragliders – Colours in the Sky

Posted on 02/08/201630/07/2016 by Alastair

It was a perfect day for my walk this week at Colwyn Bay . . . if you like the wind! There are those that will take full advantage of the wind every time, such as paragliders. I spotted these two the moment I stepped onto the seafront and as I walked towards them, it was difficult to pay attention to the rest of my surroundings. The mesmerising entertainment of their aerial acrobatics was quite a distraction.