Beach Bottleneck

Posted on 22/07/201616/07/2016 by Alastair

I photographed Oxwich beach at the start of my walk this week. The shape may be a little less obvious in the shot below but it still reveals a bottleneck form. If from this angle the shape is a bottleneck, then the third image in the sequence below could only be described as a wedge. The shape seemed obvious to me and is the reason for taking the photo but I wanted to emphasise it more and experimented with the contrast in monochrome.

Having enjoyed the overexposed beach image I posted from the previous Taste of Gower walk at Llanmadoc, I increased the exposure on the last photo below as well. With almost no reference points in the image, what is real becomes abstract.

Beach Bottleneck

Young Whin flowers

Beach bottleneck

beach wedge

monochrome beach wedge

Little Tor, Tor Bay and Oxwich Bay

Oxwich Bay

Bleach Walkers

Overview of Cliffs

Posted on 21/07/201616/07/2016 by Alastair

The Taste of Gower walk in June stayed on the cliff tops rather than descending to the bays and we found a good spot to rest and get an overview of the cliffs at Three Cliffs Bay. We were lucky with the weather and although it wasn’t bright sunshine all morning, it was a great deal better than we had last year when we approached this bay from the other side. You can see these same cliffs from the other side on that day here.

The sound on this day was quite different to that of last year as well if you care to compare, there is also a sound clip on the post linked to above.

Summer Crickets

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Taste of Gower walkers resting

Three Cliffs

Mother and child – Gower Unearthed

Rosebay willow herb

Heading back

Rocks from above

Cliff structure

Hidden Gems of South Gower

Posted on 20/07/201616/07/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week revealed some hidden gems on the Gower Peninsula. This first shot of bramble blossom may be very common and out in the open but that makes it no less of a gem (I love these flowers and their fruit later in the year). Other aspects of this walk were definitely hidden – whether they are gems or not is up to you to decide but I recommend a visit rather than judging by my photos.

bramble blossom

We had to battle through heavy bracken to reach the Pen y Grug ancient burial chamber and Gower Unearthed presented it well along with and another nearby site, that of an old church now well and truly overgrown. The Pen y Grug page linked to above also advertises a good iPhone app for finding ancient sites like these around the world – the Megalithic Portal, Pocket Guide to Megaliths, check it out.

The other hidden gem for today is well know to locals but may be less so to others. Three Cliffs Bay was the turning point for our short walk and we had some great views down to it from above.

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overgrown footpath

bramble blossom

Pen y Crug burial chamber

overgrown site of an old church

Three Cliffs Bay

Big Tor

Posted on 19/07/201618/07/2016 by Alastair

On the Taste of Gower walk this week from Nicholaston Farm, before you get to Three Cliffs Bay, you skirt round the cliffs of Tor Bay. The walk has its ups and downs as you might expect on this South Gower coastline but none of us were going to attempt the scramble up onto the top of Big Tor. Somebody was up there but it wasn’t one of our party.

Another even more aerial viewpoint than this would be from the seat of a light aircraft . . . and someone was enjoying just that, as you can hear in the sound clip below. I like this clip with the inevitable clifftop wind and the faint voices of walkers and birds ahead of me. The airplane gradually approaches and flies overhead.

Clifftop and Aircraft

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grasses and clouds

foxglove and clouds

Tor Bay, South Gower

Big Tor, Tor Bay, South Gower

My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Nicholaston Farm

Posted on 18/07/201618/07/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week is the Taste of Gower walk from June. The walk starts at Nicholaston Farm and follows the footpath along the cliffs to Three Cliffs Bay. The walk was led by Steve Lancey who organised it for Gower Landscape Partnership and we had Helen and Charlotte from Gower Unearthed as guides and providers of information on aspects of the walk such as Pen y Crug burial chamber.

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Nicholaston Farm

Taste of Gower walkers at Nicholaston Farm

Oxwich Bay

Nicholaston Walk

Seeing the Signs and Hereford Marketplace

Posted on 15/07/201615/07/2016 by Alastair

Yesterday I ignored (or cropped) the signs, today I am looking at them. My walk this week around Hereford city centre has returned me to the alley that precedes Church Street and leads out into the city’s markettplace.

Seeing the Signs

I have a soundscape for this walk which, as with the photography, was recorded on my iPhone. The clip below is one I recorded in this marketplace – it was not a market day but there were still plenty of people about.

Hereford City Centre

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NB If you are wondering what is going on in the panorama shot of the market place below, this is the result of using the “pano” facility on the iPhone in a scene where there is movement of people. The camera is panned around to take multiple shots of the scene which are then stitched together by the software. Without any “ghost” correcting, this can be the effect you get – it looks pretty odd but rest assured the pregnant lady has not been chopped in half other than in the image.

Seeing the Signs

walkthrough

pipework

Hereford marketplace

Music, Trees and Architecture

Posted on 13/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

Walking around the outside of Hereford Cathedral you can find some fascinating views of the architecture. Sir Edward Elgar appears to be enjoying the view but the inscription on the periphery of the base to this statue reads:

“This is what I hear, the trees are singing my music or am I singing theirs?” “Sir Edward Elgar, resident of Hereford 1904 – 1911”

In both shots of this statue I like the other activities taking place in the frame – the woman attending to her child in the pushchair and in the second shot, the men in conversation in the background. These activities seem to fit very well with the pose given to Elgar with his bike, pondering, perhaps, a composition inspired by his cycles around Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Sir Edward Elgar

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Hereford Cathedral

Cathedral architecture

wooden fence

Sir Edward Elgar

Cathedral in Bronze

Posted on 12/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

Reaching the end (or the entrance) of Church Street on my walk this week around Hereford city centre, I took another of many looks at the cathedral. In front of the building is a paved area with a brick mosaic design set into it. While this is interesting, I was much more intrigued by the unusual bronze model of Hereford set on a plinth near the cathedral gates.

Taking a closer look at some of the architectural details of the cathedral could take a long time (which I didn’t have) as the building is so intricate in its embellishments.I wasn’t just taken with the designs created by the stone masons, but also with the patterns and textures of the stones themselves. Presumably these have been produced when cutting the blocks for building.

I’ll be able to take another look at the interior of the cathedral next week, not for the purpose of posting on this blog but for my younger daughter’s graduation from Hereford College of Art – well done Hannah – you can see her work at hannahduncancreations.com.