My walk around Belfast started with the River Lagan but then headed towards the city centre. It was Boxing Day and the streets were relatively quiet. The range of architectural design, colours and patterns may be what you might expect in any city, but this is Belfast, the place where I grew up and still love.
This walk was taken a few years ago and I have not been there since. These photos are therefore important to me and serve my memory very favourably.
Such as it is, the colour in the sky on this night walk round Hemlington Lake is a reflection of the urban lights in Middlesbrough. Despite travelling north east for the new year, the weather didn’t improve much for us and so the street lamps had plenty of cloud cover to reflect their yellow-orange glow.
It didn’t actually rain much on me during this walk and I really enjoyed the subdued colours, the silhouettes of trees and the night sounds of coots on the water.
While my walk this week has not appeared very wintry, the photos were taken and the sound recorded in January and though there is no ice or snow to be seen, it seems that mild winters are now a feature of the seasons in many parts of Britain.
I hope you have enjoyed the first of my walks in 2016 and I look forward to posting many more this year.
Try listening to the soundscape of the walk while viewing the images in sequence – click the play button and then the first thumbnail below.
Suburban Lakeside Soundscape Sample
If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.
My walk this week is another from my archive of StillWalks® videos. I have chosen it because (writing in advance) this is where I will be during the transition to 2016 and I will certainly be taking at least one walk around this lake at that time.
Blue sky and crisp coldness – if there is no snow or ice to denote the season, the bare trees at least should prove the time of year. These photos are clearly from a less damp winter than we have experienced in Britain this year, even allowing for the fact that the north east is drier than the south west.
My walk this week may have been from a different year but that winter was almost as mild as this one has been. Had these photos been taken in 2015/16, there would probably have been more rain than mist but hopefully that would not have stopped me doing the walk. I am, however, looking forward to some drier walks in the coming year!
Try listening to this soundscape of the walk while viewing the images in sequence – click the play button and then the first thumbnail below.
Misty Walk Soundscape
If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.
The mist is still there as I climb back up the bracken covered side of Ryer’s Down on the Gower Peninsula. It could be said that yesterday’s magical atmosphere in the woods has come with me into the new year – mist can certainly have a mystical effect on things (sorry about the pun).
The landscape can look very different depending on the conditions. Trying always to look at things with a fresh eye helps me see what is there and appreciate the subtle differences.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Daylight comes to an end and the lights come on around Swansea’s Maritime Quarter. One take sees the lights of the apartments and the Meridian Tower and their reflections in the water. Another presents the silhouetted patterns of masts and architecture against the late evening sunset.
About ten years ago we had a studio in Swansea’s Maritime Quarter. We first moved into it just before the area started being developed. The old dock next to the studio building was empty and a number of the buildings were derelict – it wasn’t the best area in town. How things change!
Walking round what is now the marina was . . . interesting – now it is very pleasant. The dock has boats in it again and housing, other buildings and art around it. The National Waterfront Museum holds a significant space there as do other architectural developments.
On this walk there was still a taste of the past, not so much in the brightly painted and well maintained Helwick Lightship but in the old rust bucket resting next to it. It looks a fascinating vessel and I am sure there must be good reason for it being there – perhaps it is awaiting restoration. Why ever it’s there, they make for quite a contrast sitting next to each other.
