Walks, Walking and Wilderness

I am always on the lookout for new walks.

Whether it be the natural or man made environment, I try to keep my eyes and ears open for interesting things or a way to look at something that makes it interesting.

These photos are from a short exploratory walk I did recently when, driving along a small country road through what felt like a complete wilderness, I passed a “footpath” sign. These signs always make me want to stop immediately and take a closer look at the route to which they point.

On this occasion it was easy for me to stop and park the car off the road and grab my cameras. I wasn’t able to go very far on this occasion but I will certainly be exploring the area more in the future. The location was near Cwm Cerdinen,  just over the mountain from where I live in South Wales.

Cwmcerdinen-6

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Hazy Days

It was a very hazy day but the views from the hills were still great.

Swansea Walking Forum meet once a month and although this has often been a matter of sitting around a table and sharing the news of different walking groups in the area, this week we met at Garnswllt Activity Centre and went for a walk first. What an excellent idea! Climbing up the Garnswllt end of Graig Fawr, we took nearly 2 hours to complete a circuit that provided beautiful hazy views across the hills and over Ammanford. Following the walk we were able to sit down with a cup of tea and biscuits in the Activity Centre which has been excellently converted from the old village school.

It was a beautiful day and the larks were singing their hearts out up above us. I had taken my recording kit and held back a little in order to record the sounds of without the chatter of the group in the background. Listen to the sounds below – either click the play button or the mp3 file name.

Garnswllt Larks

View over Ammanford

Walking forum walk from Garswllt

Walking forum walk from Garswllt

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Waymarkers

The footpath, the rock and the signpost.

All are waymarkers from my point of view and if I were doing a StillWalks production of the area I have been posting about all week, I would certainly make use of objects like these in the photography for the video to help provide a sense of progression through the landscape.

The area is of course the Loughor Estuary near Llanrhidian on the Gower Peninsula and I walked in both the directions that this signpost is pointing.

Btw, I consider the word “waymarkers” to be one word (like footpath or signpost) but the computer seems to be arguing with me – stuff the computer!

Signpost

Loughor Estuary

Estuary footpath

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Spring Sights and Sounds at Clyne

This week’s featured StillWalks video – a walk through Swansea’s Clyne Gardens.

The video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Rising and Receding Waters

Water levels rise incredibly quickly but it can take a lot longer for them to recede.

The peak of the water level in the River Wye at Hereford was probably several days before we arrived there and as can be seen, it covered the park and playing fields nearby. We were unable to complete our walk on a circuitous route  because we were not waiting suitable shoes for the mud the flood had left. I suspect it will be some time before it is practical to play on the fields again.

River Wye flooding

Flooding in Hereford

This new StillWalks video will be here to view all week and will then be changed to sample length. I hope you enjoy it and comments are welcome.

You can use the Donate button below to help pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “City River Walk – After the Flood” which features York and the River Ouse. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Aware of the Water – Hereford and the River Wye

The River Wye is another river that swells with flood water on a regular basis.

Like the Ouse in this week’s featured StillWalks video the Wye collects water from a wide area and sometimes there is just too much to contain and so, despite flood defences, the water spills onto the surrounding land.

We visited Hereford again recently to take my daughter back to university. We were lucky enough to have good weather for the trip and had time in the afternoon for a walk along the river. The footpath, however, was very muddy from the recent floods  and we were not well enough shod to squelch our way through it.

Banks of the River Wye

River Wye

St Martins Bridge Arch

St Martins Bridge, Hereford

This new StillWalks video will be here to view all week and will then be changed to sample length. I hope you enjoy it and comments are welcome.

You can use the Donate button below to help pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “City River Walk – After the Flood” which features York and the River Ouse. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Looking Ahead at Llys Nini

Last week I revisited the woodland at Llys Nini Animal Centre.

The centre is in Penllergaer, near Swansea and my first discovery of this woodland was through the StillWalks project “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” – that was about 18 months ago.

Since then the woodland and the footpaths through it, have been developed further and there is more to see and hear there all the time. The first image below is of a team of volunteers planting hundreds of new trees – oak, ash, alder, hawthorn and many others.

The bespoke StillWalks video “Marching Feet, Crackling Leaves”, produced as part of the “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” project, was made with StillWalks by the children of Pontlliw Primary School and features a (miraculously) dry day in Autumn.

Sounds from my walk there last week will be posted tomorrow.

Planting trees

Llys Nini Woodland

Llys Nini Woodland-3

Winter Sunlight

Early morning sunlight on a cold morning in Penllergaer Woods, Swansea. Images used in this week’s featured StillWalks video, “Woodland Walk – Winter”.

Penllergaer Woods

Misty Morning

Waterfall

You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Woodland Walk – Winter” which features Penllergaer Valley Woods near Swansea. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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