pussy willow

My Walk this Week 154 – Golden Grove, Gelli Aur

My walk this week was at Golden Grove or Gelli Aur as we call it in Wales. It was particularly enjoyable because the park has been closed for the last five years or so and it was wonderful to be able to wander round it again.

Golden Grove

Although the arboretum is only accessible if you pay, the rest of the park, even without being able to walk the circuit through the arboretum and the deer enclosure, it is still a beautiful place to visit. The cafe has opened again too and is serving some very nice home made food.Continue reading

paddling in the Tawe

My Walk this Week 153 – Tawe Riverbank

My walk this week is along the western riverbank of the Tawe. The starting point is under the bridge at Morfa where the heart of Copperopolis used to be back in the 18th and 19th centuries.

River TaweThere wouldn’t have been a concrete bridge in those days of course, but I like the patterns and colours to be seen there and I enjoyed them along the riverbank and on the water’s surface as well.Continue reading

Kenfig beach

My Walk this Week 152 – Sound of Sunny Seaside Larks

My walk this week is from the burrows and beach at Kenfig on the South Wales coast where, on a sunny Sunday, we heard the most beautiful sound of seaside larks rejoicing in the afternoon sunshine. Both they and the wonderful weather made for a very enjoyable walk through the dunes and down to the expansive beach and an ebb tide.

tree and lake

Heading first for Kenfig Pool, it seemed the water level was up from recent rain and to judge from the route we were forced to take to get to the beach, the recent storms had fulfilled their aim of dumping as much rain as possible in as short a time as possible. Continue reading

My Walk this Week 149 – Sound and Weave

My walk this week was more like a run than a walk – I was run off my feet setting up and installing art work in three different venues in Swansea. The main exhibition is the British Tapestry Group’s “Sound and Weave” in which I have an interactive tapestry.

There is a route map for the exhibitions below and I will be posting images and videos about the work over this month on FB and IG and perhaps here as well.

"Sound and Weave" exhibition venues in Swansea

“Sound and Weave” exhibition venues in Swansea

Sound and Weave at Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Sound and Weave at Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Sound and Weave at Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Sound and Weave at Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Louise Martin installation

Louise Martin installation – “WHISPERED WORDS”

Stephanie Edwards

Stephanie Edwards’ – “SHHH . . . the sound of silence”

This is the first post I have written and published entirely from my phone – the result of pressure of time! While I have been very busy with this work, I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of one of the other exhibitors, Stephanie Edwards, my daughter, Hannah and my wife Julie – also the support in the background of the BTG. Thank you all very much.

Worthing beach

My Walk this Week 148 – Summer in Winter on the South Coast

My walk this week takes place on a Summer day in Winter on the south coast of England. It was mid-February but the temperature reached over 20 degrees celsius!

Man and dog on beach

Staying overnight on the seafront in Worthing, we awoke to a beautiful, bright day and took time for a walk along the stony beach with its ageing, bleached wood groynes. The garish colours of a multi-storey car park on the road side were followed through and improvedContinue reading

boats in Penzance harbour

My Walk this Week 147 – Back in Penzance and St Ives

My walk this week is from this time 6 years ago when we visited Penzance and St Ives on the most south western corner of Britain. I was very pleased to have the excuse to visit a part of the UK I had never seen before and about which I had heard so much.

Penzance seafront

As you can see from the blue sea in the images below, we were very lucky with the weather when at St Ives, and though windier in Penzance, that made the place no less enjoyable. The only thing I regret now is that I didn’t get any sound recording done while thereContinue reading

Looking south from Pen y Fan

My Walk this Week 146 – Looking Back at the Mountains

My walk this week is one from the past and came to mind because the Welsh mountains it illustrates came up in a recent conversation. I hope to visit Pen-y Fan in the Brecon Beacons again later this year – or if not that mountain, perhaps a less busy location nearby. The images and sound clip were originally posted in May 2016.

Original Brecon Road

The sounds in the clip below are classic for this mountain area, and that includes the voices of other people. Pen-y Fan, being the highest of the Brecon Beacons and fairly accessible, attracts a lot of visitors, both local and from further afield. Continue reading

view from the footpath

My Walk this Week 145 – West Wales Winter Wander

My walk this week is a Winter wander in the West Wales countryside around Narberth. There had been a layer of snow in the morning but by the time I was able to explore this footpath from the town, the sun had all but cleared it and the only evidence was a thin strip or two in the lee of lane-side hedges.

countryside footpath

I have visited the attractive town of Narberth on a number of occasions and the purpose of going has mostly been to view the exhibitions held in the excellent Oriel Q Gallery in the Queens Hall. I had a small exhibition of my tapestry weaving there atContinue reading