Over the Hills and Quite Close By – Felindre and Lliw Valley

Posted on 16/07/201316/07/2013 by Alastair

Following the recent StillWalks project exhibition, “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside”, I was delivering some the display screens back to Felindre Primary School who had generously loaned them for the purpose.

Being a beautiful, sunny day and quite different to the weather we had on the project production days, I was tempted to walk some way along the footpath we had taken up to Lliw Reservoir. It is a part of the Gower Way and the photo below shows the start of the walk.

I would love, over time, to produce more StillWalks along here and at Lliw Reservoirs in different seasons. All I have to do is find the time or someone to pay for it!

These and more photos can be seen and purchased at StillWalks PhotoShelter.

Abertawe Walk

Posted on 12/07/201312/07/2013 by Alastair

A few weeks ago I started writing a short blog style article for the online version of our local newspaper, the South Wales Evening Post. The articles are about some of the walks I take in the Swansea area and many of them are a little off the beaten track.

My contribution to the paper today (read here) features the River Tawe at Ynystawe but here, on this blog I want to present another part of the river. The StillWalks, “Abertawe Walk”, takes you along the cycle path between the Liberty Stadium and the bridges at SA1 and the Maritime Quarter in Swansea.

The production for this walk was done in the Autumn and the walk takes you through the woods along side the river as well as the cycle path.

The video can be seen here and the photos below are taken from that production.

from Abertawe Walk – Autumn

from Abertawe Walk

End of a French Evening Walk

Posted on 11/07/201311/07/2013 by Alastair

My French evening walk took me so far along the road to St Christophe and then I did an about turn and headed back to Faye la Vineuse the way I had come.

It was getting quite late by this time and the light was going fast but what an evening! And the sounds I recorded . . . you will just have to wait for me to complete the StillWalk.

St Christophe Road

Woodland Reflections

Night time in the fields

Faye la Vineuse

Along a French Wayside

Posted on 10/07/201310/07/2013 by Alastair

More from the road to St Christophe in the Indre et Loire region of France.

French Poppies

French Wild Flowers

French Sunset

Looking at the Loire – A French Evening Stroll

Posted on 09/07/201309/07/2013 by Alastair

This time last year we were in France, the Indre et Loire region. It is our current beautiful weather that has brought this to my mind.

On a few occasions I went for a walk along the St Christophe road from Faye la Vineuse and on one occasion at least I took my cameras and sound kit. I have not been able to do anything with that material since then but looking at the photos again brought back memories of a great holiday.

Over the next couple of days I will be putting up a selection of these images. I have arranged the sequence of photos I want to use for a StillWalk video and now need to work through the sound recording for it. This should take me back there even more than the photos.

Indre et Loire Countryside

Indre et Loire Field

Indre et Loire Woods

Sundown on the River Loughor

Posted on 28/06/201328/06/2013 by Alastair

I may say this quite often, but it never ceases to amaze me how every time I visit a place, in this case the marshes, it is different.

The other evening when I went down there through the park, I was stunned by the sun setting over the river. Though we often see beautiful sunsets, they never seem to lack impact.

Evening Over Swansea

Posted on 24/06/201324/06/2013 by Alastair

I have been told that the thing to do is to climb Kilvey Hill at the end of the day when the sun is going down and enjoy the spectacle not only of the sunset but of Swansea gradually lighting up.

We were already half way down the hill when this was said so I will have to wait a little longer for this experience – I just need to make sure it doesn’t take me another 30 years! (see Friday’s post – Ticking the List).

In these photos you can see Mumbles Lighthouse in the background, Swansea just beginning to light up and the Meridian Tower with the bay behind. The full collection can be seen (and bought) on the StillWalks Photography website.

Walking down Kilvey Hill – Mumbles in the distance

Mumbles in the Background

The Lights are Coming On

Meridian Tower

Shining a Light on Swansea

Posted on 23/06/201323/06/2013 by Alastair

These photos are more about the light than they are about Swansea, except that they were taken from the top of Kilvey Hill, an urban woodland that is surrounded by the city.

It was a beautiful evening when I took these pictures but even then the clouds were heralding yet another a change in the weather. Constant change may be something we have to accept in the weather these days, but fortunately there can be as much beauty in those changes as in the pleasure we feel in the sunshine – when we get it.

There are many more beautiful images to be seen from Kilvey Hill on the StillWalks Photography website.