Rising higher on this, my second consecutive walk up the Cwm Dulais valley, I came into a heavy mist. The mist was not so heavy that I couldn’t see the friendly horse in the field at the top to whom I like to chat, but his own grey colour is not far off that of the mist – well camouflaged for weather like this!
My walk this week is the second of three valley walks I recently took along the same route up Cwm Dulais. Despite the walks being taken on three consecutive days, the experience was different each time, both visually and aurally.
It is not immediately obvious at this point on the walk that the weather was going to be as misty as it turned out to be. The clues are in the light and the globules of water on the grass in the last shot below.
Coming to the end of my walk this week in the local valley of Cwm Dulais, I reached this abandoned rusty metal doorway in an old wall. It must be well known locally but I am not certain of what it used to be the entrance to – I think I am going to have to do some local historical investigation . . . next stop, the local library.
On this first of three consecutive walks in my local valley of Cwm Dulais, as I returned down one of the lanes towards home, there was what I can only describe as a solar attempt. The sun tried repeatedly to break through the clouds that had blown in gradually as I continued my walk, but alas, was unable to make a lasting impression and it was only by diligent timing and patience that I managed to get this shot.
Pony portraits became the order for the day at this point on my walk this week, the first of three on this valley route up Cwm Dulais. I met a number of ponies en route – not only are they frequently curious about whoever is passing by, they also seem happy to have their photographs taken.
For my walk this week I am looking at the first of three valley walks taken in the same place in the past week during which the weather changed dramatically from one day to the next.
Looking through the entrance archway of Cardiff City Hall towards the end of my walk this week and the National Museum of Wales, I have completed my circuit of the rectangle of classical, brutalist and functional architecture that makes up this cultural and educational sector at the approach to the city centre.
Completing the walk in the museum itself and the Artes Mundi exhibition (already visited three times), I can only recommend a visit to the show before it ends on 26th February.
My walk this week featured a range of mixed media. From the natural mossy trees in perspective and their shadows on buildings to a classical architectural foreground with a more modernist tower in the background; the intricacy of sculptures and the simplicity of the structures within walls along with urban pedestrian functionality. It makes for quite a mixed bag and all to be seen within a hundred yards or so in the centre of Cardiff City.
