My Walk this Week – Early Morning Seafront

Posted on 21/11/201619/11/2016 by Alastair

How early is early? For my walk this week along Aberavon seafront in south Wales, it seemed more like nigh time when I started out – it was certainly dark when I left the house but it wasn’t very early, about 7.45. That is perhaps to be expected at this time of year and I guess the murky weather I met with on arrival at the seafront could also be considered normal in this part of the world.

I wasn’t the only one about though, despite the dark sea fret covering the beach.

Seafret and Bird

seafront sculpture

seafront bird

seafront walkers

sea fret

seafront sculpture – detail

Wellbeing Weather

Posted on 08/11/201602/11/2016 by Alastair

Swansea Bay is great in any weather but there can be no question that a dry sunshiny day is good for a sense of wellbeing. Certainly it encouraged people to come on the health and wellbeing walk along the cycle/walking path from Mumbles to Swansea.

Wildness Becalmed

Posted on 03/11/201631/10/2016 by Alastair

The wind that produced the wildness in the growth of this tree was becalmed on this day of our holiday in Scotland. The wild hawthorn trees that take this form are wonderful descriptions of the weather and the bleak looking hill in the background are not a place you would wish to be in foul weather.

But this day was completely still and everything in the landscape and seascape held a tranquility and peace that for all we knew could have been the precursor to a storm.

Back Down at Sea Level

Posted on 24/09/201601/09/2016 by Alastair

With the weather still fine towards the end of my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers at Penclawdd, the blue paint of this local boat almost perfectly matched the sky.

Cairnholy Landscape

Posted on 07/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

Having said that the weather could have been better on my walk this week, today I am posting the proof. The view from Cairnholy chambered tomb on the Galloway coast in Scotland would be pretty good if it weren’t for the clouds and rain – but there you go, that’s Scotland (or perhaps I should say the UK) in these days of unpredictable seasons.

On a more positive note, the landscape did not loose any of its atmosphere or colour as a result of the weather and it seemed to make it easier (though I don’t know why it should) to imagine people there in neolithic times.

Seaview

Misty Mountain Ridge

Posted on 19/08/201611/08/2016 by Alastair

So on my walk this week the Welsh mountains were revealed to me, but not all of a sudden. It took time for the cloud to clear but gradually, bit by bit, the details of the mountains could be seen

Misty Mountain Ridge

Mountainside Farm

Light and Shade

Mountain and Cloud

Misty Mountain Ridge

Clearing Cloud – Revealing the Landscape

Posted on 18/08/201611/08/2016 by Alastair

Clearing cloud – yes! Just as I started to head back down the mountain, having decided that the mist was not going to lift and my walk this week would not have the potential views of Wales’ mountains and valleys that I had hoped for, the sun broke through and the scene below me was revealed. I was so pleased 🙂 and in awe at the views.

The walk / climb to this point had been . . . mmm . . . atmospheric. However, despite the mist it had still been very enjoyable. But to be able to look at the other mountains around me and the valleys below is always a wonder that cannot be experienced on a screen. Having said that I will of course endeavour to produce a StillWalks video from this walk that goes some way to presenting the experience and hopefully draws people in to join me in my memories of it.

Clearing Cloud

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Clearing Cloud

Mountain track

Mountain and Cloud

Monochrome Mountain and Cloud

Mountainside

Looking over the edge

Tal-y-Clun

Ascending Further

Posted on 17/08/201611/08/2016 by Alastair

Ascending further along my misty mountain route on my walk this week, the landscape below me may have been obscured but the colours and patterns in the path-side rocks could still clearly be seen, albeit less bright than would have been the case in sunshine.

Almost at the top I sheltered from the wild wind in a hollow at the side of the mountain track and recorded the blustering wind and the plaintive bleats of distant sheep and began to despair at the possibility of getting the views I had hoped for.