My walk this week is from another bay not far from where I was walking last week and though it is quite different, it is just as expansive as the last one. Llanelli Bay on the Loughor Estuary in Wales provides just about as long a walk as you would like but I stuck to the eastern end of it thinking there might be fewer people there.
Please understand that I am not desperate to get away from people (I like people really) but I also like my solitary walks. You will be ale to hear in my soundscape for this week (to be posted as usual on Friday) that if there were not crowds of people, the sounds of those that were there, particularly children and dogs, carried easily in across the mud flats and sand. The tide was out further than the eye could see and this allowed the silhouette of the disused Victorian iron built Whitford Lighthouse to stand out in the distance.
Closer to my eyes was the ground at my feet and the endlessly fascinating forms of the clinker and rocks that are strewn across the beach at this eastern end of the bay. The patterns on the rocks were as intricate as those on the clinker and apparently evidence of activity dating back whatever number of million years.
The rippled and corrugated patterns in the sand/mud were similar to those you see on many beaches but the consistency of the mud provided different textures that could bee both seen and felt under foot and as the sun lowered in the sky the patterns became more pronounced.
Lovely textures. Reminds me of Vic Reeves’ phrase from an old TV ad for a well-known chocolate bar “with a slightly rippled underside” — although in this case they’re topsides…
Thanks Chris – you have us racking our brains now. I’ll try to remember without Google first
“Slightly rippled with a flat underside” is the correct phrase, sorry to have misquoted. Have you remembered the chocolate bar yet?
Yes, but my daughter googled it I’m ashamed to say
I really like the shot with the Jeep or whatever in the background. So interesting to see the seemingly endless mud flats. I too like people but cherish my walks alone in the park (or alone time in Wyoming or elsewhere.) I think many people would be better off if they had some alone time regularly and felt comfortable when alone with themselves.
janet
Thank you Janet. I don’t know what the jeep was doing but it and others were out there all the time I was in the shore and so create a background base sound to my soundscape which I’ll post on Friday – a bit like the light aircraft in Swansea Bay last week. They must have been doing something specific so I will have to try and find out what. I had not expected the tide to be out so far and the revelation of the space was great to see and feel.