River rapids

My Walk this Week 190 – River Ely

My walk this week was a short one by the River Ely on the edge of Cardiff and slotted in between the rain and meetings. The profusion of recent rain was showing its effect on the river, though I am sure this is nothing compared to other areas of the country.

Natural casualties

The sights and sounds of the river rushing and gurgling along during lunchtime break in a nearby school (you can hear the children in the playground) was intermittently overlaid by the speeding by of  local and intercity trains.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this walk was the resemblance between the river-crossing pipe and its guard on the far side of the river and the natural patterns to be seen in the dead cow parsley. I photographed it, angled to try and illustrate my point, though you may need to be familiar with the plant to best appreciate the similarities.

River Ely Soundscape

Not available on the mobile/cellphone WordPress Reader – please visit the website.

It may have been a soggy walk but it was a most welcome opportunity, as always, to find relief from a busy working life before heading back onto the busy motorway.

So click the play button or soundscape title above to listen and then the first image below to see the full images in sequence (not available like this on the mobile WordPress Reader in which case visit the blog in your mobile’s internet browser – NB you will need to open the sound file and images in separate browser tabs to listen and look at the same time).

Posted in My Walk this Week, Photography, Soundscape, Walks and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

12 Comments

    • Thank you Julian Things being what they are at the moment, I take any opportunity I can for even a short walk like this. Glad you liked it.

    • I thought it was odd that the bars in the barrier at the end of the pipe were bent over – I even wondered if it had been done by design. I suppose that would make them more effective but I like to imagine that someone else saw a potential resemblance and made them like that for fun. Oh dear, now I’m just blethering! Tiredness can do some funny things

  1. Wonderful to see your photos, Alastair. I’m having some troubles with getting audio, but I enjoyed the photos, especially the shapes and comparison of the pipes to the cow parsley. Also truly impressed by the full volume of the river. Coming from Calif. where water is sometimes rare and always a big deal, I take a great interest when our rivers here are flowing and water is present. Your rivers in Wales are incredible!! Thanks for taking time out of your busy work schedule to share this lovely walk with us.

    • Hi Jet, I upload quite a high quality sound file for my blog. Maybe that is the problem – I will upload another version of it and you can let me know if that helps. Thank you for you interest, enthusiasm and for trying

    • I have no uploaded a “lo-fi” version of the sound file which you should be able to play either through the embedded media player or by clicking the title which links directly to the file. Hope this works for you.

  2. Thanks so much for going to the trouble to provide a lo-fi version, Alastair. Although I still wasn’t able to get that on my computer, it is a new computer and I’m still getting things worked out. I did, however, get back to my old computer and t.h.o.r.o.u.g.h.l.y enjoyed listening to your sound track. I found it enchanting with the River Ely roiling and the children playing. Then the two different trains passing by added a lovely extra touch. And I heard what I think were crows, which made my day. I was reminded of the sections in Hitchcock films when he leaves out dialogue, but plays all the other sounds, inviting us intimately into the scene. Really wonderful, thank you.

    • Thank you Jet. I’m pleased to here it wasn’t an issue with my sound file but hope that you are able to sort out your new computer. The trains are not something that normally feature in my soundscapes so it was an interesting difference for me. There were certainly crows there but a greater number of magpies. Thanks for listening

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