Having returned from the Horton and Port Eynon RNLI station, we set off again in the opposite direction for this Taste of Gower walk and visited The Old Salt House which stands on the rocks at the southern end of the beach. Originally used, as the name suggests, to harvest sea salt, the building is now in ruins but has an interesting history which can be read at the link above.
View from a musket loop in The Salt House at Port Eynon
My walk this week at Port Eynon with the Taste of Gower walkers revealed some smiling faces . . . or perhaps I should say stony faces!
Looking directly into the light on from the beach at Port Eynon produced a smile on my own face. We are told not to face into the sun when taking photos because the light will be behind the subject and so they will appear as a silhouette. But if the subject is the light itself and the effect of being dazzled by it, then go for it (not directly at the the sun of course – that can be dangerous).
My walk this week is from the last Taste of Gower outing to Port Eynon on the Gower Peninsula.It was a bright day with a bit of a breeze as can be heard on the sound clips I’ll be posting. We gathered at the Captain’s Table as a starting point for the walk and I enjoyed seeing the late display of wildflowers as we approached the beach to amble, stride or march along the sand towards Horton.
We had all come prepared for changeable weather but were lucky to keep the sunshine for almost the whole of the walk. We weren’t the only ones enjoying it either!
The next ToG walk will be this Friday at Rhossili – details here.
One of the strangest things on my walk this week at the foot of the cliffs along the South Wales shore between Nash Point and Monknash, were the smooth round stones nestled in amongst the rectangular rocks of the wave platform pavement. I almost expected them to be polished to a shine in the same way that gem stones are made smooth and reflective for display. The wave action of tumbling the stones against the harder rocks of the pavement has produced a fascinating juxtaposition of forms. Speaking of which, having walked across such an expanse of wave platform, it was then a surprise to come upon a wide area of beautifully smooth sand!
Roundstones
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I started my walk this week with a post of 360 degree views of Swansea Bay at Crymlyn Burrows. Now after getting excited about so many of the patterns and forms in the sand on this expansive beach, I have come full circle. Back in front of the Bay Campus of Swansea University the view is as good as ever but after all the subtleties of sand I was surprised by the glare of contrasting colour in front of the Great Hall on the campus. The grass was new and the paint on the tables was new too!
Mumbles Across the Bay
Contrasting colour
Virtually all sound from the city and the motorway was being blown inland by a light breeze on this peaceful morning walk and the sound of distant birds and people along with my footsteps on the sand is most of what makes up this calm soundscape.
Crymlyn Burrows Beach Soundscape
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While the patterns in sand I have been looking at on my walk this week have been details of the beach in Swansea Bay, there are also interesting patterns and textures to be seen from longer, wider viewpoints. In this first shot today I like the gradual fading of the reflected light on wet sand as it transitions to drying sand.
In the second photo the pattern was subtle, perhaps more-so in reality than it is in the image but still noticeably there and resembling a tiger’s stripes. While I enjoy nuance within imagery and my surroundings, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at this pattern strengthened and converting to monochrome and increasing the contrast was one relatively quick way to do this.
Beach Perspective
Dry and Drying
monochrome sand
There was subtlety in the sounds of the beach on this walk as well as in the patterns of sand. I got my recorder out again as soon as I heard my footsteps on top of one of the sand banks where the surface still retained water and the rhythm of my footsteps created a fizz of compressed sand and released moisture. The passing of a distant small aircraft only seemed to emphasise the peace of the beach at this stage of my walk.
Footsteps in Damp Sand
As I proceeded further along the beach towards Port Talbot on my walk this week, I became more and more excited by the patterns I was seeing. I kept walking backwards and forwards and around in circles to view the patterns of ridges and ripples in the sand from different angles, enjoying them from different viewpoints and finding new perspectives. As I said earlier in the week, I may be becoming obsessed with sand as a natural art form.
Sand Patterns
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I was surprised to find such distinct sculpting of the sand by the flow of the ebb tide on my walk this week along the beach at Crymlyn Burrows in Swansea Bay. The sand banks were noticeable on the beach but even so, the flow of water that created these deep ridges must have been fast. Perhaps there was some other environmental influence of which I was not aware.
Sculpted by the Flow
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The first shot in the sequence below is a particularly interesting mix of flowing sand and flowing water patterns. I guess the sand on the upper edge of the sand bank started flowing with the water it held after the sea had subsided to a level to allow this – fascinating nature yet again!
