My walk this week is in the mid-summer mist of the Swansea uplands known as The Mawr. The sun was shining the day before!
The last time I visited Penlle’r Castell at the highest point on The Mawr, the weather was different to what I was expecting on this occasion in mid Summer – you can see it here ! Uplands are unpredictable landscapes at any time of year I guess. Continue reading
The sheep that accompanied me on the last stage of my walk were barred from continuing by the effective but simple design of a kissing gate and a cattle grid. My geology walk this week with geographer Geraint Owen and other walkers was both thoroughly enjoyable and informative. The walk was arranged by our local library and I imagine they may be involved again in the arrangements for a second outing to complete the walk route.
gate and route home
Geology Walk Soundscape
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My walk this week was organised by our local library with Geraint Owen, a geographer from Swansea University (UWTSD). Geraint gave an excellent talk at the library a few months ago and so when the opportunity came up to join him on his geology walk route for Cwm Dulais I didn’t hesitate to sign up.
The image below may not seem to have much to do with geology but there is a relationship here. I first have to admit to loving bog cotton as a plant and so when we came across it there was no way I was going to pass it by. However, in geological terms the plant is there because as its name suggests, the ground was boggy. Now wind back time several million years and consider the fact that bogs make peat which when compressed over millennia turn into coal . . . and that brings me to the starting point of our walk – the old Cefn Drum and Graig Merthyr colliery location in Cwm Dulais.
Bog cotton
The start of my walk was a solitary one as I walked up the valley to meet the rest of the group near the site of the old colliery. The waste heap is no longer there now but is spread across the hillside of Cefn Drum. We scrambled about on this looking for evidence of ancient plant life in the stones and coal that now makes up a casual track used by motorbikes. It was higher up the hillside that we came a upon the bog cotton.
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Kilvey Hill is a large (3 square kilometres) urban woodland in Swansea, South Wales. The hill is surrounded on all sides by housing, industry and businesses and its top is, of course, a perfect site for TV transmitters, mobile phone masts, etc.
It is also a great place for wildlife and plants like bog cotton and blueberries and I understand there are hares to be seen if you are patient enough to wait for them.
There are fantastic views in all directions and here, today, is a taster. I will be putting more up later in the week or you can visit the StillWalks Photography website to view them all now.
Yr Allt, Fan Nedd and Fan Gyhirych are all on a walk I have done in the Brecon Beacons frequently in the past. That past is a long time ago now though and so when I took a day up there recently with my friend Mark, it seemed even better than my memory allowed.
Walking for pleasure was the main reasoning behind the trip but photos and sounds clips taken on the day can be considered a recce for a StillWalks production day later in the Summer.
Skylark – I actually managed to get a half decent photo of one of the many Skylarks up there and some of the sights and sounds from the day can be listened to and seen below. To view more of the photos, visit Flickr. If you can’t see the sound clips, click here to go to the blog.
Shadows on Yr Allt
Pen y Fan in the distance
On the side of Fan Nedd
Old Fencing
Bog Cotton
Maen Llia standing stone