My Walk this Week 185 – Frost As It Was

Posted on 13/12/201909/12/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week is again from three years ago, when it seems as though the weather was colder and there was thick frost on the ground – we haven’t really had that yet this year.

The walk was in Penclawdd on the North Gower Peninsula and my selected images and soundscape below tell something of the atmosphere of the place as it looks out across the Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet to Carmarthenshire.

The clear sky and open space is something I really appreciate at the moment, working indoors in a warehouse all the time as I am, and not seeing much daylight.Continue reading→

Our Gower Project Walk 1 – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 04/11/201730/10/2017 by Alastair

The “Our Gower” project, organised by with the Nature Conservation Team in the City and County of Swansea, involves more people than myself. There are Years 8 and 9 pupils from four different schools working with seven people from different organisations plus the school teachers to experience four of the wild outdoor environments of the Gower Peninsula in Wales.

Tim Orell from the Nature Conservation Team is working with Gower Unearthed, Nature Days, and plus writers Emily Hinshelwood and Helen Nicholas to give the pupils an outdoor experience they won’t forget.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week – Our Gower Project Walk 1, Salt Marsh

Posted on 30/10/201728/10/2017 by Alastair

My walk this week follows on from the project recce walk I posted about at the end of September. That was the recce – for the real walk we had to change the route as the ground underfoot had become non-negotiable for walking with a group following high tides and wet weather.

And the wet weather was a big part of the walk experience for the pupils we were taking out to experience the wonderful expanse of the salt marshes of the Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet on the North Gower coast in Wales. Starting at Weobley Castle where they produce the delicious salt marsh lamb, everyone donned the wellington boots provided for them.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week – Project Recce Walk 2, Llanrhidian Marshes

Posted on 25/09/201723/09/2017 by Alastair

My walk this week features the second of our project recce walks for a schools project on the Gower Peninsula. This time we were walking across the open tidal marshes in the Burry Inlet near Llanrhidian on the north Gower coastline.

I know the area quite well but hadn’t been to this particular location. The tide was out and the sense of expansive space was wonderful. Continue reading→

Evening Landscape – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 11/12/201604/12/2016 by Alastair

This evening landscape at the end of my walk this week in Penclawdd on the North Gower coast was not really very late in the day – just after 4pm. The days seem so short at this time of day, but I must try to remember those further north who, if you go far enough north, see no real sunlight at all through the day. I cannot imagine what that is like.

The sounds of this walk include many of the activities of the place, both man-made and natural. It was good to find myself hidden from the traffic and industry so easily by such a low lying shield of land as I walked at the edge of the salt marsh.

Enjoy the sounds along with selected images from my walk below.

Penclawdd Walk Soundscape

Continue reading→

Taste of Gower, Penclawdd – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 25/09/201601/09/2016 by Alastair

To mark the end of each Taste of Gower walk we visit a local cafe, hence the name “Taste of Gower”. The Gower Landscape Partnership pays for the teas and coffees but there are always many other good things to be eaten as well, and that was no less the case for the Cariad Cafe in Penclawdd as it is for any of the other Taste of Gower walk locations.

The next Taste of Gower walk will be at Port Eynon on Friday 30th September (that’s next week). Details can be found here.

Cup of tea time at Cariad Cafe

Click play button below and then the first of the thumbnail images to view selected photos from the past week’s posts in sequence.

Taste of Gower – Penclawdd Soundscape

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Salt Marshes

Taste of Gower walkers

stile post

One man and his dog

salt marsh fence

Penclawdd vista

buzzard

Natural pattern

Taste of Gower walkers

The Black Mountain

sandbank and birds

My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Penclawdd

Posted on 19/09/201601/09/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week is from the last Taste of Gower walk that took place at Penclawdd on the North Gower coast overlooking the Loughor Estuary, its salt marshes and Burry Inlet.

As can be seen in the first image below, it was a beautiful day. Starting from the car park overlooking the salt marshes with the tide out, we were guided on the walk by Rod Cooper who talked to us about the industrial history of Penclawdd and its heyday with the copper works. The river Loughor apparently takes a different route now to what it did in the days of the copper works. At that time there was a harbour at Penclawdd which would have been necessary for the industry. That was back in the 18th and 19th centuries. Now it is all salt marsh and of course the benefit of that is the salt marsh lamb that is so tasty.

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Taste of Gower walkers

Salt Marshes

Rod Cooper

Old copperworks wall

My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower 16-1

Posted on 16/05/201613/05/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week follows the first of the Taste of Gower walks for 2016 organised by Gower Landscapes Partnership. The same walk was done last year but this time round I have recorded the full walk and will present it here throughout this week.

The walk was circular, starting at Weobley Castle and farm where not only did we have the chance to look round the castle, we also got to see the lambing shed – there was a lot of bleating!

The weather was very good and the views across the salt marshes of Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet were excellent.

Seemingly the sheep know to go in and out with the tide and it is the mixture of grasses and herbs that grow on the marshes that give the salt marsh lamb its unique taste.

Lambing Shed