My Walk this Week 205 – Memories of North Wales

Posted on 01/05/202001/05/2020 by Alastair

My walk this week is from the archives with memories of North Wales and a windy visit to Colwyn Bay.

Some were taking advantage of the wind in a colourful way and the sky just wanted to join in by throwing out a rainbow to accompany the wind surfing paraglider, while other like myself were getting rather more battered by it. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable walk and thrilling to be entertained by those men and their “flying machines”.

The patterns and colours of sand and wind, rust and fencing, waves and water effects in what appears to have been a changeable day are a good reminder of the experience. The soundscape also serves as an excellent transportation device to take me back there with the images – I can almost feel and smell the sea spray!

Colwyn Bay Soundscape

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Colwyn Bay and pier

Colwyn Bay Pier

Crossing to the sea

Colwyn Bay fencing

Colwyn Bay Reflections

Seaweed on fence

Fence focus 2

Colwyn Bay Crustaceans

Under the pier

sand patterns

Colwyn Bay

Paragliders

Colours in the Sky

Paragliders in the surf

Wild and Windy

Dark Sea and Weathered Fence

Running into the wind

Wind blown sand

Sand Drift

Sand Haze

Pier Structure

Leaving the Beach and Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 07/08/201602/08/2016 by Alastair

Reviewing my walk this week I realise that the railway line running across this bridge separates not only the beach from the town, but also something of the wind as well. The beach at Colwyn Bay in North Wales is a wide open expanse across which the wind can blow unimpeded until it reaches the railway embankment above the promenade. However, this barrier does not run the full length of the bay by any means and so I imagine, like Swansea’s seafront in the south of the country, the sand gets blown far into the streets nearby.

The soundscape below illustrates the point at which the wind starts blowing – just as I cross the road to the promenade at the pedestrian crossing. My favourite sound in this soundscape is towards the end – the rhythmic rattle of metal on metal in the wind before I return to the road.

Leaving the beach

Colwyn Bay Soundscape

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Glimpse of the bay

Running into the wind

Crossing to the sea

Colours in the Sky

Paragliders in the surf

Paragliders

Wild and Windy

Looking out to sea

Wind blown sand

Sand Drift

Sand Haze

Sand and Tide

Dark Sea and Weathered Fence

Pier Structure

Dark Sea and Weathered Fence

Posted on 06/08/201601/08/2016 by Alastair

With the wild wind and dark sea on my walk along the beach at Colwyn Bay this week, it was with some relief that I finally passed alongside the safety fence around the dilapidated pier and up off the beach. In fact the weather was exhilarating, all the more so because it didn’t rain and wasn’t so rough as to make it too difficult to contend with.

Dark Sea and Weathered Fence

Colwyn Bay Wind Clatter

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Dark Sea and Weathered Fence

Triple Columns

Pier Structure

Fence Structure

Beach Exit

Patterns of Natural Sand Art

Posted on 05/08/201601/08/2016 by Alastair

The wind on my walk this week on the beach at Colwyn Bay had been going to town (so to speak and literally!) when it comes to creating patterns. Not just the wind of course – its take the combination of wind and sea to create these particular patterns. In the first image they appear to have been brushing each others hair while in the second there has been more apparent friction with the sand ripples developing a multitude of blisters

Sand Hair

Sand Blisters

Sand Drift and Textures on the Beach

Posted on 04/08/201601/08/2016 by Alastair

The sand in Colwyn Bay was filling more than the gaps between rocks and it wasn’t long before my shoes were filled as well. Where the surface sand had dried it was easily blown by the wind, creating a strange sense of movement on solid ground. The sand drift smoothed out textures as it caught on rocks and other beach features and appeared as a haze higher up the beach as it flowed across a concrete groyne.

Sand Drift

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Wind blown sand

Sand Tangle

Sand Drift

Sand Haze

Tilting at the Wind

Posted on 03/08/201601/08/2016 by Alastair

No tilting at windmills here – just tilting at the wind as I nearly get blown off my feet. The power of the wind and the sea is not imaginary and it is remarkable that the youngest member of the family looking out to the horizon in the second image below isn’t being rolled up the beach like the foam of the waves.

On the gentle incline of Colwyn Bay beach the waves may not be very big, but that doesn’t mean the weather is any less wild. A number of the photos I took that day had an horizon line in danger of falling off the edge but whilst it is easy enough to correct this, leaving the first image below as it is helped to emphasise the nature of that environment at that time.

Tilting to the Wind

Looking out to sea

Sea foam

Paragliders – Colours in the Sky

Posted on 02/08/201630/07/2016 by Alastair

It was a perfect day for my walk this week at Colwyn Bay . . . if you like the wind! There are those that will take full advantage of the wind every time, such as paragliders. I spotted these two the moment I stepped onto the seafront and as I walked towards them, it was difficult to pay attention to the rest of my surroundings. The mesmerising entertainment of their aerial acrobatics was quite a distraction.

Colours in the Sky

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Paragliders

Colours in the Sky

Paraglider

Paragliders

Paragliders in the surf

My Walk this Week – Windy Day in Colwyn Bay

Posted on 01/08/201630/07/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week takes me back a couple of months to a working visit to Colwyn Bay on the north coast of Wales. It was a fresh Spring day and the wind was blowing strong. I think the image below describes the conditions perfectly.

Whether or not I develop a StillWalks video from all the material I recorded on this short walk along the beach remains to be seen. If I do, it will not be one of the relaxing ones – more invigorating I think!

The off shore wind farm seen on the horizon of the first shot below is an interesting feature, sometimes there and sometimes not! Depending on the light (constantly changing on this particular day), the turbines can become almost completely invisible or present complex repeating patterns as they shine with reflected sunlight.