Moving on up the lane approaching The Waterside on my walk this week the winter bareness of the trees revealed the natural fractal growth of their branches against the sky. This first image can also be see in full black and white on Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness MM 3-41 blog post.
My walk this week is at a place I have walked at and posted about on a few occasions but until now I have not taken a closer look (and listen) at the the approach to the The Waterside.
Starting just above the school, the lane that leads up to the lakeside where the facilities are in which creative thinking can take place, the wooded valley, while bare of leaves at this time of year, is still green with moss and the damp atmosphere on a day heavy and dark with rain.
My walk this week is in a place I have walked and worked in on a number of occasions. As it was a clear day and I was there anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a short walk along the edge of the salt marshes in front of Penclawdd on the North Gower coastline.
With the marshes stretching out across the Burry Inlet and Loughor Estuary, the sky becomes massive. While you could often expect to see a scene of turbulent clouds, on this day there was not a cloud in sight. The subtle colours blended smoothly from blues and greens to mustard and yellow, all gradually changing to include deep reds later in the walk.
Penclawdd Traffic, Frost and Leaves
Climbing to the top of the hill on my walk this week the surface underfoot was stone at one of the steepest parts of the route. As the track is used frequently by horse riders, I have often wondered how the horses cope with this section as it can get slippery when wet (which is often the case in Wales!).
Having reached the top, the friendly horse that currently shares a field with a couple of donkeys, came over to greet me. I enjoy taking a short break in my walk up there where I can take in the landscape around me and it is good to have a quiet conversation with the horse – he really is a lovely animal!
Still climbing on my walk this week, I reached the first gate I needed to open. Loving the sound of gates, I just had to record it and of course that popular seasonal sound of dry Autumn leaves as the crunch underfoot.
Shadow of a Gate
Goppa Gate
On my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers there were quite a sizeable group of people. This made one man and his dog out walking on the marshes all the more noticable.
I have commented before on my interest in texture (it comes from my original training in tapestry weaving – see my other website here) and it is perhaps this interest that makes me notice and photograph the patterns of grass or wood as I have in the images below.
One man and his dog
I also enjoy the aural textures and patterns that surround us in any environment but I was amused by the rhythm of walking that can be heard in the sound clip below.
Squeaky Shoes
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You will find sheep on virtually any mountainside in Wales. There have been a few dotted about in the distance in my photos of my walk this week and one or two, along with their bleats, looming out of the mist. In reality there were plenty of them about and the photo below provides some evidence of this.
Evidence of Sheep
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Having started my walk this week in the forest at the foot of Mynydd Rugog, I clambered out of the woods and onto the side of the mountain to find mist slowly descending from the summit. I followed and old fence and wall directly up to the track that zig zags up from a farm down by the road and though as long as I can clearly see the path I’ll carry on.
Mist descended
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