From liquid smooth through crusty and tatty to razor sharp, the range of textures I spotted on my walk along Swansea canal was wide, to say nothing of the colour and pattern, light and shade that created a natural art exhibition for me.
The water of the canal may have reflected the colour in the sky on this beautiful morning, but it certainly did not reflect the texture of the barbed wire fence round the Mond Nickel Works.
And there was pattern to be seen in the reflection of light from the water under one of the bridges and a very crusty texture on the pipe structures also crossing the canal.
The woods at this stage of my walk round Lower Lliw Reservoir are not silent as you will hear in the sound clip below. However, with there being no wind, much of the background sound that is often there, is missing. This changes the acoustics of the woodland environment entirely and the soft plop of ice and snow dripping into the reservoir can be clearly heard along with the hollow reverberation of someone’s voice and the raucous call of a crow.
The scene was magical, not least because of the crooked wooden fence that lines the twisting footpath and the soft crunch of my footsteps in the snow.
Peaceful Background
If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.
Approaching the steep descent to Rhosilli from up on Rhosilli Down and towards the end of my walk this week on the Gower Peninsula, my knees had just about had enough for the day.
The views had been and still were spectacular but the height I had to climb down from can be seen in the footpath photo below. That is not the path that I would follow as that one descends right down to the beach and Rhosilli itself is at the top of the cliffs from which that path clings. However, the way for me would still be steep and my knees had decided to complain.
I postponed the inevitable and took some more shots of the wall and fence near the start of the downhill track and the distant threatening weather (see tomorrow). Finally, though, I plucked up the courage and began literally inching my way painfully down the slope. My only other option would have been to call for a helicopter and things weren’t so bad to tempt me to suffer that embarrassment.
I reached the bottom eventually and after returning home, spent the next couple of days with my feet up! This is not something that often happens to me but for whatever reason, occasionally my knees protest. Certainly I have always preferred ascent to descent.
The wind was quite calm at this point on my walk and so the sound clip below is mostly the continuous motion of the sea. The sound is not rhythmical as you might expect of waves, but it is quite distinct from the sound of the wind.
Sound of the Sea
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I loved the woodland around the old shed I found (see yesterday) on my short walk in Carmarthenshire this week – the density of trees and yet the openness in the winter created a wonderful range of subtle colours, textures and patterns.
The first thing I encountered when starting on my return up the hill, was my own footsteps in the thin snow. The thaw was already in progress at the start of my walk and you can see and hear how fast the snow is melting in the footstep sound clips on Monday’s post – “My Walk this week – First Snow”. It is quite possible that this is not only the first snow but also the last of this winter – we shall just have to wait and see!
I didn’t get lost on my walk this week but I did come across this old shed that had the distinct appearance of being abandoned and lost in the woods. On closer inspection, it appeared that it may still be in use – I couldn’t say for sure, but I did like the aged appearance of it. Covered in moss, spider webs and snow the rusty corrugated iron sheets seemed well camouflaged in the winter woodland.
My descending approach to the shed took me through some deeper snow, the sound of which can be heard on my first post for this week. Care had to be taken and you can hear the point in the clip where I stumble. The rough track and the need to clamber over brambles to reach the shed again suggested it may no longer be in use, but who knows – the ways of those working the land will, perhaps, always hold some mystery.
Woodland Birds
If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.
The penultimate photo in this sequence (cobwebs) can also be seen in monochrome at Leanne Cole’s Photography blog post Monochrome Madness MM 2-42.
I have often posted images throughout the week from a single walk but this is the eighth consecutive week that I have done this using photos taken on a recent walk. I like the sequential element of the “story” being told in seven posts or “chapters” and focusing on different aspects of the things I observe and listen to on my walks.
Some of the walks I take are local to me and others further afield, some are rural and others urban. I wonder how long I can continue with this form of posting?
Quite often I will walk the same routes, but as the conditions are always different and I find familiarity allows me to see and hear more rather than less, I hope to be able to bring new images and sounds to you even when the walk is one I have posted about before.
This week’s walk takes us into another area of my local landscape and although I will not be producing a StillWalks video as I did last week, I did do some field recording on the walk. Below is the first of the sound clips recorded along this first section of my route. The full soundscape can be heard at the end of the week.
Having completed the circular walk from Rhosilli with Swansea Walking Forum and enjoyed the food at the Bay Bistro courtesy of the Gower Landscapes Partnership “Tastes of Gower “project, I walked down the steep footpath to Rhosilli beach. On the way down I could see in the distance a couple walking out along the beach. By the time I was down on the beach and had taken some sandy photos (to be posted on Saturday), they were heading back towards me.
There is nothing like people in a scene like this to give a true sense of scale!
This image relates to a colour version of the photo I posted here recently from a winter walk at Lliw Lower Reservoir – there is not a lot of difference! The image is included in Monochrome Madness 44 on Leanne Cole Photography blog.
