Llyn Llech Owain

My Walk this Week 239 – Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my StillWalks® followers and visitors. My walk this week is a hopeful one that takes you out of the woods and into the open.

The sound track for this short video was not going to be as it is. When recording the short clip in the woods at Llyn Llech Owain a helicopter flew overhead (as you can hear) – this prompted me to record a separate sound clip after it had passed.

However, it occurred to me that the helicopter might be considered symbolic of the past year in that it was likely to be an emergency flight taking someone to hospital. I doubt very much that we are out of the woods yet with the coronavirus. Even with the vaccine it will take time to immunise the population and we need to keep our fingers crossed that the vaccine will do the trick.

So out of the woods and into the open . . . Llyn Llech Owain is a local country park on one of those currently rare bright cold days, we and other families carefully kept socially distanced as we enjoyed the sounds of the geese on the lake, the peace of no traffic in the background, and the moon rising as the sun set (at the end of the video in the top left corner). 

Happy New Year – Reviewing the Forest Walks

Looking forward to 2017 and back at my walks in the forest from July to December in 2016, I have selected from my posts over the last week photos representing walks I have taken in each of the last 6 month of the year. The soundscape is from September and is the full length version of the clip I posted for September last Wednesday. The ambience of the place is unique – the atmospheric conditions were such that there is almost an echo of my footsteps as I walk between the trees. It is still, the birds are singing and there is occasional traffic on the road below or in the distance.

As I am using a soundscape from September, here is a sunrise from that same month, looking across the valley before I enter the forest.

September Sunrise

Continue reading

Back to the Top Again – Happy New Year

The mist is still there as I climb back up the bracken covered side of Ryer’s Down on the Gower Peninsula. It could be said that yesterday’s magical atmosphere in the woods has come with me into the new year – mist can certainly have a mystical effect on things (sorry about the pun).

The landscape can look very different depending on the conditions. Trying always to look at things with a fresh eye helps me see what is there and appreciate the subtle differences.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Footpath and Tree

Misty Landscape

Misty Gower Landscape