Pointing the Way

I stopped on top of the hills on my way home recently,  just because it is a place worth stopping. The sights and sounds, the peace and tranquility (on a warm quiet day) of the Mawr area in the county of Swansea . . .

signpost

Not Alone in the Wilderness

The sheep in this landscape enjoy the comfort of each others company in the wilderness of Galloway in SW Scotland . . . but the pheasant is asking for it as is typical of pheasants!

flock of sheep

Galloway scenery

pheasant in a field

Looking for the Source

The source of the River Lliw is situated up in the hills of the Mawr ward in Swansea, South Wales.

The Clear Streams project being managed by Swansea’s Countryside Connections Team helps people to better understand the responsibility we have towards maintaining the cleanliness of rivers and what we can do maintain them. The project, which I am documenting, is taking school children from four primary schools out to explore the River Lliw from source to mouth. The aim for my part in the project, is to produce a teaching and learning resource for future use by schools and communities.

The scenery at the source is beautiful and so, when the weather is dry, it is a very pleasant work place. The source of the river is not a spring but a point on the hills into which the water of the surrounding slopes drains.

Clear Streams Project

Clear Streams

Hazy Days

It was a very hazy day but the views from the hills were still great.

Swansea Walking Forum meet once a month and although this has often been a matter of sitting around a table and sharing the news of different walking groups in the area, this week we met at Garnswllt Activity Centre and went for a walk first. What an excellent idea! Climbing up the Garnswllt end of Graig Fawr, we took nearly 2 hours to complete a circuit that provided beautiful hazy views across the hills and over Ammanford. Following the walk we were able to sit down with a cup of tea and biscuits in the Activity Centre which has been excellently converted from the old village school.

It was a beautiful day and the larks were singing their hearts out up above us. I had taken my recording kit and held back a little in order to record the sounds of without the chatter of the group in the background. Listen to the sounds below – either click the play button or the mp3 file name.

Garnswllt Larks

View over Ammanford

Walking forum walk from Garswllt

Walking forum walk from Garswllt

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

Paypal button

Pylons in the Hills

Coming down from the hills at the end of the day and heading into the sunlight can provide some remarkable views of the landscape – dependant, of course,  on the weather conditions and time of year.

The end of my journey home from Felindre brought me down from the hills towards Pontarddulais in South Wales where there is a vast network of metal giants criss-crossing the land as part of the National Grid.

Electricity pylons seen against the light and the land need not be a blot, but rather a fascinating part of the composition, creating patterns and networks of lines that may not be natural, but are something we are happy to live with in order to have the power we need for modern life.

These and more photos can be seen and purchased at StillWalks PhotoShelter.

Bont Landscape Pylons Pylons detail