Under the Mountains

Posted on 28/07/201625/07/2016 by Alastair

In a place like Corris, situated in the deep valleys amongst or under the mountains in Wales, there is no horizon to be seen. Seeing as how I love trees so much and they cover the mountains on all sides, I shouldn’t have a problem with this, and I don’t!

Recently I was at an artist’s talk – Lee Williams at the Elysium Gallery in Swansea – where he was exploring the notion that we are affected by our surrounding environment. This is a subject I have thought about for many years but it is hard to come to any definitive conclusions about whether or not the topographical element of our living environments influence the way we are or the way we behave as there are always so many other contributing factors. Those mentioned in Lee’s discourse at the link above relate to Port Talbot which has the best and worst of worlds in its beautiful mountains next to the sea and its heavy industry and pollution.

It could be argued that the people of Corris, while enjoying the wonderful moubtain-scape of their surroundings, also have to suffer what most would consider an abnormal amount of rainfall. Ah well, you can’t have it all I guess.

cemetery in the mountains

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cemetery in the mountains

Corris road

Corris bench

Corris wall

My Walk this Week – Corris, Welsh Mountain Village

Posted on 25/07/201619/07/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week comes from another visit to North Wales. Having planned a StillWalks production walk as part of the trip, I stayed overnight at a great Youth Hostel in the village of Corris. The village is nestled in the steep sided valleys of the area just south of Cader Idris, in my opinion one of Wales’ most dramatic and interesting mountains.

The drive up north on the previous day had taken me through this area in absolutely foul weather. This cleared by the time I got to Colwyn Bay but on returning that evening nothing had changed and Corris was still suffering an incessant downpour.

It had been my intention to get up early and climb the mountain on the south side of the lake, Talyclun, but when my alarm went at 5.30 I looked out the window and went straight back to bed! Suffice it to say that the rain cleared later on and I was able to do my production walk but before that I took the opportunity to look around the village a little. No sound clips this week though, I’m afraid.

Old School Hostel

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Hostel

Old School Hostel

Corris

Corris street

Nicholaston Farm Cafe – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 24/07/201618/07/2016 by Alastair

Always on the Taste of Gower walks there is a welcome cafe to be enjoyed at the end of the walk. Many of the walks have given me a first visit to the cafes associated with them and do an excellent job of persuading me and others to return in the knowledge that refreshments are available as well as beautiful views, wonderful habitats and enjoyable exercise. Nicholaston Farm Cafe was no exception and everybody enjoyed the fayre they provide.

The next walk will be next week on Friday 29th July and starts from Gower Heritage Centre – I’m looking forward to it!

Nicholaston Farm Cafe

Listen to the walk soundscape below while viewing the image sequence, just click the play button and then the first thumbnail image.

Nicholaston Walk Soundscape

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Oxwich Bay

grasses and clouds

Big Tor, Tor Bay, South Gower

Three Cliffs Bay

overgrown site of an old church

Taste of Gower walkers resting

Three Cliffs

Heading back

Rocks from above

Little Tor, Tor Bay and Oxwich Bay

Oxwich Bay

Bleach Walkers

natural tunnel

Nicholaston Farm cafe

Beach Bottleneck

Posted on 22/07/201616/07/2016 by Alastair

I photographed Oxwich beach at the start of my walk this week. The shape may be a little less obvious in the shot below but it still reveals a bottleneck form. If from this angle the shape is a bottleneck, then the third image in the sequence below could only be described as a wedge. The shape seemed obvious to me and is the reason for taking the photo but I wanted to emphasise it more and experimented with the contrast in monochrome.

Having enjoyed the overexposed beach image I posted from the previous Taste of Gower walk at Llanmadoc, I increased the exposure on the last photo below as well. With almost no reference points in the image, what is real becomes abstract.

Beach Bottleneck

Young Whin flowers

Beach bottleneck

beach wedge

monochrome beach wedge

Little Tor, Tor Bay and Oxwich Bay

Oxwich Bay

Bleach Walkers

Overview of Cliffs

Posted on 21/07/201616/07/2016 by Alastair

The Taste of Gower walk in June stayed on the cliff tops rather than descending to the bays and we found a good spot to rest and get an overview of the cliffs at Three Cliffs Bay. We were lucky with the weather and although it wasn’t bright sunshine all morning, it was a great deal better than we had last year when we approached this bay from the other side. You can see these same cliffs from the other side on that day here.

The sound on this day was quite different to that of last year as well if you care to compare, there is also a sound clip on the post linked to above.

Summer Crickets

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Taste of Gower walkers resting

Three Cliffs

Mother and child – Gower Unearthed

Rosebay willow herb

Heading back

Rocks from above

Cliff structure

Hidden Gems of South Gower

Posted on 20/07/201616/07/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week revealed some hidden gems on the Gower Peninsula. This first shot of bramble blossom may be very common and out in the open but that makes it no less of a gem (I love these flowers and their fruit later in the year). Other aspects of this walk were definitely hidden – whether they are gems or not is up to you to decide but I recommend a visit rather than judging by my photos.

bramble blossom

We had to battle through heavy bracken to reach the Pen y Grug ancient burial chamber and Gower Unearthed presented it well along with and another nearby site, that of an old church now well and truly overgrown. The Pen y Grug page linked to above also advertises a good iPhone app for finding ancient sites like these around the world – the Megalithic Portal, Pocket Guide to Megaliths, check it out.

The other hidden gem for today is well know to locals but may be less so to others. Three Cliffs Bay was the turning point for our short walk and we had some great views down to it from above.

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overgrown footpath

bramble blossom

Pen y Crug burial chamber

overgrown site of an old church

Three Cliffs Bay

Big Tor

Posted on 19/07/201618/07/2016 by Alastair

On the Taste of Gower walk this week from Nicholaston Farm, before you get to Three Cliffs Bay, you skirt round the cliffs of Tor Bay. The walk has its ups and downs as you might expect on this South Gower coastline but none of us were going to attempt the scramble up onto the top of Big Tor. Somebody was up there but it wasn’t one of our party.

Another even more aerial viewpoint than this would be from the seat of a light aircraft . . . and someone was enjoying just that, as you can hear in the sound clip below. I like this clip with the inevitable clifftop wind and the faint voices of walkers and birds ahead of me. The airplane gradually approaches and flies overhead.

Clifftop and Aircraft

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grasses and clouds

foxglove and clouds

Tor Bay, South Gower

Big Tor, Tor Bay, South Gower

My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Nicholaston Farm

Posted on 18/07/201618/07/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week is the Taste of Gower walk from June. The walk starts at Nicholaston Farm and follows the footpath along the cliffs to Three Cliffs Bay. The walk was led by Steve Lancey who organised it for Gower Landscape Partnership and we had Helen and Charlotte from Gower Unearthed as guides and providers of information on aspects of the walk such as Pen y Crug burial chamber.