My walk this week is at a place I have visited on a number of occasions now, and in a variety of weather conditions. The Waterside – Felindre is a beautiful space in the South Wales valleys at which I will be presenting the StillWalks package for businesses and organisations on the First Friday of February.
If anyone is interested in coming along to this regular open day at The Waterside, please check out the website above and contact us in advance.
I am ending this week’s walk where I started, amongst the trees of Blaenige at MLRUK in Carmarthenshire. The wind had picked up at this point but as I love the sound of the wind in different trees, I was very happy to record it, albeit on my small Edirol recorder which doesn’t stand up to the wind in the same way my RODE mic does.
There may be some rumble in the soundscape below as a result of the wind, but it does not spoil the memory experience for me, though it does mean I won’t be producing a StillWalks video with it.
As a soundscape rather than a StillWalks video, it is unlikely that the sounds will match the images if you play it at the same time as looking at the photos, but perhaps it will still help to provide a better sense of place.
Blaenige Soundscape
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.
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.
My short walk this week at Blaenige, near Cynwyl Elfed in Carmarthenshire was a mixture of snow, sunshine, wind and a brief spot of rain – in other words, typical for this part of the world. I had to take it carefully down the steep track but on the way I found some great views over the landscape as well as some attractive details in my closer surroundings.
This winter has been so mild it came as a bit of surprise to find myself driving carefully through snow on my way to a meeting in Carmarthenshire. The meeting was at Blaenige, the home of MLR UK with whom I have been working for a while now to develop a StillWalks business package. The meeting finished in good time, and as I had brought most of my kit with me, I took the opportunity to go for a short walk down one of the steep hillside tracks through the farmland and woods.
There wasn’t a lot of snow and it was already melting during my walk but considering I hadn’t expected to see any this year, it wasn’t unwelcome and as the sky was partially blue, my walk this week, though short, was quite exhilarating.
One aspect of the walk which is changed with the snow is the environmental sound. Below I have included three sound clips of my footsteps in the changing snow. How much difference can you hear in them.
Crunchy Snow
Deeper Snow
Wet Snow
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.
My walk this week moves from a suburban location (see the last two weeks posts) to the inner city location of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The first two images below may not look like the inner city but you don’t have to walk far up the river Lagan to reach this point on its route into Belfast. Perhaps the construction crane in the third image comes closer to proving the city location.
The view of and colours in the night sky over Middlesbrough changed as I walked around the other, unlit side of Hemlington Lake. The shapes and silhouettes of trees enhanced the reflected colour on the clouds and proved there was light to be seen. However, the footpath on this side of the lake was very dark and it was only because I know the path well that I had no problems seeing where I should walk.
As I came round this side of the lake I disturbed some of the birds roosting in the vegetation at the lake side. So at this point in my night walk, there was a little more sound than perhaps there should have been.
Night 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.
