Whether there is snow or not this year, this is be a popular place for people to walk on Boxing Day. The footpath round Lliw Lower Reservoir features in my Winter Reservoir Walk, part of the StillWalks at Lliw Reservoir collection available on request or at the reservoir cafe.
The video is featured below, so if you don’t want to go out if it is pouring rain again . . .
The snow stood thickly on this barbed wire fence at the start of my walk but by the time I had completed the circuit of the Lliw Lower Reservoir, it was melting to ice. I wonder if it fully melted before nightfall?
Following the Lliw downstream from its source on the Mawr, the first village the river flows through is Felindre.
Situated below the Lliw Lower and Upper Reservoirs in South Wales, it is not known for year round sunshine. There have been a good number of sunny days in 2014 but, as can be seen in the photos, this was not one of them!
The source of the river Lliw lies in the upland area of the Mawr in Swansea. To get there requires a short hike across the hills from a road that feels like it is in the middle of nowhere.
This beautiful environment is not far from civilisation and the ease with which I can get from the hubbub of society to these wonderful areas is one of the good aspects of Wales.
Some alternative iPhone shots of Lliw Lower Reservoir. Having finished the new video collection, “StillWalks at Lliw Reservoir“, I recently had a walk there and did some iPhonography at the same time.
The photos were taken using the ProCamera app and edited in the PhotoshopExpress app on the phone and have also been posted on Instagram and EyeEm.
The route of the River Lliw, from its source in the hills (see other posts this week) to its mouth in the Loughor Estuary, passes through Gorseinon. Here the children from Felindre Primary School are measuring the depth and width of the river as part of the Clear Streams project.
In time they and other schools will be involved in the project, will be making further investigations into the environment of the river from mouth to source to help develop understanding of the benefits of keeping our rivers and streams clean.
It is worth keeping our rivers and streams clean if only for the beautiful effects of sunlight falling on clear water.
The reasoning for the Clear Streams project goes much further than that of course. However, it is still important in my mind, that those taking part in the project appreciate these visual aspects as well as developing their understanding of the environmental aspects.
The orange in the second image was not left in the River Lliw. It was being used as a device for measuring the rate of flow of the river at this second stage through Felindre on its way to the river mouth at Loughor.
