Tag Archives: Loughor Estuary

My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Penclawdd

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My walk this week is from the last Taste of Gower walk that took place at Penclawdd on the North Gower coast overlooking the Loughor Estuary, its salt marshes and Burry Inlet.

As can be seen in the first image below, it was a beautiful day. Starting from the car park overlooking the salt marshes with the tide out, we were guided on the walk by Rod Cooper who talked to us about the industrial history of Penclawdd and its heyday with the copper works. The river Loughor apparently takes a different route now to what it did in the days of the copper works. At that time there was a harbour at Penclawdd which would have been necessary for the industry. That was back in the 18th and 19th centuries. Now it is all salt marsh and of course the benefit of that is the salt marsh lamb that is so tasty.

Salt Marshes

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Taste of Gower walkers
Salt Marshes
Rod Cooper
Old copperworks wall

Perspective on the Landscape

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Looking across to the Gower Peninsula from Cefn Drum shows the Loughor Estuary and the dip of the rock strata made up of Pennant Sandstone on top with coal measures below, Carboniferous Limestone and lastly Old Red Sandstone. It is the Old Red Sandstone that forms the ridge of Cefn Bryn on the Gower and further north, the upland of Mynydd Du. Being on top of Cefn Drum we are right in between these two.

Loughor Estuary from Cefn Drum

Loughor Estuary from Cefn Drum

The sounds on top of Cefn Drum are typical of this landscape with a warm wind blowing from the south west and the skylarks entertaining us above.

On top of Cefn Drum

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Hillside footpath
Standing on the top
Group discussion
Loughor Estuary from Cefn Drum
Looking north from Cefn Drum

My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower 16-1

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My walk this week follows the first of the Taste of Gower walks for 2016 organised by Gower Landscapes Partnership. The same walk was done last year but this time round I have recorded the full walk and will present it here throughout this week.

The walk was circular, starting at Weobley Castle and farm where not only did we have the chance to look round the castle, we also got to see the lambing shed – there was a lot of bleating!

The weather was very good and the views across the salt marshes of Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet were excellent.

Weobley Castle

Seemingly the sheep know to go in and out with the tide and it is the mixture of grasses and herbs that grow on the marshes that give the salt marsh lamb its unique taste.

Lambing Shed

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A Field of Fog and Fences

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When I arrived at the highest point of my walk this week and rose above the fog, I was taken completely by surprise. Despite having walked through the mist, I hadn’t expected to see such a solid looking wall of it completely blocking the view I would normally have over the Loughor estuary and beyond to the Gower peninsula.

field of fog

However, on turning my eyes to the north, the scene was clearer and the last wisps of mist were Continue reading→

Focus on the Landscape

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Climbing on up to the top of the hill on my walk this week naturally changed the views of the landscape again. Having done this walk four or five times in the week, you can see the changing weather from day to day.

Through the recent weeks of Winter the changeable weather within one day, or even within an hour, might have accounted for all these photos. The last week or two, however, have been much drier and whilst still changeable, it is a welcome break from so much rain and hints at the season changing to Spring.

The sound clip below illustrates something of the current weather both in the birdsong and also in the crunch of the bracken underfoot as I walk across the hill to another viewpoint.

On top of Goppa

Birds and Bracken 

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My Walk this Week 23 – Hill Walk

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When I started out on my walk this week I though it promised to be a bright and sunny walk. The mist was already lifting from the valley and my expectations felt fairly well founded. This will be shown at one point to have been optimistic – keep watching through this week.

My photos start about half way up one of our local hills, Graig Fawr, but my full walk rises from a few metres above sea level to 276 metres (905 ft) at the trig point at the highest point.

The photo below, of the view over the Loughor estuary towards the Gower Peninsula, was taken from where the trees are in the first shot and includes the 11 arched railway bridge but not the intrusive red logo of Tesco which I had great pleasure in cropping out, though annoyance at having to do so.

Graig Fawr Walk

The birds sounded as though they shared my optimism at the stage of my walk – listen below.

Graig Fawr Birds

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Night Lights and Reviewing the Week 9

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Recently we had a clear but dark night amongst a lot of wet weather and  I was tempted to stop on my way home and catch a shot of the lights of the Carmarthenshire side of the Loughor Estuary.

lights at night

Black and White Bird in a Colour Landscape

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Colour is almost not there in this Black Headed Gull but there is colour in the landscape below. The bottom image  shows both the colour and lack of colour in the Loughor Estuary landscape on this particular day.

My monochrome post about this place earlier this week was prompted by the lack of colour in the estuary at the time those photos were taken. This image proves the difference under light and shade on a day of changeable weather.

Black Headed Gull

River Lliw