Tag Archives: mountains

Clearing Cloud – Revealing the Landscape

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Clearing cloud – yes! Just as I started to head back down the mountain, having decided that the mist was not going to lift and my walk this week would not have the potential views of Wales’ mountains and valleys that I had hoped for, the sun broke through and the scene below me was revealed. I was so pleased 🙂 and in awe at the views.

The walk / climb to this point had been . . . mmm . . . atmospheric. However, despite the mist it had still been very enjoyable. But to be able to look at the other mountains around me and the valleys below is always a wonder that cannot be experienced on a screen. Having said that I will of course endeavour to produce a StillWalks video from this walk that goes some way to presenting the experience and hopefully draws people in to join me in my memories of it.

Clearing Cloud

Clearing Cloud

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Clearing Cloud
Mountain track
Mountain and Cloud
Monochrome Mountain and Cloud
Mountainside
Looking over the edge
Tal-y-Clun

My Walk this Week – Misty Mountains

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On this first day of my walk this week the mountain mist does not come down to this level – the sun was even shining at times. I had hoped for reasonable weather for my StillWalks production walk up Mynydd Rugog, a mountain just south of Cadair Idris and overlooking Tal-y-Llyn in the mountains north of Aberystwyth in Wales.

gate

A style of gate

There had been a lot of rain over the previous couple of days and the rivers running through the forest were in spate.

Mountain Woodland Wind and Water

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A style of gate
Foxgloves by the footpath
stone edge
stone at entrance (to forest)
Rushing Woodland River

Looking Over Corris – Reviewing the Walk

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Back to my car again and looking over Corris where I have been walking this week, I was hopeful that the rain that was still falling at 5.30 AM had finished for the day and that I would be able to climb the mountain for my StillWalks production walk.

As it happens, it did not rain again but the route I ended up taking up the mountain was not my original planned path and was fairly arduous. On top of that (or the mountain), the mist came down and so the video I produce from it will be a “Misty Mountain Walk”.

Overlooking Corris

Overlooking Corris

Sorry again that there is no soundscape this week. I hope you can still enjoy the images below without it.

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Hostel
Corris street
Afon Deri
Railings pattern
Morris railway station
cemetery in the mountains
railing decoration
Stiwdio Maelor – Liz Doyle
Tafarn – Tŷ Bwyta
Overlooking Corris

Under the Mountains

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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

cemetery in the mountains

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cemetery in the mountains
cemetery in the mountains
Corris road
Corris bench
Corris wall

Visiting Corris and its Narrow Guage Railway

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My walk this week was my first visit to Corris in the Welsh mountains. I have passed it on the main road often enough but never had the opportunity to stop. It is a beautiful place even when wet and now that I have had a look around, I know that there is a narrow gauge steam railway to be enjoyed.

I wasn’t able to take advantage of this feature as I had other plans for a StillWalks production walk up the mountain above Corris Uchaf and overlooking Tal-y-Llyn but if you are planning a holiday in the area . . .

Morris railway station

Morris railway station

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Railings pattern
Morris railway station
Corris railway
Corris

My Walk this Week – Corris, Welsh Mountain Village

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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.

hostel

Old School Hostel

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Hostel
Old School Hostel
Corris
Corris street
Corris street

Pen y Fan – Reviewing the Walk

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The A470 main road runs more or less parallel to this, the original road to Brecon, the regional town of the Brecon Beacons. I suspect it was relatively busy in its day but perhaps a little quieter than the current road.

There may have been quite a lot of people on my walk this week but I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Original Brecon Road

Pen y Fan Voices

Taf Fechan

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Looking Up and Looking Down

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Backwards and forwards, looking up and looking down, these photos from my walk this week up Pen y Fan with the Living Taff group, show how clearly defined the footpath is and the sort of surface it has. I understand that the laying of the path started in the 1990s as a result of the ground getting mashed up by so many people doing the climb.

Having already walked in the Brecon Beacons for a few years, I think it was about 1989 or 1990 that I first climbed these particular peaks – Corn Du and Pen y Fan. That was before they started laying the path and I remember being lucky enough to have chosen a time that allowed me to have the place almost to myself.

Corn Du in the Brecon Beacons

The last shot below shows just a fraction of the parked cars on the main route through the Beacons on the A470 near the Storey Arms Outdoor Education Centre. There are other routes to climb these mountains but my favourite walks are further west by Fan Nedd and Fan Gyhirych.

Having complained about the crowds, I should say that I also think it is wonderful that so many people from all walks of life are keen to do this walk – it can only do them good, both physically and mentally and with hard wearing paths laid to protect the ground from so many feet, it is a win win situation.

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