lakeside

My Walk this Week 168 – Waterside Wildflowers

My walk this week takes a further look at wildflowers, this time they are around the lake at The Waterside. I admit I do not know either the common names or the Latin of most of the flowers, but that does not spoil my enjoyment of them one tiny little bit.

waterside wildflowers

Their beauty and the ecology associated with them is something I appreciate without knowing the details. I suspect the house martins speed-flying low across the surface of the lake, darting left, right, up and down to catch insects inContinue reading

coastal windblown tree

My Walk this Week 167 – Coastal Footpath and Windblown Wildflowers

My walk this week follows part of the South Gower coastal footpath along which we found so many different wildflowers. The day was bright and breezy and the sea twinkled in the sunlight as it crashed against the rugged rocks of the cliffs below us.

South Gower cliffs

Proof of the prevailing wind can be seen in the sculpted and stunted hawthorn tree standing on its own. The hillside was a forest of gorse growing thickly andContinue reading

lake and trees

My Walk this Week 166 – Gnoll Country Park

My walk this week is through a woodland I have not walked in for a few years – Moss Wood in Gnoll Country Park. In truth I am not sure that this woodland is the one I walked in previously, as the StillWalks video I produced here was in a coniferous wood which has since been cut for lumber.

woods and field

The coniferous trees of the lumbered wood were adjacent to these deciduous trees – I think I simply walked a different route to last time. Either way the walk was beautiful and I will be doing it again without any concerns about coming across the multiple  stumps of felled trees.Continue reading

Tenby harbour

My Walk this Week 165 – Tenby, South Wales Seaside Town

I could have imagined being in the Mediterranean on my walk this week. – It was a bright blue day in the South Wales seaside town of Tenby with its colourful buildings and exotic planting of palms, completed the illusion.

Exotic planting - Tenby

Colour and texture was the order of this day out with the strong blues of the sea and sky and the fascinating textures of the seaweed on the sea wall and ropes tethering the boats.Continue reading

open bay view

My Walk this Week 164 – Bay View Walk

My walk this week is a short one in Swansea Bay that I was able to fit in between meetings. I try to organise my days to allow me to do that as I find even a short walk in the open air a valuable refresher for my brain and body.

bay growth

I often use my StillWalks® videos in the same way – to get a short break in the middle of a busy day as its not always convenient or even possible to go out for a walk. The videos don’t give me the physical exercise but they do refresh my brain and relax my nerves.

My walk took me onto the expansive beach of Swansea Bay Continue reading

lavender and box

My Walk this Week 163 – Sunbury Walled Garden

My walk this week is around Sunbury-on-Thames walled garden. It is just a few minutes down the river from Hampton Court where my walk took place last week.

entrance

I was lucky with the weather and thoroughly enjoyed both these recent walks. The reason I was there was not for walking but to discuss the arrangements for an exhibition of my tapestry weaving and sound work to be held in the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery next year.Continue reading

My Walk this Week 162 – Hampton Court Gardens

My walk this week takes an informal look at what would often be described as the formal gardens of Hampton Court. The gardens behind Hampton Court Palace are indeed formal and you only need to look at Google Maps to see that formality of design.

pergola tunnel

But the Wilderness Garden (above) and the Rose Garden also have a formal layout – it’s just not as noticeable when you look at the individual plants and flowers.Continue reading

heavy weather

My Walk this Week 161 – North Gower Walk

My walk this week looks back at a walk on the North Gower coast and the expansive and beautiful salt marshes of the Loughor Estuary. The walk was originally taken as part of the “Taste of Gower” project in 2015.

Salt marshes, North Gower

Sheep graze the marsh grass and herbs from day to day and when the tides cover the the greenery, they move on and off the marshes via “causeways” such as the one above.

The sense of space and the distortion of perspective gives the place a strange, unreal feeling. Distance is difficult to judge and I suspect you would need to be careful of the incoming tide if unused to the area.Continue reading