The watery, windy weather has returned but it has not stopped this solitary runner on the promenade steps of Swansea Bay. Perhaps she has paused to take in the view, what there is of it!
Click the first thumbnail image below to view my walk this week in sequence – sorry there is no soundscape this week.
My walk this week takes me through Swansea’s Martime Quarter once more There were several gatherings of birds, all apparently waiting for something. They had look-outs making use of the security cameras and other high points around the docks and locks of the marina, but the misty weather was significantly limiting visibility.
Looking inland towards Kilvey Hill, but without being able to see it, a riverside apartment block was also partly obscured by the sand dunes at the top of the beach. None of the architecture of the SA1 area could be clearly seen but the mist and dampness gave a distinctive atmosphere to the place and so I enjoyed doing my photography and having my walk in spite of the weather.
I am not often walking on Swansea Bay when the tide is in – for some reason it seems to be out far more often. This must be coincidence but it means that when I am there when the tide is high, it feels new and fresh, a bit like the way snow changes the landscape.
The tide was not particularly high on this occasion but it was still lapping at the foot of the promenade steps and this, for me, is an almost iconic sound of the place. So click the play button below for an aural backdrop to the images posted about my walk this week. Click the first thumbnail image to view them in sequence.
Waves on Promenade Steps
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 sees more changeable weather. There were plenty of other people walking and running in spite of the wintry wet conditions which says something for the attraction of Swansea Bay. Fortunately, from the point of view of photography, what can feel like miserable weather for walking, can produce some “atmospheric” images.
Looking out for those shots can also help with the mental attitude to walking in this weather and as it didn’t continue raining for too long, the walk was in fact very refreshing and entertaining.
It wasn’t just the able bodied who were using the promenade – having said that, take a close look and you will see that the runner below is clearly very able bodied!
If you listen carefully to the sound clip below, you should hear the intermittent tone of Mumbles lighthouse in the distance as well as footsteps and an intrepid cyclist.
Windy Seafront
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 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.
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.
