My Walk this Week 185 – Frost As It Was

Posted on 13/12/201909/12/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week is again from three years ago, when it seems as though the weather was colder and there was thick frost on the ground – we haven’t really had that yet this year.

The walk was in Penclawdd on the North Gower Peninsula and my selected images and soundscape below tell something of the atmosphere of the place as it looks out across the Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet to Carmarthenshire.

The clear sky and open space is something I really appreciate at the moment, working indoors in a warehouse all the time as I am, and not seeing much daylight.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 161 – North Gower Walk

Posted on 31/05/201931/05/2019 by Alastair

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.

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→

My Walk this Week – Our Gower Project Walk 1, Salt Marsh

Posted on 30/10/201728/10/2017 by Alastair

My walk this week follows on from the project recce walk I posted about at the end of September. That was the recce – for the real walk we had to change the route as the ground underfoot had become non-negotiable for walking with a group following high tides and wet weather.

And the wet weather was a big part of the walk experience for the pupils we were taking out to experience the wonderful expanse of the salt marshes of the Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet on the North Gower coast in Wales. Starting at Weobley Castle where they produce the delicious salt marsh lamb, everyone donned the wellington boots provided for them.Continue reading→

Evening Landscape – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 11/12/201604/12/2016 by Alastair

This evening landscape at the end of my walk this week in Penclawdd on the North Gower coast was not really very late in the day – just after 4pm. The days seem so short at this time of day, but I must try to remember those further north who, if you go far enough north, see no real sunlight at all through the day. I cannot imagine what that is like.

The sounds of this walk include many of the activities of the place, both man-made and natural. It was good to find myself hidden from the traffic and industry so easily by such a low lying shield of land as I walked at the edge of the salt marsh.

Enjoy the sounds along with selected images from my walk below.

Penclawdd Walk Soundscape

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Ice Cold Frosty Walk

Posted on 06/12/201602/12/2016 by Alastair

The route of my walk this week took me around the back of working buildings in Penclawdd on the North Gower coast. Although it was bitterly cold in this area shaded from the sun and the beautiful views across the salt marsh were obscured, there were still fascinating finds to be made. I guess they are everyday things at this time of year – frosty grass, icy pools and so on – but looking at the patterns the cold weather creates and the colours affected by the light on this day, I found there were any number of things to record, both sights and sounds.

Penclawdd at Work

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My Walk this Week – Clear Skies

Posted on 05/12/201602/12/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week is in a place I have walked and worked in on a number of occasions. As it was a clear day and I was there anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a short walk along the edge of the salt marshes in front of Penclawdd on the North Gower coastline.

With the marshes stretching out across the Burry Inlet and Loughor Estuary, the sky becomes massive. While you could often expect to see a scene of turbulent clouds, on this day there was not a cloud in sight. The subtle colours blended smoothly from blues and greens to mustard and yellow, all gradually changing to include deep reds later in the walk.

Penclawdd Traffic, Frost and Leaves

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My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Penclawdd

Posted on 19/09/201601/09/2016 by Alastair

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.

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Taste of Gower walkers

Salt Marshes

Rod Cooper

Old copperworks wall

Walking and Talking

Posted on 20/05/201619/05/2016 by Alastair

Having left the fields and re-entered the woodland on this Taste of Gower walk at Weobley Castle on north Gower, we encountered yet more gates. There were many more gates and stiles on this walk than I have shown and this can sometimes cause delays if the group of walkers is large, but on this occasion it did not seem to be a problem.

Of course it may have been an issue of which I was unaware, hanging back from the main group as I was and taking photos of the conversations ahead of me as well as the colours, textures and patterns of different gates and mossy walls.

The soundscape below features a number of the gates on this walk. They do not appear in the clip in real time, instead I have composed this piece to emphasise the different sounds of the gates on the walk – its as though they have their own language.

Weobley Gates