My Walk this Week 158 – Uphill from The Waterside

Posted on 10/05/201922/05/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week is a welcome return to my friends Sue and Steve at The Waterside in a nearby Welsh valley where they have a beautiful lake and a fascinating herd of alpacas. I wanted to climb uphill from the lakeside to get more of an overview of the valley and the landscape around it. On this particular morning I had spent my time doing admin and taking a break in such a relaxing location was just what I needed.

Hillside by The Waterside

So after an enjoyable lunch on the First Friday open day in May I took myself off to look at the bluebells and blossom of the hill on the far side of the lake. The sun shone intermittently and Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 157 – High Tide Deposits and Spring Growth

Posted on 03/05/201902/05/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week follows high spring tides on my local marshes and looks at the deposits they left as well as the new wildflower and marsh grass growth coming through with Spring.

Bluebells en route

Spring tides occur twice a month every month, as do neap tides, not just in the Spring. The term “spring tide” is given to those tides that have the greatest difference in height between high and low tide, but the highest tidesContinue reading→

My Walk this Week 156 – Springtime Hill

Posted on 26/04/201925/04/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week follows an uphill route I have climbed many times in the past but on a sunny Springtime morning felt really fresh and new. Atop the hill the view was very hazy for me and the crow below and I could see across to the far side of the valley and area of woodland that is being harvested for its conifers. My walks through those woods will never be the same again and while I knew that some day the trees would be felled, I feel very sad about it.

The sunlight and life of this walk on Goppa Hill had no sadness to it and as I walked up the hollow way I was surprised to meet a goat which I thought had a somewhat “knowing” smile on its face. What it knew I cannot say but he appeared to be welcoming enough to a stranger and let me pass on by to say hello to a group of playful young cows in the field above.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 155 – New Memories from Whitby

Posted on 20/04/201917/04/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week is from 2009 – let me explain. My wife was recently surprised by the Photos app on her iPhone telling her she had a new memory which turned out to be from Whitby in 2009. That seems to me to be an old memory, not a new one. However, I checked the memory section of my own Photos app and found a similar set from the same holiday we had taken.

When looking through the photos it was the one above that caught my eye (apart from the happy family snapshots) – I like the form created by the angle it is taken from. On looking more closely at the images, Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 154 – Golden Grove, Gelli Aur

Posted on 12/04/201909/04/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week was at Golden Grove or Gelli Aur as we call it in Wales. It was particularly enjoyable because the park has been closed for the last five years or so and it was wonderful to be able to wander round it again.

Although the arboretum is only accessible if you pay, the rest of the park, even without being able to walk the circuit through the arboretum and the deer enclosure, it is still a beautiful place to visit. The cafe has opened again too and is serving some very nice home made food.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 153 – Tawe Riverbank

Posted on 05/04/201904/04/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week is along the western riverbank of the Tawe. The starting point is under the bridge at Morfa where the heart of Copperopolis used to be back in the 18th and 19th centuries.

There wouldn’t have been a concrete bridge in those days of course, but I like the patterns and colours to be seen there and I enjoyed them along the riverbank and on the water’s surface as well.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 152 – Sound of Sunny Seaside Larks

Posted on 29/03/201927/03/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week is from the burrows and beach at Kenfig on the South Wales coast where, on a sunny Sunday, we heard the most beautiful sound of seaside larks rejoicing in the afternoon sunshine. Both they and the wonderful weather made for a very enjoyable walk through the dunes and down to the expansive beach and an ebb tide.

Heading first for Kenfig Pool, it seemed the water level was up from recent rain and to judge from the route we were forced to take to get to the beach, the recent storms had fulfilled their aim of dumping as much rain as possible in as short a time as possible. Continue reading→

My Walk this Week 151 – The Music of Storm Hannah

Posted on 22/03/201920/03/2019 by Alastair

My walk this week was short, cold and through the remnants of Storm Hannah – it was part of a sound and weave workshop I was running over the weekend. The first stage of the workshop was to go round Swansea Marina and listen to the sounds which featured what is known as the Marina Orchestra.

The leading orchestral instruments are the masts and rigging followed by the percussion of clanks and bangs, thumps and gloops of other maritime artefacts and of course the choppy water of the marina itself.

It was wild and cold and although we found a relatively sheltered spot to listen to the “symphony”, when we ventured down to the seafront, Continue reading→

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