Towards the turning point of my fourth walk from the past (June 2011), I reached the banks of the River Loughor as it runs through the salt marshes in its estuary. Continue reading
Tag Archives: salt marsh
Into the Light
Finally on my walk this week I rounded the corner of the edge lands to the salt marsh and was able to appreciate the vast cloudless afternoon sky. The only blemish(?) on the pale blue>green>yellow>orange canvas was a distant airplane. The other mark on that sheet of colour apart from the land itself is a tiny object on the horizon line – that is Whitford lighthouse. This a Victorian cast iron built feature of the Burry Inlet that I have been to within one or two hundred yards but have yet to find the time to time it right and get right out to it when the tide is low enough . . . someday I will.
Heading further along I met up with the river which at low tide features some very glorious mud – “mud, mud, glorious mud. nothing quite like it but . . .” something the birds in the area thoroughly enjoy or at least feed in. Enjoy the sound below.
Walking Towards the Sunlight
Down on the edge of the salt marsh as I walked towards the sunlight of a more open landscape I came across a couple of interesting features. The first were these (there were a cluster of them) earthy looking large boulder-like objects sitting at the edge of the slightly higher ground I stood on. I guess they were once part of that higher ground and the sea has simply eroded away all that once surrounded them.
Taste of Gower, Penclawdd – Reviewing the Walk
To mark the end of each Taste of Gower walk we visit a local cafe, hence the name “Taste of Gower”. The Gower Landscape Partnership pays for the teas and coffees but there are always many other good things to be eaten as well, and that was no less the case for the Cariad Cafe in Penclawdd as it is for any of the other Taste of Gower walk locations.
The next Taste of Gower walk will be at Port Eynon on Friday 30th September (that’s next week). Details can be found here.
Cup of tea time at Cariad Cafe
Click play button below and then the first of the thumbnail images to view selected photos from the past week’s posts in sequence.
Taste of Gower – Penclawdd Soundscape
If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.
Salt Marshes
Taste of Gower walkers
Taste of Gower walkers
stile post
One man and his dog
salt marsh fence
Penclawdd vista
buzzard
Natural pattern
Taste of Gower walkers
The Black Mountain
sandbank and birds
One Man and His Dog
On my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers there were quite a sizeable group of people. This made one man and his dog out walking on the marshes all the more noticable.
I have commented before on my interest in texture (it comes from my original training in tapestry weaving – see my other website here) and it is perhaps this interest that makes me notice and photograph the patterns of grass or wood as I have in the images below.
One man and his dog
I also enjoy the aural textures and patterns that surround us in any environment but I was amused by the rhythm of walking that can be heard in the sound clip below.
Squeaky Shoes
If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.
Taste of Gower walkers
Welsh Poppy
One man and his dog
salt marsh grasses
stile post
salt marsh fence
My Walk this Week – Taste of Gower, Penclawdd
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
Weobley Landscape – Reviewing the Walk
Back at the starting point of my walk this week and standing in front of Weobley Castle on the Gower, the view out over the salt marshes towards Burry Port and Carmarthenshire in South Wales was accompanied by a very blustery wind.
We had been very lucky with the weather – the wind had been kind to us in making sure the rain fell on those across the other side of the Loughor estuary.
These Taste of Gower walks take place each month and I am looking forward to the next one next week which will be at Llanmadoc and heading for Whitford. Fingers crossed for good weather again.
Listen to the soundscape and click on the first thumbnail below to view selected images from the walk in sequence.
Weobley Walk Soundscape
If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see more of the post, thank you.
After the Tide
This week’s featured StillWalks video is “After the Tide”. It will be available to watch all week and will then revert to the sample length video.
The marshes in question are tidal and therefore salt marshes. They are near a busy motorway and the sound of the traffic is almost always there to some extent. Having said this, I should also say that it is one of my favourite local walks and the sound of the traffic does not bother me. Yes, I love the peace you can find in quieter rural locations, but on the marshes, I simply don’t listen to the traffic.
The wind in the grasses and the birdsong are the sounds I focus on and on the occasion of this StillWalks production, the sound of my wellington boots in the water as the tide ebbs.
You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “After the Tide” which is from the marshes on the Loughor Estuary, South wales. Click the image below to watch the video.
