bending lines

My Walk this Week 195 – Station Stroll

My walk this week is more of a stroll along my local railway station and is another short walk fitted in between other things going on in my day.

tunnel and light

Having to wait for something or other, I took a wander down there knowing that, as stations go, it is quite an attractive one. The thick carpet of moss on the unused section of the bending platform was luxurious to say the least – it felt wonderful to walk on! When I turned round to face the sunshine, I could see the light, not at the end of the tunnel but at its far side. Powerful and bright in the distance, it was a classic effect of the conditions.

One of the other noticeable things about the station was the number of bright-sounding birds – I wasn’t the only one enjoying a brief respite from the wind and rain of one storm following directly on from another. And if you listen, you will here amongst them one of our local song thrushes 🙂Continue reading

foxgloves

My Walk this Week 170 – Wind on The Mawr

My walk this week is back up on top of The Mawr again – this time as a visit to the Awel Aman Tawe Community Wind Farm above Cwmgors. It was a beautiful day and the wind was blowing well, with the result that the turbine blades were turning fast and producing the electricity they were designed for.

Awel wind turbines

This moorland is on the eastern edge The Mawr – in fact I am not even sure if it is considered part of that upland landscape! Whether it is or not, the scenery is beautiful with views over to Pen-y-Fan, the Brecon Beacons highest peak and a peacefulness most of the time that I have spoken of before.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

Looking south from Pen y Fan

My Walk this Week 146 – Looking Back at the Mountains

My walk this week is one from the past and came to mind because the Welsh mountains it illustrates came up in a recent conversation. I hope to visit Pen-y Fan in the Brecon Beacons again later this year – or if not that mountain, perhaps a less busy location nearby. The images and sound clip were originally posted in May 2016.

Original Brecon Road

The sounds in the clip below are classic for this mountain area, and that includes the voices of other people. Pen-y Fan, being the highest of the Brecon Beacons and fairly accessible, attracts a lot of visitors, both local and from further afield. Continue reading

churchyard railings

My Walk this Week 144 – One Way To the Marsh Churchyard

My walk this week is a one way walk across our local marsh to the old St Teilo’s churchyard. I have walked this route many times before, and posted about it, but on this occasion the marsh grass is taller than I have seen it for several years – and they are my favourite aspect of the marsh.

dancing marsh grass

Bending as it does in the wind, and curving round to see the sun, it appears to me to be dancing – a busy chorus line of uniform activity responding to the elements and singing in their dry rustley voices as the breeze shuffles them together. Continue reading

sun rays

My Walk this Week 140 – First Walk of the New Year

My walk this week is my first of 2019 and I realised, while walking, that my first walk of every year for the last 18 years or so has been this same walk. Normally it would be with my wife and we would be walking, rather than driving, because I would not have been driving on New Year’s Eve.

trees and blue sky

My wife didn’t have her walking shoes with her and although I was sorry not to walk with her at the start of the year, this did give me  a better opportunity to stop and take photographs and do a little field recording, albeit on my phone.

It was a beautiful day with a blue sky and warm sun (for the time of year) but despite this I decided that some of the images should be monochrome.Continue reading

ducks enjoying the rain

And The Rain Began to Fall

Near the end of my walk this week we approached the double walled kitchen garden of the National Botanic Garden of Wales and as we walked through it towards the hothouse and the butterflies, the rain began to fall. Not too heavy at first so I was able to get a couple more photos before going inside, but while we enjoyed looking at the few large butterflies fluttering around at this time of year, the rain really started coming down and the noise of stair rods hitting the glass roof was noticeable to say the least.

the rain came down

So we took more time in the hothouse than perhaps we might have done but our wait for the rain to subside was futile and we eventually put up our hoods and ventured out towards the entrance and car park. The ducks seemed happy enough!

The sound clip below does not relate to this and I realise in writing this that my habit of posting a soundscape at the end of the week has a flaw. If I only have a sound clip rather than an edited soundscape, then the sound will only be from one particular part of my walk and give no sense of progression or change of environment or conditions. So the clip below should have been posted at the beginning of the week when we were inside the Great Glass House (so I have posted it there now as well as below). It was busy with people and birds all enjoying Mothers Day – mothers perhaps because it was Mothers day and a visit to the NBGW on what was a nice day at the time included a craft fair and the birds because their were plenty of crumbs to be had around the cafe area.

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Urban Dawn Walk

My Walk this Week – Early Bird

My walk this weeks starts in a multi-storey carpark in town. By early I mean about 5.55 am, which is why I was surprised that the first sound I heard on getting out of my car in this empty urban space was an early bird chirruping away! It was still dark and I was in an environment as far from natural as possible.

Multi-storey

It was interesting to experience the ambience and light (or lack of it) in this structure in its unusual empty state and I was able to check out the patterns revealed in the gloom. The background soundContinue reading