My walk this week is around an urban lake that I have visited before but not at this time of year. It had been my intention to take my camera and sound kit with me but as I was focusing on the meeting I had before this walk, I completely forgot the kit and had to use my iPhone for both photography and sound recording.
As I walked back through Penclawdd on my walk this week and headed for my car, the light dimmed further and the birds began to roost . . .
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
At the end of my walk this week I found myself cold again. Unlike the sheep in the shade of this frosty field, I did not have a thick wooly coat but a few hundred yards earlier I had been hot in the sunshine on top of the hill.
Listen to the soundscape for the walk below and take a look at the image sequence at the same time – I hope find it different to the last time I walked this route in the opposite direction just a few weeks ago.
Up above the valley on my walk this week I reached another familiar gate and enjoyed the views over the landscape below. I was disappointed on this occasion not to meet the horse which can just be seen on the other side of the fence in the image below. Normally I would stop and have a wee chat with him but he was hidden behind the bank as I passed and didn’t follow me along to the other end of the field.
Where this hill had been in the earlier stages of my walk when starting from the other end a couple of weeks ago, I am now approaching the end of my walk – it’s all downhill from here and through the crunching Autumn leaves 🙂
Climbing to the top of the hill on my walk this week the surface underfoot was stone at one of the steepest parts of the route. As the track is used frequently by horse riders, I have often wondered how the horses cope with this section as it can get slippery when wet (which is often the case in Wales!).
Having reached the top, the friendly horse that currently shares a field with a couple of donkeys, came over to greet me. I enjoy taking a short break in my walk up there where I can take in the landscape around me and it is good to have a quiet conversation with the horse – he really is a lovely animal!
The path we followed on the Swansea Health and Wellbeing Walk is divided like many others into separate areas for walkers and cyclists. It is a very useful thing for cyclists to have bells on their bikes – most useful to the walkers. So thanks to all those many cyclists using this path during our walk for warning us that you were there as it is easy to stray from one part of the path to the other. With the noise of traffic on a busy road, the bells become essential!
