Tag Archives: urban walks

Old and New

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It’s quite common these days to transform the local docks into a fancy marina or other such housing and / or business development. In the case of Swansea people were not being moved out to make way for the new build and the docks are in diminished use in comparison to Swansea’s industrial heyday.

The SA1 area, as it is known, is situated across the river from the marina but the two developments are linked by the well designed millennium footbridge and a more functional footbridge at the lock from the marina to the river mouth.

old redbrick SA1 building

The old redbrick building above used to be one of the dock buildings of course and it along with the few other older dockside buildings in the area, sit well beside the wide range of modern architecture.

I have taken photographs of this architecture in the past but the images below function more as a contribution to my walk this week than a means of showing the architectural design of the area. If you do a search on the blog for SA1, you will be able to see some of those other images.

Swansea Millennium Footbridge

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My Walk this Week 21 – Maritime Musings

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My walk this week takes me through Swansea’s Martime Quarter once more There were several gatherings of birds, all apparently waiting for something. They had look-outs making use of the security cameras and other high points around the docks and locks of the marina, but the misty weather was significantly limiting visibility.

Looking inland towards Kilvey Hill, but without being able to see it, a riverside apartment block was also partly obscured by the sand dunes at the top of the beach. None of the architecture of the SA1 area could be clearly seen but the mist and dampness gave a distinctive atmosphere to the place and so I enjoyed doing my photography and having my walk in spite of the weather.

line of cormorants

Dark Images – Photos of the Night

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As my walk extended round to the unlit side of Hemlington Lake my photos became still darker. At this point I am facing away from the town and much of the light and colour reflected on the clouds is hidden by the trees behind me.

In the first image you can just see the near side of the footbridge with the railings of its far side silhouetted against the street light. Below is a short sound clip of my footsteps crossing the bridge and it is after this that a gentle rain starts.

Footsteps and Rain

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dark footbridge

Blue Bell Beck at night

Hemlington Lake at Night

Light and Dark

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The view of and colours in the night sky over Middlesbrough changed as I walked around the other, unlit side of Hemlington Lake. The shapes and silhouettes of trees enhanced the reflected colour on the clouds and proved there was light to be seen. However, the footpath on this side of the lake was very dark and it was only because I know the path well that I had no problems seeing where I should walk.

As I came round this side of the lake I disturbed some of the birds roosting in the vegetation at the lake side. So at this point in my night walk, there was a little more sound than perhaps there should have been.

Night Birds

If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

trees at night

trees and night sky

night sky and lake

Swans in the Night Lights

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Many of the birds on Hemlington Lake were roosting during my night time walk around its perimeter. Some however, like this swan, thought there might be some food on offer. Unfortunately for him the best I could do was to take his photograph in the wan light of a distant street lamp.

It was darker than I had expected on this night walk. Being a suburban lake I thought there would be more ambient light from the city. It seems the lake and its surrounding grass and trees provide something of an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the urban landscape – just as intended.

The second image in this short sequence shows the fenced off outlet in the lake that featured in one of last week’s posts – you can just see it in the dark

Swan in the night light

Reflections and Colour in the Sky

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Such as it is, the colour in the sky on this night walk round Hemlington Lake is a reflection of the urban lights in Middlesbrough. Despite travelling north east for the new year, the weather didn’t improve much for us and so the street lamps had plenty of cloud cover to reflect their yellow-orange glow.

It didn’t actually rain much on me during this walk and I really enjoyed the subdued colours, the silhouettes of trees and the night sounds of coots on the water.

lake at night

footpath and lake at night

trees at night

Abertawe Walk

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A few weeks ago I started writing a short blog style article for the online version of our local newspaper, the South Wales Evening Post. The articles are about some of the walks I take in the Swansea area and many of them are a little off the beaten track.

My contribution to the paper today (read here) features the River Tawe at Ynystawe but here, on this blog I want to present another part of the river. The StillWalks, “Abertawe Walk”, takes you along the cycle path between the Liberty Stadium and the bridges at SA1 and the Maritime Quarter in Swansea.

The production for this walk was done in the Autumn and the walk takes you through the woods along side the river as well as the cycle path.

The video can be seen here and the photos below are taken from that production.

abertawe walk

from Abertawe Walk – Autumn

from Abertawe Walk

from Abertawe Walk