With the weather still fine towards the end of my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers at Penclawdd, the blue paint of this local boat almost perfectly matched the sky.
Tag Archives: walkers
Natural Pattern and the Convenience of Stiles
Natural pattern can be seen all over the place, nature is full of it. The natural pattern for me, perhaps I should say rhythm, of a Taste of Gower walk is one of regular pauses followed by a rush to catch up with the group. My pauses are taken in order to do some photography and field recording but as a result, I inevitably need to catch up to the rest of the group. And that is why it is so convenient to have one or two stiles along the footpath route. The palaver of a group of people climbing over a stile or going through a kissing gate individually provides me with all the time I need to cover the ground between us.
Natural pattern
Bird and Gate
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Natural pattern
Taking It All In – Looking All Around
On the Taste of Gower walks people don’t usually stop to look and listen to their surroundings. However, once we got up on top of the hill above Penclawdd, the views are in almost all directions are wonderful and the group could help but stop and gather to take it all in.
On a clear day like this, looking south and south west you can see the rest of the Gower Peninsula and across the Burry Inlet to Pembrokeshire in the distance. Looking west you see Llanelli, Burry Port and Carmarthenshire and looking north and north west you see as far as The Black Mountain.
Taste of Gower walkers
Closer to hand were other sights such as a circling buzzard and evidence that the tide was coming in rather than ebbing – the birds on the sand bank in the middle of the estuary were getting more and more crowded as we continued on our walk.
Overlooking Penclawdd
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The Black Mountain
sandbank and birds
Gower and the Burry Inlet
Taste of Gower walkers
sandbank and birds
buzzard
Following the Footpath
Following the footpath on my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers took us up the hill above the village and between houses which, when we rose above them, revealed views of the Penclawdd vista over the Loughor Estuary.
There were plenty of details to see along the way with both man made and natural antenna presenting themselves in the forms of a radio ham aerial and the long pink arms of abundant rosebay willow herb.
Penclawdd vista
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Following the Footpath
Rosebay Willow Herb
radio ham aerial
Penclawdd roofs
Penclawdd vista
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
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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.
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Taste of Gower walkers
Salt Marshes
Rod Cooper
Old copperworks wall
Pirate Day at Gower Heritage Centre and Reviewing the Walk
Spot the pirate in this final image from my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers. It seems Gower Heritage Centre had a pirate thing going on that day as was apparent from the staff costumes and various other piratical objects around the place once we had been served with our teas and coffees etc. and sat down in the cafe.
It was a great walk – the weather stayed more or less fine for us and I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love Three Cliffs Bay. By this time we will have done the next Taste of Gower walk at Penclawdd on North Gower and I will be posting about that in two three weeks time.
Gower Heritage Centre
Taste of Gower Heritage Centre Walk Soundscape
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Taste of Gower Walkers at Gower Heritage Centre
Helen and Charlotte from Gower Unearthed
Giant’s Grave
Taste of Gower Walkers
Woodland wildflowers
Across the Water – Bristol Channel
coastal wildflowers
Three Cliffs Bay, Gower
Stepping Stones
Three Cliffs
Stones in Circles
Monochrome grasses
Doing the Boardwalk
The last stage of this circular Taste of Gower walk is enjoyable for the same kind of reason as the stepping stones are when crossing Pennard Pill (river) in Three Cliffs Bay – it’s fun, a novelty, a change underfoot from the normal footpath surface, not only in feel but also in sound.
Doing the Boardwalk
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Doing the Boardwalk
Pennard Pill Boardwalk
Disappearing into the woods
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