As I descend from my hill walk this week, this tunnel of light and shade is full of pattern and texture. The light and shade itself creates some great patterns and shapes, but they are also very obviously present in the structure of a mossy wall and the peeling bark of a birch tree.
More images from this walk can be seen on Instagram and/or the StillWalks Facebook page and Twitter.
Climbing on up to the top of the hill on my walk this week naturally changed the views of the landscape again. Having done this walk four or five times in the week, you can see the changing weather from day to day.
Through the recent weeks of Winter the changeable weather within one day, or even within an hour, might have accounted for all these photos. The last week or two, however, have been much drier and whilst still changeable, it is a welcome break from so much rain and hints at the season changing to Spring.
The sound clip below illustrates something of the current weather both in the birdsong and also in the crunch of the bracken underfoot as I walk across the hill to another viewpoint.
Birds and Bracken
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.
The photos for my walk this week span a few days. I took the same walk each morning for four days and was partly inspired by the first hint of Spring – i.e. sunshine!
It’s another short local hill walk. The hill is fairly small, but steep and rises to about 450 feet. At the bottom my route followed that of the local river with snow drops lining its banks. I was tempted to stop and take some (rare for me) slow exposure shots of the water falling over the weir.
I didn’t have my tripod with me and so most of the shots were discarded. However, there were a few I liked including the underexposed one taken with a faster shutter speed and which shows the patterns and textures in the falling water.
Looking back at my walk this week along Swansea Canal at Clydach, I hope you can enjoy both the images and the short soundscape. The work that Swansea Canal Society are doing to maintain and restore this beautiful waterway is well worth it and it is clear that many people enjoy and benefit from it.
Play the soundscape below and enjoy my selection of images from through the week as you listen.
Canal Soundscape
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.
As I arrived back at the starting point of my walk this week along Swansea Canal, the patterns of rippling water again attracted my attention. I took more shots of them than this but have managed to refrain from posting them.
More images from this walk can be seen on Instagram and/or the StillWalks Facebook page and Twitter.
The starting point for my walk this week alongside Swansea Canal, was where the River Tawe loops tightly round right next to the canal which is elevated above the river. The turning point for my walk on this section at Clydach, is where the Tawe loops back to the canal again. One of the points about any canal is that they provide a more direct route than a meandering river.
It was good to be able to look down on the river again before turning back and retracing my steps by the canal. I may have been returning the way I had come but walking any route in the opposite direction gives a different view, a new perspective on the surroundings.
In the last image on this Sunday morning, men from Swansea Canal Society can be seen at work on the lock I passed earlier. By the time I reached them the path was quite busy, not only with their activity, but with cyclists and walkers as well – an ever changing environment.
Working on the canal
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.
Since visiting various sections of Swansea Canal a couple of years ago, I have meant to return to the section which runs through Clydach, just a few miles from Swansea in South Wales. Finally getting a convenient opportunity, I took one of my cameras and my small recorder and though of my walk as a recce for a StillWalks production in the future.
My walk this week illustrates this recce walk – where necessary I used my iPhone with its wider angle lens.
The walk starts by the canal where it meets a loop of the River Tawe. However, the first shot below shows the water of the canal flowing into the Clydach river before it joins the Tawe on the other side of the canal and flows on down to Swansea.
