Having returned to the top of the farm track near the start of my short walk this week at MLRUK and Blaenige in Carmarthenshire, I met one of the local residents – in the form of one of their horses. I don’t know its name (I don’t even know if it is male ore female), but it was very friendly, pricked its ears up and came over for a chat.
Today I am again looking at the textures, patterns and colours I found on my walk this week in Carmarthenshire. They are different to those I enjoyed in the woodland yesterday but the remnants of Autumn seen in the spiky thorns of a bramble and the soggy brown mass of drooping vegetation at the trackside are just as attractive as the woodland.
When I take a closer look at the intricacies within in the forms of these natural objects, I always get excited about the complexity of the world around me and how every aspect of it, including ourselves, is all connected in such a variety of ways.
You can see from the “river” running down the track how fast the snow is melting. I can imagine that the moss that inevitable grows thick in places like this, still enjoys a degree of dampness even in the height of Summer.
I loved the woodland around the old shed I found (see yesterday) on my short walk in Carmarthenshire this week – the density of trees and yet the openness in the winter created a wonderful range of subtle colours, textures and patterns.
The first thing I encountered when starting on my return up the hill, was my own footsteps in the thin snow. The thaw was already in progress at the start of my walk and you can see and hear how fast the snow is melting in the footstep sound clips on Monday’s post – “My Walk this week – First Snow”. It is quite possible that this is not only the first snow but also the last of this winter – we shall just have to wait and see!
I didn’t get lost on my walk this week but I did come across this old shed that had the distinct appearance of being abandoned and lost in the woods. On closer inspection, it appeared that it may still be in use – I couldn’t say for sure, but I did like the aged appearance of it. Covered in moss, spider webs and snow the rusty corrugated iron sheets seemed well camouflaged in the winter woodland.
My descending approach to the shed took me through some deeper snow, the sound of which can be heard on my first post for this week. Care had to be taken and you can hear the point in the clip where I stumble. The rough track and the need to clamber over brambles to reach the shed again suggested it may no longer be in use, but who knows – the ways of those working the land will, perhaps, always hold some mystery.
Woodland 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.
The penultimate photo in this sequence (cobwebs) can also be seen in monochrome at Leanne Cole’s Photography blog post Monochrome Madness MM 2-42.
My short walk this week at Blaenige, near Cynwyl Elfed in Carmarthenshire was a mixture of snow, sunshine, wind and a brief spot of rain – in other words, typical for this part of the world. I had to take it carefully down the steep track but on the way I found some great views over the landscape as well as some attractive details in my closer surroundings.
This winter has been so mild it came as a bit of surprise to find myself driving carefully through snow on my way to a meeting in Carmarthenshire. The meeting was at Blaenige, the home of MLR UK with whom I have been working for a while now to develop a StillWalks business package. The meeting finished in good time, and as I had brought most of my kit with me, I took the opportunity to go for a short walk down one of the steep hillside tracks through the farmland and woods.
There wasn’t a lot of snow and it was already melting during my walk but considering I hadn’t expected to see any this year, it wasn’t unwelcome and as the sky was partially blue, my walk this week, though short, was quite exhilarating.
One aspect of the walk which is changed with the snow is the environmental sound. Below I have included three sound clips of my footsteps in the changing snow. How much difference can you hear in them.
Crunchy Snow
Deeper Snow
Wet Snow
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.
My city walk was taken through the day but this photo looks across the River Lagan in Belfast later that same evening. The horizontal line of lights in the dark are christmas lights running along the crane featured near the start of the walk.
This was a Winter city walk taken on Boxing day a few years ago. There is only frost on the riverside footpath at the walk and the bare branches of trees by the crane to prove the season. However, a couple of days later the river was frozen over and covered in snow, but we had left to return to mainland Britain by that time!
Click the sound clip play button below and then the first thumbnail image to view the walk images in sequence.
City Ambience
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Walking up the footpath alongside the Lagan in Belfast, the river again attempts to produce its own art in the form of sculpture in the water. The working material may be an old trolley but with the reflection on the water’s surface, I couldn’t help thinking of it as a piece of art in keeping with the “bottle top” or the “graffiti” to be seen by the river bank.
