Sheep in the shade

On a walk up to Table Mountain (Crug Hywel) near Crickhowell (see previous post) we passed these sheep in the shade by a gateway in a drystone wall. They took little notice of us, seeming to enjoy the spot they had chosen. As I framed my shot I noticed that beyond was the distant summit of Sugar Loaf.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Dark skies - a second shot

 
A minute or so after my photograph of trees against a dark sky (see previous post) I had the opportunity to photograph this row of houses in the same light. I've phototographed the houses before, taken by the colours that are quite atypical in this part of the world. The dark sky strongly accentuated their colours. At this point the clouds were low enough to brush the summit of Sugar Loaf behind the town.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Blorenge - a rhyme with orange

I remember being told, many years ago, that there is no word in English that rhymes with orange. There were, apparently, half-rhymes such as lozenge, but no full-rhymes. The OED, however, does contain a single full-rhyme word. It is "sporange", an old alternative word with the same meaning as sporangium. So, when I moved to Herefordshire, and we began taking trips into nearby Wales, imagine my delight in coming across a proper noun that rhymes with orange. Near Abergavenny is a high hill called Blorenge. We recently, for the first time, did some walking there and visited its summit (561m, 1841 feet). We will go there again but for now here is the only shot I got that I think qualifies for the blog. It shows the heather moorland and outcropping rock near the summit, with Sugar Loaf in the distance.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

View from Raglan Castle

After a walk around Abergavenny we stopped off at Raglan Castle on our drive home. The afternoon was one of blue skies, fast moving white clouds, and a temperature somewhat lower than recently. The remains of the castle are quite substantial (see photographs below and here) and include a spiral staircase up to what must have been something approximating the highest point of the building As we stood looking north-west at the summits of The Blorenge, Sugar Loaf and The Skirrid we could see the patches of light and the clouds' shadows moving across the fields. I took my photograph more in hope than expectation of capturing this effect and I'm quite pleased with the result.

 photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Sugar Loaf and the Skirrid seen from the Kymin

On a recent visit to the Kymin, a hill that overlooks the Welsh town of Monmouth I put a long lens on my camera and photographed the distant summits. On the left is Sugar Loaf, looking like (but it isn't) an extinct volcano. The long "whaleback" of the Skirrid, dotted with trees, is next. On the right is, I think, Patrishow Hill, though that may be incorrect. The day was sunny, with a chilly breeze, but warm enough for a haze that gave something of a blue tint to the far off hills. Such things can be "corrected" in software these days with a haze filter but what's "correct" about rendering a scene so that it doesn't look like what is seen?

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Painted houses

Painted houses are not unusual in the UK. White, cream, pale blue, pink, ochre, green, primrose, dark red, and other muted colours are reasonably common. However, houses painted in what I consider strident colours are rare. So when I saw the acid yellow of this house in Abergavenny I went "Ouch!" Presumably it pleases the owner, although its not unusual to hear of people applying colour that looks different when on walls compared with how it looked in the can. The photograph shows the back of the terrace of houses that overlooks the fields adjoining the River Usk. The frontages are next to a road. The summit rearing up behind the houses is Sugar Loaf.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Bracken and horizons

The ascent to the summit of Sugar Loaf takes the walker through an area of bracken with grass tracks criss-crossing it. On the day of our climb the unseasonal weather contrasted with the brown of the fading plants. However, it did make for great skies and successive, beautiful and subtly graduated horizons. I took this shot from about half way up and included my wife and grand-daughter for scale and as a point of interest.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Hanging on to summer

With wife, oldest son and oldest grandaughter I climbed Sugar Loaf in the last week of October. We set off in the morning carrying jackets and as we ascended our exertions made us remove the outer layer leaving single, summer-weight garments. However, once we had clambered up to the summit, looked around and taken some photographs we replaced our discarded layer and donned jackets to eat our lunch. What had looked and felt like summer soon changed to autumn chill as the wind struck. The photograph shows nothing of this. Only the brown of the bracken and the tints of the trees give away the season.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

View of Sugar Loaf

Quite a few peaks across the world attract the name "Sugar Loaf". The best known is perhaps the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its shape is a quite good approximation of the shape of an old loaf of sugar i.e. rather like an artillery shell. The Sugar Loaf on the edge of the Brecon Beacons above Abergavenny, Wales, is a less spectacular example and one that doesn't accord too well with the sugar loaf's shape, resembling (from some angles) the flattened cone of a volcano. In fact it is not made of igneous rock but is a ridge of sedimentary Old Red Sandstone. My view is taken from an adjacent, slightly lower peak, The Skirrid, made of the same rock.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100