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Mawddach Residency – DAY 9

Today I woke at 5.45 because that was the time of the tide. But it was still black outside and rain was battering down. My bed was cozy and I rolled over, went back to sleep. The rest of the day it rained. The sky was thick with cloud, the mountains disappearing, shadows of grey,Continue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 9”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 8

This morning the world behind the window went monochrome, the clouds gathering dark in the corners then blowing to fill the sky. Cat came in from sketching and the rain started; heavy, blurring, hailstones whipping the glass. The dark clouds were gone, only grey in their place. The mountains were swallowed by mist, the estuaryContinue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 8”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 7

We drove up the coast, first following the estuary in, on winding roads, past rows of grey slate cottages, then turning back along the opposite bank, taking the road that hugged the shore. We had spent so many hours staring across at these hills, drawing their shifting colours, noticing that they always seemed to beContinue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 7”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 6

We went back up the estuary, away from the sea, towards the mud flats. We saw a curlew pecking at the sand, running as if slightly off balance. We passed yesterday’s spindle bushes and sea defences and carried on, further up, looking for more. The landscape is fascinating because it is a place of suchContinue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 6”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 5

We walked past our swimming bay, where the water was still low, tangled bubbles of weed in huge clumps in the mud, and take the footpath that goes up the neck of the estuary. We go through boggy land, tunnels of bracken, detouring away from deep mud through side paths in the long grass. TurningContinue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 5”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 4

Woke to skies painted peach, already pale blue at the edges. Sat by the big window in the studio watching how the water shifted, grey rushing in in slices, bands of movement, silky, stuttering. The cloudless sky ripened to rich blue and we went walking. We followed the track at the edge of the coast,Continue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 4”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 3

We swam in silver today. The silt from the banks made the water silky, slashed with ice blue, swan grey, silver. It was colder this morning, the air heavy with moisture; the rain from the night before had left a chill. We waded past clumps of yellowing bladderwrack half hidden in the mud thick water,Continue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 3”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 2

The tide was rising and, as we crouched pressing seaweed to wet paper at the edge, the rain came; heavy, relentless, whipping the water into pimples. The hills were swallowed by mist and we were quickly wet through, rain running through the roots of our hair and down our spines. We dropped ink around weedContinue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 2”

Mawddach Residency – DAY 1

Fresh from a high tide swim, still outlined in cold, we packed our bags and set out for Barmouth. We took a winding path around the edge of the headland, under old oaks bending and twisting with burnished leaves. The bracken at the sides of the path is burn coloured and curling, dried before dying.Continue reading “Mawddach Residency – DAY 1”

7/11/22 – Water like Guiness

Last week my brain was full of words, so I stepped outside for a walk. I was staying halfway up a wooded valley, on a steep hill, and the path I took went down. The sky was blurred out by beach trees and turning leaves and I could hear the river rushing down in theContinue reading “7/11/22 – Water like Guiness”