My home town

The city of Swansea was built around the mouth of the river Tawe. From the docks the river winds up the valley, with its incredible industrial history. It's only fairly recently that the river and the water in the bay have been cleaned up after years of having pollutants tipped in.

When I was growing up we swam off the promenade at Mumbles. By the time I was a teenager there were signs saying 'don't eat the cockles in the bay,' and the sea regularly failed all health and safety tests.

It took a lot of investment and determination to get it cleaned up but today even the bays that were most polluted (near the now-diverted sewage outlet) have a Blue Flag for clean water.

As Swansea grew, its residents spread out, mostly over the hills to the west. Eventually the town encompassed outlying villages like Oystermouth, Killay and Sketty. Swansea was made a city I think when the Prince of Wales was invested, but it might have been later than that.

Cefn Coed, the psychiatric hospital - or as we called it when I was growing up, the loony bin - is perched on top of one of Swansea's hills. It's the red building with the clock tower in the centre. If you had to be in a psychiatric hospital, at least you'd have a good view.

The perspective on the photo below looks very odd. The square building in the centre is on the university campus, which isn't as close to the city as it appears. The tall white building just behind and to the left of it is Swansea's newest tall tower. It's apparently going to be the tallest residential building in Wales.

When I first heard they were building this block I was as horrified as many others but, I have to admit, it's grown on me. I've become quite attached to it as I've watched it develop. It still has scaffolding on the top floors and then there's a tilted sort of glass thing on the top.

You can just see the remains of the snow on Kilvey Hill. All these photos were taken from near the top of Clyne woods.