Conwy Mountain and More 8th August 2015

Conwy Quay at the start of the walk.

Raven - second perching rock.

The Great Orme from the Eastern slopes of Conwy Mountain.

Panorama showing the Afon Conwy estuary.

Panorama across the hillfort towards the South and West.

Raven at the third perching point - still croaking loudly!

Wild ponies on Waen Gyrach, our lunch spot

or 

"Who's a big boy then?

The purple headed mountain.

Conwy Castle - not far to go now!

 Walk stats: Distance: 10.2 miles. Climb: 1700'. Time: 6 hours 12 minutes. On the move walking average:2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average:1.6 m.p.h. Group: Martyn and Celia. A good day for walking, perhaps a little on the warm side at times, especially as there was very little wind and only rare sections with any shade. We started the walk by taking the Coastal Path from Conwy Quay and around Coed Bodlondeb. This made a very pleasant start to the walk, and avoided having to go through the streets of Conwy twice. Once we had climbed the to the ridge on the Eastern side of Conwy Mountain, the views were superb in all direction, especially towards the Great Orme that seemed to be surrounded a deep blue sea! All around Conwy Mountain, we seemed to be followed by a noisy Raven that croaked loudly from the top of rock outcrops just ahead of us. It even appeared again late in the afternoon when we returning on the path on the South side Conwy Mountain. Lunch was taken on the North side of Waen Gyrach with views over Dwygyfylchi towards Anglesey. On the return route on the East side of Waen Gyrach we encountered a couple of horse riders, one with a horse that was very reluctant to do as the rider wanted, but the way the rider treated the horse it wasn't really surprising! Another surprise today was as we climbed the access at Penysychnant, where we could hear the constant "popping" noise of exploding Gorse seed pods. This was a new experience for me. We could hear the seed pods popping, but were too impatient to wait long enough to actually spot one exploding! Birds seen or heard today included: Herring gull, Black-headed gull, Grey heron, Oystercatcher, Raven, Stonechat, Common kestrel, Meadow pipit, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Sparrowhawk, Common buzzard, Common blackbird and Carrion crow. We arrived back at the car knowing that we had had a good walk and looking forward to a good drink at the Blue Bell Inn at Halkyn. A new brew from Blacksheep went down really well.