A raven, not the bird of the day, but still good to see so close.
Our first view of Dinas Bran.
The route ahead on top of the escarpment.
Michel on top of the world.
A good vantage pouint for Dinas Bran and Llangollen below.
A delightful flower between the heather on the moorland.
One of the many Meadow pipits seen today.
The Llantysilio Mountains from the escarpment.
Another view of the Llantysilio Mountains.
Wendy leading the way across the top of Trevor Rocks.
Walk stats: Distance: 9.1 miles. Climb: 1507'.
Time: 5 hours 39 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Sue and Michel, Phil and Wendy.
This was a glorious day for walking and Phil persuaded us to complete the walk in a clockwise direction for a change. This meant that the mile of road walking was done at the start of the walk instead of at the end.
Walking in this direction gave us slightly different views than our normal route and made some of the path finding easier. Having said that, some of us still had to do a little heather hopping to make sure we would rendezvous with the Pelissier who had opted for a slightly lower path.
Willow warblers and Meadow pipits were around in abundance, but the bird of the day was the Cuckoo, unfortunately only heard, but we did hear it at least eight times from early in the walk until near the very end. The calls came from several different locations and probably meant the we were hearing more than one bird. I don't recall hearing the Cuckoos so many times on one walk. We have had Dipper days in the past, today was a Cuckoo day. Skylarks singing too was another delight of this walk.
Lunch was taken towards the Northern end of the escarpments, with good views if somewhat hazy towards the Llantysilio Mountains, the Berwens and Llandegla Moors.
The return route across the more open moorland was somewhat tedious at times, but improved as we approached Trevor Rocks.
Birds seen or heard today included: Raven, Meadow pipit, Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Common buzzard, Red grouse, Pied wagtail, Skylark, Stonechat, Common whitethroat and Wheatear.
The walk took a little longer than usual, but on such a good day this was a day when the walk was not to be rushed.
We arrived back at the car, happy to have had a superb walk and looking forward to a refreshing after walk drink at the Pant yr Ochain at Gresford. Purple Moose, Snowdonia Ale went down particularly well as we sat in the shade in the garden at the Pant yr Ochain.
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