Passing the sheepfold on he way to open country.
Crossing Pont Rhyd-yr-Bydd.
The final climb to the Wayfarer's Memorial.
At the Wayfarer's Memorial.
The Berwyns on the skyline.
Desceding to our lunch spot on the north side of Cadair Bronwen.
The Clocaenog Wind Farm from Cadair Bronwen.
Distant mountain views from Cadair Bronwen.
The way to Bwlch Maen Gwnedd from Cadair Bronwen.
The start of the path down the Clochnant Valley.
A better section of the the Clochnant Valley.
A final look back to the Clochnant valley.
A delightful shaded section of the path through Cefn Pen-letty wood.
Llandrillo from path on the west side of Cefn Pen-letty wood.
Walk stats: 10.3 miles. Climb: 3434' GPS wind assisted reading, realistically about 2400' according to Memory Map route properties.Time: 6 hours 32 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.0 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Nigel, Mike and Roger.
We arrived at the riverside car park at about 09-30 to find it was already quite full. it obviously now a popular start point for mountain bikers as well as walkers.
it wasn't long before Roger realised that he had brought the wrong pair of boots and decided that the best option was to return home. Thankfully a Wrexham bus was due in about ten minutes and he was able to have a leisurely bus ride, first to Wrexham and then back to Chester.
The rest of set off from Llandillo, already in warm sunshine and only a gentle breeze, but it wasn't long before a group of mountain bikers caught us up on their way to Pen Bwlch Llandrillo. The more we climbed the better the views became, first over Llandrillo towards the North and later towards the South east when ridge to Cadair Bronwyn came in to view.
By now the wind had picked up quite a bit and I found it difficult to keep my sunhat on.
After a brief pause at the Wayfarer's Memorial to have a photo taken and for Nigel to add a note in the log book, we set off on the steady climb up the often grassy, sometimes peaty and sometimes boggy moorland to the summit of Cadair Bronwen.
The views in all directions from Cadair Bronwen were superb, despite being somewhat hazy, especially to towards Snowdonia.
We decided to have lunch on the top of Cadair Bronwen, but dropped down a little way on the north side to shelter a little from the strong wind.
Thankfully the wind never reached the forecast gusts of 42 m.p.h, and perhaps only reached about half of that.
The path down the Clochnant valley proved the downfall for each one of us. First I put my foot down a hole and ended up on my back like a tortoise on its back and found it difficult to get up. Mike rushed to my rescue, but he put his foot down a bigger hole and ended up with a wet foot. so far Nigel had escaped, but further down he too succumbed to of putting his foot in a hole.
The Clochnant valley path, particularly in the upper sections was difficult to find and frequently we had to use the GPS and its map to bring us back on track. throughout the descent the views ahead of us were excellent.
On this occasion we returned to Llandrillo a path, new to us, that went along the western edge of Cefn Pen-llety wood, a delightful track, much better than the road route that we had used on previous occasions.
Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Meadow pipit, Carrion crow, Raven, Wheatear, Red grouse, Common pheasant, Stonechat and Common pheasant.
We arrived back at the car, having had a a great walk, but with tired legs and looking forward to refreshments at the Bridge Inn at Pontybodkin. a Weetwood brew and Parkway brew went down well.
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