"Hands up, who volunteers to go for a walk mwith this lot?"
Walking throgh the snow on Holywell Common.
(with authentic raon spot on cameras lens).
Snowdrops n Holywell Racecourse.
Stretching out on Holywell Racecourse.
Pantasaph from Holywell Racecourse.
Daffodils on the roadsidebetween Babell and Gorsedd.
Our lunch spot in the grounds of Pantasaph Franciscan Friary, but where is everyone?
An interesting gravesone in the newest part of the cemetry at Pantasaph Franciscan Friary.
Young lambs being led away to safety.
Young lambs wary of walkers on their patch.
The Pen-y-Ball Monument.
The inscription on the Pen-y-Ball Monument.
The better inscription on the Pen-y-Ball Monument.
Moel famau from the Pen-y-Ball Monument.
Walk stats: distance: 7.9 miles. Climb: 1092'.
Time: 4 hours 8 minutes. On the move walking average@ 2.3 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.9 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Sue and Michel. Rger, Wendy and David S.
Everyone arrived at the start by 09-30, but was this a wise wen most forecasts suggested that the weather would clear up between 10-00 and 11-00? Thankfully it did stop about tewn minutes after we had all arrived, so we set off in full waterproofs, anticipating the early showerswould continue. they did for about about half an hour, but afterwards we had long spells of lovely warm sunshine despite the cool breeze that accompanied us for most of the day.
Early views weren't particularly good we could see Moel-y=Parc, bit MoelFamau was still in cloud.
The greatest challenge today was the track from Calcoed to Graeana that had been seriously damaged by off road vehicles / farm vehicles, so much so that I raced ahead with David S in order to get out of ear shot of any winges about muddy paths that might emanate from some members of the group!
Perhaps the most enjoyable surprise of the day was the bindance of Snowdrops that we saw along the roadside, on Holywell Racecourse and in the grounds of the Pantasaph Franciscan Friary.
lunch was taken at the Pantasaph Franciscan Friary, where we took advantage of some new benches (replacing the olderr church pews that we enjoyed using in the past) near the entrance to the retreat.
Fortunately today we had lunch sitting in warm sunshine, but knowing that if necessary we could have sheltered in the cafe with a hot drink. Some of the group did take advantage of the facilities before we resumed walking after lunch.
after lunch we did explore a path that e hadn't used before, and it was while we crossed one of the field on this route that we were able to witness one of the undoubted joys of Spring - very young lambs gambolling as they followed mum.
Arriving at the Pen-y-Ball Monument, we probably had our best views of the Clwydian Hills, but alas they didn't have te coating of the white stuff that we had hoped for.
Even David S was gettig into spotting birds first, including the Common kestrel seen hovering over Holywell Common.
Birds seen or heard today included: Woodpigeon, House sparrow Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Blue tit, Great tit, Dunnock, Herring gull, Common buzzard, Dunnock, Goldfinch and Common kestrel.
We arrived back at the cars, having has a good walk, despite the frequent muddy encounters ( not a lot really, it took me ten minutes to clean my boots when I got home - still warm enough to do the job outside).
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Britannia Inn at Pentre Halkyn, wher the Lees bitter demaded that I had a second pint!. The latte a tea went down well too!
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