Gopa Wood, Castell Cawr and Cwm Dulas 1st January 2022

 

Mallards, a Coot and a Mute swan on the lake in Pentre-Mawr Park.

"This is my patch."

One way into the grounds of Gwrych Castle.

The information board for Gopa Wood.

One of the many woodland paths i Gopa Wood.

Information board near the entrance to Castell Cawr Hillfort.

Ed at possibly the best viewpoint in Castell Cawr,

View from the path on the south side of Betws Lodge Wood.

Looking north westward towards Pen-y-corddyn-bach and Pen-y-corddyn-mawr.

Mynydd Marian from the path west of Pen-y-corddyn-mawr.

Information about the Honeycomb Worm.

Home to the Honeycomb Worm.

"Can you send for a taxi or do we have to walk the last two miles?"

Walk stats:

Distance: 10.0 miles. Climb: (wind assisted GPS reading 1535'). Memory Map route gave it as 1250'.

Time: 5 hours 12 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.9 m.p.h.

Arriving a the start, the car thermometer gave the outside temperature at 15 Celsius and it didn't fall much below that throughout the walk. Min temperature - 13.2 Celsius. Most of the walk temperature remained around 14.2 Celsius.

Beaufort Wind Force: Mainly 3/4 - gentle / moderate breeze, but did gust to 5 (21 m.p.h) - Fresh breeze.

Group: Martyn, Ed and Roger.

The strong westerly wind persuaded us to complete the walk in a clockwise direction, so that we would have the wind behind us from Llanddulas to Abergele on the Coastal Path.

It also allowed us to explore Gopa Wood a little and even visit the site of Castell Cawr Hillfort.

At no time did it feel cold and towards lunchtime the full "hear" of the Sun could be felt and we had blue skies, especially in the direction of Mynydd Marian, one of the options for the walk today.

Lunch was taken on the east side of Pen-y-corddyn-mawr, using an old wall to sit on. This was a very sheltered spot being in the lee of Pen-y-corddyn-mawr.

Roger presented us mince pies made by his wife, Margaret. he first one tasted good, but the second one tasted even better!  Thank you Margaret. Then Ed presented us with mini BakewellTarts as it was his "74" birthday!

As we approached Llanddulas a four by four stopped, wished us "Happy New Year" and informed us that we reminded him of "Last of The Summer Wine". We didn't ask him to identify which character each of us reminded him of!

The last section along the Coastal Path from Llanddulas to Abergele aways seems much longer than it really is, probably as a consequence of our legs feeling  tired having already done eight miles and not really wanting bto do any more.

The Coastal Path was busy i both directions, lots of dog walkers and bikes and car parks at Llanddulas and Pensarn pretty full.

Birds seen or heard today included: Pied wagtail, Herring gull, Oystercatcher, Eurasian curlew, Common redshank, House sparrow, Dunnock, European robin, Jackdaw, Raven, Carrion crow, Blue tit, Great tit, Common blackbird, Winter wren, Meadow pipit, Mute swan, Common coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Teal, Black headed gull, Medow pipit and Common snipe.

We arrived back at the cars, knowing that we wouldn't have a problem falling to sleep tonight!

We all headed straight home after the walk, missing out the usual stop at The Brit. 

It was still light enough and warm enough for me to clean my boots outside.