The entrance to the Chirk Canal Tunnel - the start of our walk.
The Afon Ceiriog not far from where we saw the Dipper.
The path heading for Pentre Wood.
The start of the path through Pentre Wood.
There's hugging a tree and there's hugging a tree!
Distant views of Chirk Castle from the Ceiriog Trail south of Brongarth.
Somewhere in the photo is a very young foal.
Another chance to spot the two young foals.
The steep descent on Offa's Dyke Path into the Ceiriog Valley.
About to leave the "Quiet garden" in the grounds of Chirk Castle.
Another view of Chirk Castle.
On Offa's Dyke Path, heading for the Llangollen Canal.
Back on the Llangollen Canal towpath.
One of two juvenile Mandarin ducks seen on the canal.
Heading for the Whitehouse Canal Tunnel at Chirk.
Back at the Chirk Canal Tunnel.
Nearly there!
Distance: 9.3 miles.Climb: 1115'
Time: 5 hours 33 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.
Temperature: Around 21 Celsius throughout the walk. The 26 Celsius measured at lunch, seemed a little high, and probably meant the instrument wasn’t out of the direct Sun long enough.
Beaufort Wind Force: 0 – 2. Mainly no noticeable wind, but at one point, it briefly reached a welcome 7 m.p.h. Light breezes.
Group: Martyn, Mike, Fran and Nigel.
We parked the car on Ffordd-yr-Orsaf (Station Road) and started the walk by dropping down onto the towpath and heading through the Chirk Canal Tunnel. This meant that today we would In fact go through two canal tunnels.
As expected, the canal was pretty busy with holiday makers on narrow boats, a challenge for some when negotiating the canal tunnels where no-one had a definite rite of passage.
Our only challenge today was getting around or over fallen trees in Pentre Wood and a closed road.
As a Welsh learner, Fran had the opportunity to have a chat with another Welsh learner that we bumped into on our way to Chirk Castle.
Chirk Castle was very busy, but we managed to find pic-nic tables and benches in the quiet garden, a place that lived up to its name as thankfully, it seemed to be off the radar for most visitors.
In the afternoon, Mike had an unpleasant encounter with a biting horsefly and had to take steps to ensure the culprit was no longer in a position to bite for a second time!
Perhaps the surprise of the day was the height of the reeds on the edge of the canal near Chirk Marina. Thankfully they had cut to allow access to the towpath.
Birds seen or heard today included: Woodpigeon, Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Common buzzard, Common pheasant, Dipper, Mandarin duck, Mallard and Wood nuthatch,
We did see lots of butterflies including: Small white, Large white, Peacock, Meadow brown, Speckled wood and Gatekeeper.
Overall, this proved to be a good day for walking, not too hot, no wind and no rain.
A very enjoyable and varied walk. All that was needed now was to head for a suitable hostelry for refreshments.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Pant-yr-Ochain at Gresford, where Purple Moose’s Cwrw Eryri was the drink that slaked the thirst of most of us. Mike, as the driver, seemed happy enough with is pint of Coke!
Birds seen or heard today included: Woodpigeon, Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Common buzzard, Common pheasant, Dipper, Mandarin duck, Mallard and Wood nuthatch,
We did see lots of butterflies including: Small white, Large white, Peacock, Meadow brown, Speckled wood and Gatekeeper.
Overall, this proved to be a good day for walking, not too hot, no wind and no rain.
A very enjoyable and varied walk. All that was needed now was to head for a suitable hostelry for refreshments.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Pant-yr-Ochain at Gresford, where Purple Moose’s Cwrw Eryri was the drink that slaked the thirst of most of us. Mike, as the driver, seemed happy enough with is pint of Coke!
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