Cwm Conwy, Castle Wood and Moel y Gaer 10th December 2025.

On the way to Cwm Conwy.

Crossing the Afon Conwy.

A good section of the path in Cwm Conwy.

Fallen trees and the Afon Conwy

Nigel at work with a hand saw.

Mike finishing the job with a bit of brute force.

The Afon Conwy in Cwm Conwy.

Descending the bridleway to Wat's Dyke Way.

Getting past on a fallen tree on Wat's Dyke Way.

Another fallen tree to be negotiated.

It looks impossible to get past this blockage, but thankfully there was a way round on the left.

Waiting for everyone else to reach Castle Wood.

T*he view from my lunch spot.

About to vacate their lunch spot seat.

The final climb on Moel y Gaer.

Moel Famau from inside Moel y Gaer hillfort.

Some of the ramparts on Moel y Gaer Hillfort.

Rhosesmor from Moel y Gaer.

St. Paul's Church, Rhosesmor.

Distance: 6.7 miles.
Climb: 1010’.
Time: 4 hours 32 minutes.
On the moves walking average: 2.2 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.5 m.p.h.
Temperature: 9.7 – 11.2 Celsius.
Beaufort Wind Force: 3 - 4 Gentle to Moderate breeze. Max 15.7 m.p.h. Moderate breeze on the top of Moel y Gaer.
Birds seen or heard included: Common blackbird, Winter wren, European robin, Jackdaw, Herring gull, Common pheasant, Carrion crow, Woodpigeon, Black billed magpie and Fieldfare
The forecast for today, was with rain unlikely but quite windy with possible gust up to 47 m.p.h. Temperatures were forecast to be around 10 Celsius, but feeling around 6 Celsius.
In fact, it was much better than the forecast, with lots of warm sunny spells. It did feel cool towards the end of our lunch time, but we soon warmed up once we started to walk again.
Distant views were generally pretty good, once we had any height, near the start as we descended towards Cwm Conwy from Rhosesmor and later on when we were on the top of Moel y Gaer.
After all the rain, I was expecting it to be muddy and boggy in places with some paths being flooded. In fact, underfoot was much better than expected. The only challenge came in the form of “wonky” stiles near Rhosesmor and fallen trees in Cwm Conwy and along Wat’s Dyke Way Path.
Using a hand saw and some brute force enabled Nigel and Mike to clear the worse obstacle in Cwm Conwy.
Lunch was taken on the common land near the Blue Bell, where a bench and stone commemorating King Charles III visit in 1972, provided somewhere for us to sit.
The best views of the day came when we were at the top of Moel y Gaer, where you get good 360-degree views, including the Clwydian Hill, the Cheshire plain and the Dee estuary.
Overall, a very enjoyable walk, celebrated with an excellent pint of Lees bitter at the Blue Bell Inn in Halkyn.