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.

Rhosesmor, Moel y Gaer, Catch, Halkyn Mountain, Windmill and the Blue Bell.

St. Paul's Church, Rhosesmor.

Inside St. Paul's Church, Rhosesmor.

Resident doves at Rhosesmor.

The approach to the ramparts on Moel y Gaer.

Looking towards the River Dee from Moel y Gaer ramparts.

Distant views of the twin masts at Catch Wireless Station. 

The two masts at Catch look a bit closer now.

First views of Moel Famau from south of Windmill.

The mast at Windmill on the skyline.

The Clydian Hills from the trig point on Halkyn Mountain.

At the trig point on Halkyn Mountain.

All three Halkyn masts, but looks like the Windmill mast has more transmitters.

The leaving of Windmill.

The stone quarry near Moel-y-crio, viewed from Windmill.

The road leading to Halkyn.

There used to be a shop and Post Office in this building!

Not far to go now!

Distance: 5.2 miles. Climb: 500'.
Time: 1 hour 50 minutes. Overall walking average: 2.8 m.p.h.
Temperature: Around 10 Celsius, but feeling cooler.
BWF: 2 – a Light breeze at most on higher more exposed area.
The day started with breakfast at The Gold Cape in Mold before catching the 10-20 bus to Rhosesmor. Delayed for a few minutes while a dog owner cleaned up the message that her dog left!
Arriving at Rhosesmor, my first port of call was visit St. Paul's Church, as it was open. I understood that more money had been spent on this church than any other church on the area. However, I was more impressed with the St. Mary the Virgin Church at Halkyn with its Halkyn marble pillars. The walk today went to the trig point on Halkyn Mountain via Catch. The return route crossed the Billins on the way to Windmill. Finally taking the road back to Halkyn and the Blue Bell.
It was rather overcast with distant views never very clear, although the Clwydians hills were still easy to identify.
Plenty of dog walkers out, in fact one took the photo of me at the trig point. Crossing Moel y Gaer and Halkyn Mountain, there was a noticeable cool wind, and I wore my fleece throughout the walk. Birds seen or heard today included: European robin, House sparrow, Dove, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Common starling, Long tailed tit, Woodpigeon, Black billed magpie and Goldfinch.
Overall an enjoyable walk, followed by a couple of excellent pints of Lees Bitter in the blue Bell.
I ended up talking to local who regularly goes down the mine tunnels that run below Halkyn Mountain. Apparently, there are sixty miles of tunnels running from Loggerheads all the way to Bagillt. He showed me a video of the railway engine, still operational many years after the real mining had stopped. He was going down tomorrow to help replace an old ladder with anew aluminium ladder, but it would be a 2.5-mile journey on the railway engine, just to get to it! He had lots of fascinating things to say about the underground tunnel system, but I couldn’t stop to hear them all, as I had a bus to catch!

Coed Allt-y-tywod, Coed y Garreg, Coed Pen-y-gelli and part of the Gorsedd Round 15 May 2025

Coed Allt-y-tywod - not looking promising for Bluebells.

Coed Allt-y-tywod - this is looking better.

Coed Allt-y-tywod - even better.

Early disappointments - now gone!

On the delightful path through Coed Allt-y-tywod.

Bluebell next to the path just after leaving Coed Allt-y-tywod.

Going through one of several new gates on this walk.

The grass in this field is usually much longer than this.

Bluebells in Coed y Garreg.

Leaving the "Roman" tower / watch tower in Coed y Garreg.

Looking over Cornel cae-celiyn towards Moel Famau.

Sad day for ducks, this pond has dried up!

Early purple orchids near Ffordd Las.

Bluebells in Coed Pen-y-gelli.

More Bluebells in Coed Pen-y-gelli.

Lunch time in Chwarei Pen-y-gelli.

Moel Famau again, taken from the path the Monastery Road

A Welsh poppy next to the path.

Fran's Star of Bethlehem flowers on the roadside on the way back to Gorsedd.

St. Paul's Church, Gorsedd.

Guinea fowl, but they are not on the bird list as they were a garden!

Distance: 8.7 miles. Climb: 909’.
Time: 5 hours 9 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.4 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.
Temperature: 21 Celsius to 27.2 Celsius
Beaufort Wind Force: 0 – 2. Mainly Light air, although it did reach a 6.2 m.p.h. Light breeze towards the end of the walk.
Group: Martyn, Nigel, Fran and Mike.
This walk is usually the first of our Bluebell Wood walks, but my first Wednesday of the month church prayer meetings, this walk is a week later.
Perhaps a little on the warm side, with lots of Sun, we were thankful to be walking through woodland in the middle of the day.
It was very dry underfoot and much of the ground was rock hard. One pond we went past had no water in at all and all that was left was the cracked mud!
Bluebells were seen in all three woods, but most of they were very pale in colour and didn’t look at their best. I am sure the week of very warn dry days hadn’t helped them.
Lunch was taken in Quarrei Pen-y-gell, our usual lunch spot on this walk.
Birds seen or heard today included: Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, Mallard Woodpigeon, Collared dove, Winter wren, Skylark, Barn swallow, Common whitethroat, European robin, House sparrow, Common chaffinch and Blackcap. Nigel’s Merlin app did suggest that an unusual bird all was attributed to a Lesser whitethroat.
We arrived back at the car, having had a good walk, and looking forward to a pint of Lees bitter at the Brit in Halkyn. Alas we were to be disappointed, we were served three pints of bitter that were well past their best, and the vinegar taste made them undrinkable. Alas they didn’t have another barrel of Lees bitter and the only alternative was the Lees Smooth. This wasn’t much better than the beer we had sent back, it was far too cold, had very little flavour and is a “Bitter” I will NEVER drink again. I should have joined Nigel and had a pint of lemonade or coke instead!