Erddig Country Park and the Clywedog Trail 5th November 2025.

 

Setting off from Erddig Country Park car park.

The Erddig Estate dovecot.

Our first opportunity to get off road onto a delightful path through the trees.

The footbridge to the Cup and Saucer.

The information board next to the Cup and Saucer.

Nigel investigates.

The overflow from the Cup and Saucer.

Looking over The Cup and Saucer to a group of walkers with a lot to talk about!

The Cup and Saucer on the Erddig Estate.

A bench with a noteworthy message.

Trees showing autumnal colours.

More autumnal colours.

Heading into open country on the Erddig Estate.

Crossing the bridge on the way to the Clywedog Trail and Coed-y-glyn.

The delightful path through Coed-y-glyn.

Autumnal coloured leaves on the ground in Coed-y-glyn.

Mute swan on the "hidden" lake.

Heading across the meadow to the footbridge leading into Bryn-y-caban Wood.

MH with his new flask.

At the lunch spot by the Afon Clywedog.

The view from my lunch spot.

The Afon Clywedog from my lunch spot.

On the delightful path through Bryn-y-caban Wood.

Ahead is the last "climb" of the day.

The delightful wide path between the avenue of Beech trees.

Ornamental gates with main Erddig Estate house beyond.

Distance: 3.7 miles
Climb: 308.
Time: 2 hours 48 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walking average: 1.3 m.p.h.
Temperature: 17.5 Celsius. BWF 0-2. Maximum 4.8 m.p.h. Light breeze.
Group: Martyn, Sue and Michel, Nigel, Elaine, Fran and David S.
The forecast for today was rain in the morning, but improving with only a 20% chance of rain later on. In fact, weatherwise, we did well, as the only rain we had, started as we arrived back at the cars.
Much of the walk followed woodland path, covered with fallen leaves displaying expected autumnal colours.
Most of the paths were good, although we did experience a boggy section on the Clywedog Trail in Lewis Wood.
At times, we deviated from the described route, largely due to the fact that I put the route guide numbers in the wrong place on the OS Map! The bonus was going through Coed-y-glyn Wood on a delightful woodland Path.
Lunch was taken by the footbridge over the Afon Clywedog that led into Bryn-y-caban Wood.
Arriving back at the cars, a few of the group, decided to take advantage of the windfall apples and pears lying on the ground in the car park.
Birds seen or heard today included: Woodpigeon, Eurasian jay, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Common blackbird, Goldfinch, Common chaffinch, Coal tit, Long tailed tit and Herring gull.
Overall, an enjoyable walk, and as we didn’t call in at a local hostelry on the way home, I was able to clean my boots outside before he light faded.

This was the second successful short walk for the group.  Hopefully these short walks will be a regular feature on the first Wednesday of each month - weather permitting!

Bersham Iron Works, Nant Mill, and Around Minera 19th February 2025.

 

St. Mary's Church, Bersham.

One of the weirs on the Afon Clywedog in Big Wood, Bersham.

Snowdrops on the banks of the Afon Clywedog near Bersham.

Snowdrops on bank / verge on the way to the Coed Power path.

The start of the Coed Power Path to Nant Mill.

The Afon Clywedog from the road bridge at Nant Mill.

Our first gnome encounter!

It doesn't look good on Minera Mountain!

Looking back at our lunch spot at the Minera Lead Mines Visitor Centre.

It's hard work working out the choir finances!

The new to me track leading to Minera.

"This one is easy, it's  in English!"

Obstacles on the path from Minera down to the Afon Clywedog.

Next time, I think we will use this bridge and the path on the west ide of the Afon Clywedog.

Hopefully it would be less muddy than the one that we used today.

The Afon Clywedog.

This is he Footpath sign that we should have taken earlier in the day.

This walk wouldn't be the same without seeing a Jacob's sheep.

Another Jacob's sheep in the field between Minera Lead Mine Visitor Centre The Nant.

Distance: 8.1 miles. Climb: 1125’
Time: 5 hours 7 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.
Temperature: 4.4 Celsius at the start. 5.5 Celsius at lunch time. 4.8 Celsius mid-afternoon.
Beaufort Wind Force: 0 – 2 – Maily calm with no noticeable wind, but at one point mid-afternoon as we approached the Minera Lead Mines for the second time, we did experience a 4.6 m.p.h. Light breeze.
Group: Martyn, Fran and Mike.
The weather was rather overcast and light rain forecast did accompany us on and off during the morning.
Arriving at the start, it was very noticeable how crystal clear the Afon Clywedog looked, and this was the same every time we walked near to the river.
Sorry to report we only saw 35 gnomes today, the rest must have gone on holiday!
Arriving on the outskirts of Coedpoeth, we made the mistake of taking the first signed path rather than the second! However, for Fran, this turned out to be the highlight of the walk as we met a couple of dog walkers and Fran found out the one of them was also a Welsh learner like her, and she was also on a course at Wrexham but on a different day.
Good practice speaking Welsh back to the Minera Lead Mine Centre.
It was a bit early for lunch, but we decided to take advantage of the picnic tables before looking at our options for the afternoon.
We decided to head back to Minera, in the opposite direction to the way we would have gone had we not taken the wrong path earlier on.
We arrived at Minera Primary school where some children were playing football on the playground. A couple of balls came over t8he wall onto road. We retrieved them, but I’m not sure that is what the teacher in charge wanted!
We encountered a fair bit of mud on the paths and several cleanings in the river, ultimately proved pointless.
Overall, an enjoyable walk with some Snowdrops spotted and improving weather in the afternoon. We even managed to use one track that I had never used before - always an added bonus to any walk.
Birds seen or heard today: House sparrow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Common blackbird, Common starling, Carrion crow, Woodpigeon, Blue tit, European robin, Black billed magpie, Great tit and Coal tit
After walk drinks were enjoyed at home as Mike needed to be home early in order to catch a train at about 18-00.
Th advantage for me was that I was home before 16-00, plenty of time to clean my boos outside before Sunset!