The Long Mynd 29th September 2012

A woodland path early in the walk.

The panoramic view from the car park area near Plush Hill.

Wild  ponies on the Long Mynd.

Townbrook from our lunch spot.

St. Laurence's Church in Church Stretton.

Walk stats: Distance: 9.9 miles. Climb: 1371'.

Time: 4 hours 55 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.4 m.p.h. Overal walk average: 2.0 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn and Celia.

This was another glorious day for walking, dry with plenty of sunshine and not too hot, a cooling breeze across the top of the Long Mynd made sure of that.

As ever in this area there were lots of other walkers, and for the first time for the group, there were lots of "wild ponies" too.

The views today were superb in all directions, but especially towards Caer Cadoc and the Lawley and further towards the Wrekin.  The Stipperstones were also clearly seen as we approached Pole Bank trig point.

Lunch was taken at the top of Townbrook where we could clearly see our descent into this dramatic valley.

Birds seen or heard today included: European robin, Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Blue tit, Great tit, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Collared dove, Raven, House sparrow and Meadow pipit.

After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Pant-yr-Ochain where I enjoyed a pint of Snowdonia Ale from the Purple Moose brewery.

Walks and Dates September 2012

Updated on 26th September 2012.

Monday 3rd September 2012. 
Congratulations
to
Catrin and Adrian
on the birth of their son Gruffydd Owain, born in the early this morning. 
Mother and baby (8 lb 11 onz) both doing well.
Congratulations to Margaret and Roger on becoming grandparents for the third time.
Bereavement. 
Thursday 30th August 2012
Mike Dodd's mother died peacefully in her sleep at 09-30am this morning.  
Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike, Becky, Rachael and the rest of the Dodd family at this sad time.
The funeral wil take place on Thursday 6th September 2012.

Saturday 1st September 2012.
A Four Rivers Walk.

This walk was postponed and will be included later in the year.

Distance: 10.0 miles. Climb: 500'.

Start: Hornby car park by the bridge over the river. Grid ref: SD585683.

Leave Chester at 08-00 a.m.

This is another walk taken from Terry Marsh's bok "Fifty Classic Walks in Lancashire".  After meetin a couple on the Ward's Stone Walk, who said that walking in the Hornby area was superb, I thought that it would be good to check it out with this walk. This walk follows parts of the rivers Greta, Lune, Wenning and Hindburn. There is minimal climb, so this should be a stroll in what is described as an area of historical interest and includes a "castle"!

Thursday 6th September 2012.

Mynydd Marian.

Distance:8-9 miles; Climb:1300'.
Start: Llandulas shoreline car park. Grid ref:SH907786. Leave A55 at the Llandulas junction, turn left towards Llandulas, and take the next turning left down Station Road. After going under the bridge (A55) the car parking area is straight ahead.
Leave Chester at 09-00 a.m..
This is another one of my favourite coastal walks and again visits the summit of Mynydd Marian with its fine views back towards the coast.

Saturday 8th September 2012.

Maenan and More.

Distance: 9-10 miles. Climb:1000' at a guess.
Start: Maenan National Trust Car park. Grid ref: SH795665.
Leave Chester at 08-00 a.m.
Only 3 miles of this walk are on a described walk, taken from Carl Rogers' book "walking in the Conwy Valley". This is described as an easy walk on the Eastern side of the valley and visits the Cadair Ifas Viewpoint. The rest of the walk folows the Eastern bank of the Afon Conwy, before returning to the start along field paths and minor roads.

Thursday 13th September 2012.

Wat's Dyke, Caergwrle and Waun-y-Llyn Country Park.

Distance: 10 miles. Climb: 1000' at a guess.
Start: Waun-y-Llyn Country Park Car Park. Grid ref: SJ2866577.
Leave Chester at 09-00 a.m.
This walk combines two walks from Dave Berry's book " Walks Around Rhuabon Mountain, Clywedog Valley and Hope Mountain". It is described as walks exploring the attractive countryside between Caergwrle and Hope.  We will also extend the walk to include Waun-y-Llyn Country Park.

Saturday 15th September 2012.

Weets Hill.

This walk was postponed and will appear later in the year - no-one around, so ende up painting the garden fences!

Distance: 9-10 miles. Climb: 900'

Start: Saltersforth Wharfe near Barnoldswick. Grid ref: SD887545.
Leave Chester at 08-00 a.m.
This walk is taken from Terry Marsh's book "50 Classic Walks in Lancashire" . He describes it as a fairly easy walk , combining farm paths, moorland paths and canal towpaths. Weet Hill offers some of the best views in the South Pennines.

Thursday 20th September 2012.

Around Gwysaney and More.

Distance: 6.0 miles, 8.5 miles or 9.5 miles or 10.5 miles (decided on the day, as and when we have to make a decision!).

Climb: 1500', but depends on the actual route we decide to take after lunch! 

Start. Parking area near the children's play ground in Rhosesmore. Grid ref: SJ214684.

The walk uses two walks from Dave Berry's book " Walks Around Holywell Mountain and Halkyn Mountain. Our usual route usually includes Cwm Conwy, but I suspect that today's walk won't! The Gwystaney walk is described as a walk through the undulating countryside between Rhosesmor and Sychdyn, exploring the lush wooded Gwysaney Estate. The second walk at least includes visiting Moel Y Gaer hill-fort and how much mire depends on us!

Wilmslow to Mottram and More.

This walk is postponed and will appear at a future datw.
Start. Car Park near St Bartholomew's Church, Wilmslow. Grid ref: SJ847816.
Leave Chester at 08-45 a.m.
This is effectively the same walk as we did last month, but starts nearer to Wilmslow, and we will complete the Mottram part of the walk first, and then extend the walk to Twinnies Bridge later.

Saturday 22nd September 2012.

Yr Wyddfa.

Distance: 7-8 miles. Climb: 2700'.
Start Rhyd Ddu Station Car Park (Pay and Display). SH571525.
Leave Chester at 08-00.
This is the usual walk from Rhydd Ddu. Ascent via the quarries at Bwlch Cwm Llan and the steady climb up the South ridge nd Bwlch Maen and descent via the Rhyd Ddu path. I always like to climb Snowdon at least once a year, and the Bwlch Maen ascent is one of my favourite routes.

Thursday 27th September 2012.

Around Minera and Nant Mill.

Distance: 10 miles. Climb: 1500' at a guess.
Start: Minera Lead Mines Centre Car park. Grid ref: SJ 276509.
Leave Chester at 09-00 a.m.
This walk combines two walks from Dave Berry's book " Walks Around Rhuabon Mountain, Clywedog Valley and Hope Mountain".  This id described as  walk exploring the attractive countryside and history around Minera and the Clywedog Valley. We will complete some parts of the route twice, but not in the same direction.

Saturday 29th September 2012.

Wild Moor

Distance:11 miles.Climb: 2120''.
Start: Church Stretton. Grid ref:SO453936.
It's quite some time since we had a walk in Shropshire. It is a relatively low level walk on the Long Mynd. The walk is taken from Ian R Jones's booklet "20 Church Stretton Walks". We have done the walk several times before, and will be familiar to most of the group. It's also the time of the year that Dotterel migrate, so there is an outside chance that we may see one!
Leave Chester at 8-00 a.m.

Around Minera amd Nant Mill 27 th September 2012

The first crossing of the Afon Clywedog.

The Afon Clywedog in good heart!

Our first encounter with some local residents!

Walking through the  old mining areas.

More local residents?

The engine house at the Minera lead mines Centre.

A distinctive breed of sheep, popular in the fields between the Minera Lead Mine Centre

and Nant Mill.

The fifth and final crossing of the Afon Clywedog.

Walk stats: Distance: 8.3 miles. Climb: 1160'.

Time: 4 hours 59 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn, Annie H., Dave J., David S., and Phil.

Early showers and the rest of the day was supposed to be dry, but we got a little bit more of the wet stuff than expected, not much but just enough to make you put on waterproofs and then think it was a waste of time!
Considering the amount of rain that we have had the paths were relatively good, and not as muddy or wet as we had anticipated. One path from Coedpoeth was little overgrown and a pair of secateurs would have been handy!
The best part of the walk came after lunch as we walked through the old mining landscape back to the Minera Lead Mines centre and onto Nant Mill.
Overall a pleasant walk, a good walk for the present conditions.
Birds seen or heard included: European robin, House sparrow, Common crow, Jackdaw, Eurasian jay, Black-billed magpie, Woodpigeon, Blue tit, Great tit, Long-tailed tit, Nuthatch, Sparrowhawk and Common blackbird.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Alyn Inn at Rhosett, where One Hop (a New Zealand beer brewd by Marstons) went down well.

Snowdon by the Rhyd Ddu Horseshoe 22nd September

Our first view of the Yr Wyddfa Hotel.

Inspecting the first quarry workings on the way to Bwlch Cwm Lan.

On one of the stiles displaying a trig point, just before scrambling up to the path above C;ogwyn Du.

Looking at Yr Lliwedd- my favourite mountain view..

A panoramic view from the Bwlch Maen Path.

Walk stats: Distance: 8.5 miles. Climb: 2822'.

Time: 7 hours 13 minutes. On the move walking average: 1.5 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.2 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn, Paul and Celia.

Almost the perfect day for walking, not too hot and not too cold, hardly any wind, no rain and plenty of sunshine.

The views today were superb all day wherever you looked, whether towards Mawddach Estuary and the West coast of Wales, along the Lleyn, Holyhead Mountain or the Isle of Man.

On the way up we were able to help three of he locals get their quad-bike and trailer (containing 4 sheep dogs past some of the difficult bits (for them) to the quarry workings below Bwlch Cwm Lan.

As expected getting a finger tip on the summit trig wasn't easy, especially as we arrived at the same time as one of the trains.

Overall this was a superb day on Snowdon, with many enjoyable chats with fellow walkers. Although it may slow you down, it is still one of the delights of walking in wonderful Wales.

Birds seen or heard today were few and far between, four in fact! They were Barn swallow, Meadow pipit, Herring gull and the majestic entertainer, the Raven.

We did however see a Spitfire, several helicopters and a hang-glider over the area.

Views from Snowdonia. Best viewed without sound.

After walk drinks were enjoyed at home, PC had to go to a party and we were already late!

Around Gwystaney, Moel y Gaer and More 20 th September 2012

Moel y Gaer, just after setting off along the first field path..

A view from the path just North of Ram Wood.

A view across the estuary towards Liverpool, from the path going North east from Groes Farm.

At Moel y Gaer - Paul's second photo attempt!

Walking around the top rampart on Moel y Gaer.

Walk stats: Distance: 11.4 miles. Climb: 1175'.

Time: 5 hours 56 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.9 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn, Annie H., Phil, Dave J., Roger, David S., Paul, Celia and Carol H.

A good forecast with light rain between 2 and 4 in the afternoon. We did get rain, but it arrived just before lunch and just after lunch, but it couldn't be described as being light!  At least it didn't last long on either occasion, and it wasn't raining at lunch time at Rhosesmore Playground, where  six of the group took advantage of the pic-nic table. No room for the other three who had to take lunch in their cars!

The first walk around Gwystaney went well and even the paths through Big Wood weren't as muddy as usual!

After lunch the route taken involved a new path to the group, it gave good views over the estuary where both cathedrals in Liverpool could be clearly seen.

We manged to get past the primary school at Rhosesmore before the mass exodus, and head up Moel y Gaer when the rain had stopped comletely. Once again we had good views from Moel y Gaer, especially towards Moel Fammau and the Clwydians.

Birds seen or heard today included: Jackdaw, Blue tit, Great tit, Barn swallow, Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Common pheasant, Red-legged partridge, Dunnock, European robin, Mallard, Grey heron, Chiffchaff, Common buzzard, Kestrel and Woodpigeon.

After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Britannia Inn at Halkyn, where the Lees bitter today tasted particularly good.

Wat's Dyke and Caergwrle Castle 13 th September 2012

The Afon Alyn near Hope.

Walking on a section of Wat's Dyke between Hope and Caergwrle.

On one of the best pack-horse bridges, but where?

Hopefully Roger will be able to tell us when he's done his homework!

Roger's Homework.

Caergwrle Castle - our chosen lunch spot.

" I know you have to decide are you a sheep or a goat, but I'm not a goat, but I can't say I'm a sheep either!"

Walk stats: distance: 7.7 miles. Climb: 1261'. 

Time: 4 hours 40 minutes. n the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average 1.6 m.p.h. (I'm almost embarrassed, but at least we enjoy the views for longer!).
This was a almost a perfect day for walking weather-wise, not too hot, not too cold, not much wind and no rain.
This walk turned out to be a little shorter than usual, and reminded some of us of when we first started walking on Thursday, when most walks were around 6 miles and we were enjoying a celebratory pint before 15-15!
This was quite a very enjoyable walk, almost a stroll over parts that were new to us, and visiting Caergwrle Castle was a bonus, especially as we had lunch there too. Views were good too, especially early on when the Cheshire plain came into view.
Birds seen or heard today included: Blue tit, Carrion crow, Black-billed magpie, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Common blackbird, European robin, Mistle thrush, Great spotted woodpecker, Goldfinch, Nuthatch and Common buzzard (lots of them, at least 12 over the whole walk).
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Red Lion in Penyfordd, where Brains and timothy Taylor brews were on off.. Both  tasted good, but they did present a challenge to the bar person as she diligently persevered to pull a perfect  pint.

Maenan and the Afon Conwy 8th September 2012

Panoramic view of the Conwy Valley from the viewpoint on Cadair Ifan Goch.

Another view of the Conwy Valley from the North eastern edge of Coed Tan-yr-allt.

Looking across the Afon Conwy towards Trefriw.

Panoramic view from a minor road onthe Eastern side of the Conwy Valley.

Moel Siabod just to the right of the tree.

Walk stats: Distance: 9.1 miles. Climb:1026'.

Time: 5 hours 2 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn and Roger.

The weather forecast was set to be warm and sunny all day, with temperatures in the mid-twenties, so we even even left our waterproofs back in the car.

The described route through Coed tan-yr-Allt and the visit to the viewpoint on Cadair Ifan Goch was delightful. Superb views of the Conwy valley and the hills beyond, whilst walking along the woodland path enabled us to avoid the glare of the Sun for over an hour.

The extension along the banks of the Afon Conwy was much more demanding than we expected as path along the top of the embankment was uneven and covered in long tufts of grass. This went on for the first mile, after which it became shorter thanks to the attention of grazing animals. It was on this section that we found some convenient rocks on top of the bank, that made god places to sit and have lunch.

Our after lunch treat was some jam crumble tart that Margaret had made, and Roger had miraculously managed to transport all morning, still keeping them in one piece.

Afte crossing the A470, we decided to return to the car on the minor roads, rather use field paths, as it would enable us to check the roads as an altenative route to the 20%  road that we had climbed in the car in the morning.

Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Common crow, Eurasian jay, Black-billed magpie, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Mallard, Great cormorant, Barn swallow, House martin, Chaffinch, Herring gull, Pied wagtail,Lesser black-backed gull , Woodpigeon, Common buzzard (lots of them) and Europen robin.

After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Britannia Inn at Halkyn, where the Lees bitter went down well.

Mynydd Marian 5th September 2012

Looking East from Llandulas towards Abergele and Rhyl.

Looking West from Llandulas towards Old Colwyn.

A Panoramic view from the car park at Llandulas.

The first time I've used this option on the camera, and as yet I not conviced of its worth!

"Have you heard, I'm a Grandad again".

Group photo on the hill above the golf course, with Colwyn Bay and the Great Orme in the distance.

The route from our lunch spot on Mynydd Marian.

Craig-y-Forwyn, not visited on this occasion,

Walk stats: Distance: 8.3 miles. Climb:980'. 

Time: 4 hours 8 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.5 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.0 m.p.h.

Stats provided by RS, someone had yet another "senior moment" the third within a week, and forgot to switch his GPS on!

Group: Martyn, Roger, Annie H., Phil, Dave J., Celia, Paul, Tim and Carol.

What a super day for walking this turned out to be. There aren't that many days in the year, that you can leave both waterproofs and fleeces back in the car and have total confidence in the weather forecast, but today was one of them.

This was an annual walk, but was interrupted when the footpath was closed as they cut the ship up that had beached at right angles to the Llandulas jetty. Alas this section is also a cycle route, and we were constantly having to move aside, OK when the warned of their approach with an appropriate ring of a bell, but annoying when no warning was given until they were on top of you and gave a verbal shout (especially so since not everyone in the group still has perfect hearing!).

What a great walk this is on a day when the sea is calm, the sky is blue, the views are magnificent and all's well with the world, well for us at this instant in time!

Lunch was taken on Mynydd Marian, where some had the luxury of a wooden bench to sit on, but other decided to sit on the grass with superb views towards the coast. 

After lunch Dave J., left us to make a dash back to the car park, so that he could get back to see Sylvia at Ellesemere Port Cottage Hospital, where thankfully she is making good progress in her recovery from a stroke.

Although slightly shorter than usual, this turned out to be just about right for most of us, as the temperature, must have been approaching the mid-twenties as we got back to the car.

Birds seen or heard today included: Great cormorant, Oystercatcher, Herring gull, Black-headed gull, Eurasian curlew, Great black-backed gull, Dunnock, Great tit, Barn swallow, Carrion crow, Goldfinch, House sparrow, European robin, Nuthatch and Common buzzard.

after walk drinks were enjoyed at the Britannia Inn at Halkyn, where the Lees bitter went down well as usual.