Moel Ffagnallt, Halkyn, Limestone and Lead 24th January 2013

"Can't you see I'm on me bill?" 

or

It's cold outside!

At the trig point on Halkyn Mountain.

Walking above the Pant-y-pwll dwr Quarry.

Part of the Pant-y-pwll dwr Quarry.

At the Millenium Cairn on Moel Ffagnallt.

Christ Church, Rhes-y-cae.

Phil with his two snowmen.

Obviously him and her snow persons as one has washing up gloves on and the other has a spade!

Walk stats: Distance: 9.1 miles/ Climb: 935'.

Time: 4 hours 53 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overall walking average: 1.9 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn, Annie, Phil, Tim and David S.

A good day for walking, but it didn't start too well, I arrived at the Britannia Inn and manged to slide on the icy/compacted snow on the car park and started to slide down hill. Thankfully two Council workers about to set off with rock salt rescued me by putting salt underneath the front wheels and I was able to get traction and get back onto the road, eventually being able to park at the top end of the car park.

However from then on, everything was great, walking on familiar terrain, that under the blanket of snow, at times quite thick, was like walking through pathless countryside.

Views weren't particularly good, as the estuary seemed decked in mist and even the Clwydian Hills had an air mystery about them.

Work at the Pant-y-pwll dwr Quarry was quite intriguing, with bulldozers and lorries tipping fresh earth at the Western end. It will be interesting to see the end result of their efforts in a year or so., and see if the quarry has been extended Westward.

Lunch was taken at the Millenium Cairn, where we took advantage of the stone seating available. We didn't linger too long as our hands soon got cold and seemed to be begging for warm gloves/mitts to be put back on.  After seeing two cyclist go down the steep North side, we decided to take the track around the Western side which was a  much gentler slope, a more sensible route for conditions underfoot.

On this occasion we actually went through the village of Rhes-y-cae, past the old Jones Brothers Bakery and Grocers shop. sadly now empty.

Near the primary school we came across the two snowmen for the second time, and on this occasion Phil restored the eye of the larger snowman, so that it again looked as though it was smiling!
Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Great tit, Carrion crow, Long-tailed tit, Common crow, Common buzzard and Jackdaw.

We arrived back at the Britannia Inn  a little earlier than usual, and thankfully they had real fires at both ends of the room, always welcome on cold days like this. The Lees bitter is always good, tasted even better as we thawed out!

We all made an easy escape from the top entrance to the car park.