A Packhorse Trail Around Caergwrle 28th March 2013

Icicles in Derby Road, Caergwrle.

crossing the first of the ancient packhorse bridges.

Heading across our first snow field.

A Beluga, but not one we can include on our wildlife list for the day!

Returning to the right way after our first minor detour!

Follow the leader!

Walk stats: Distance: 9.8 miles. Climb: 670'.

Time: 5 hours 48 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.

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

We arrived at Caergrwle to find the main roads clear, but the car park had some bays with piles of snow around them, but all occupied, and we ended up parking on the roadside, still with plenty of snow around. One of the locals commented "You'll need crampons if you are going up the hill", when I said we were going in the opposite direction he said "You'll need skis in that direction".

So we headed Eastward to experience fields with snow in which we sank  a foot or so, to fields with no snow, and muddy area in which we almost sank as much as we did in the snow! However it was good to have the muddy bits in the middle, so that the snow at the end cleaned our boots for us, saving us another task when we got home.We had lunch on the roadside near to the Golden Grove Inn, sitting on the roadside basking in the sun.

Our final stretch towards Caregwrle, should have been a pleasant stroll along a path above a river, but it was more of a challenge than we expected as we had to pick our way around fallen trees.

Nevertherless it turned out to be a good walk in the conditions, but I'm not so sure that we recognised many of the ancient tracks.

There is always something special about walking in snow, especially if you happen to be the first ones to doing so.

Birds seen or heard today: Common blackbird, House sparrow, Winter wren, Great tit, Common starling, Dunnock, Mallard, Common pheasant, Common buzzard, Little owl, Carrion crow, Lapwing, Woodpigeon, Collared doveSkylark and Lesser black-backed gull.

We've head about mad March hares, but we were fortunate enough to see two of them.

After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Red Lion at Penyffordd, where Wychwood, Hobgoblyn Ale went down well.