Heading for the hills, but not if it's still raining.
Inside St. Peter's Church, Llanbedr-Dyffryn-Clwyd.
St. Peter's Church, Llanbedr-Dyffryn-Clwyd from the lane leading to the village.
The original St. Peter's Church, Llanbedr-Dyffryn-Clwyd.
Sheltering in Coed Ceunant. Why?
This is why!
or
Lunch by the pond East of Coed Ceunant.
The delightful path on the North side of Coed Ceunant.
Is the Sun really shining?
On the bridge over the River Clwyd on the North side of Ruthin and the Sun is shining.
Walk stats: Distance: 9.5 milers. Climb: 675'.
Time: 5 hours 53 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h
Group: Martyn, Roger, Sue and Dave P., David S., Celia, Wendy and Paul.
Approaching Ruthin, it was raining so much that we thought that we may not even start on the walk! However as we entered the car park the rain stopped, encouraging us to at least set off. Just after passing Ruthin School it started to rain and most of the group decided that it was time to put on waterproofs. It was at the second donning of waterproofs that Sue left her walking pole behind.
The rain stopped and as we approached St. Peter's Church at Llanbedr-Dyffryn-Clwyd. It was good to see that the door was open and we could go inside tom loacate the 14th Century gravestone found in the old church.
After visiting the old St. Peter's Church, we headed towards Llanbdr Hall and the rain started in earnest - full waterproofs were now essential, if you had them!
Calls/moans about lunch were now being aired! Lunch was made later than necessary because the leader was talking too much and we went past the path we needed and had to retrace our steps, extending the walk by about half a mile.
The one bonus was that Sun momentarily came out and we had superb views across the Vale of Clwyd towards Ruthin.
Entering Coed Ceunant, we were hopeful that we might find a suitable spot for lunch, but ended up at the East end sitting on wet grass or standing by the a pond. It was at this point that the rain was at its heaviest and there were mutterings that the best option was to take the shortest route back to the car, At this point no comment was made, hoping that the weather would pick up by the time we had to make a decision about which path we should take. Thankfully the weather did pick up and we ended up doing the whole walk as planned. We noted that the path near Fron Goch had been diverted and a new bridle gate placed on the East side of the property.
Once again the challenge was wet grass, lots of nettles, and high humidity.
Just before taking the path to the River Clwyd down the access track to Greystones, we all removed our waterproofs, confident that we had seen the last of the rain.
Even the riverside path challenged us with the root crop encroaching over the path, At least they didn't sting!
We arrived back at Ruthin in warm sunshine, surprisingly with rucksacks that were dry. Our boots however weren't and at least one of the group had wet feet!
Birds seen ore heard today included: European robin, Mistle thrush (seen by Roger), House sparrow, Common blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Common buzzard, House martin, Barn swallow, Pied wagtail, Grey wagtail and Goldfinch.
We arrived back at the car, having had a good, nearly 10 miles walk, but there was still something missing -Annie! Hopefully the fortified fruit cake help to console people.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Castle Hotel in the centre of Ruthin, where the Great Orme Brewery's Merlyn went down well as did a pint of Ruddles.
We all hope that Annie's preparations went well and her move to Stamford goes smoothly.
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