Erddig Country Park - not a cow in sight!
The Cup and Saucer Waterfall.
Distant view of a Grey heron.
Fungi near the lodge at the entrance to Erddig.
Erddig Hall from one of the entrance drives.
"This is Wat's Dyke way?"
Wat's Dyke - well at least it's a bit that you can still see.
Autumnal colours in the trees.
One of the many ladybirds that joined us for lunch,
Another view of the ladybird.
Heading down a delightful bridleway.
Calves following the leader.
"You don't really expect us to follow you over the stile do you?"
Blue skies over Ruabon Mountain.
Walk stats: 9.1 miles. Climb: 416'.
Time: 5 hours 9 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Roger, Sue and Dave P.
This was another good day for walking, almost perfect Autumn weather, warm and sunny with only the occasional breeze putting in a brief appearance.
Surprising to note, conditions underfoot were pretty good, with the exception of the track adjacent to New Sontley that Sue manged to avoid by slipping under the fence and going on the grass,
Most of the route was easy to follow, although we have made particular note of three sections that in future will be avoided. One of which was a gate that had been tied shut with a piece of barbed wire, requiring us to go through three pathless fields before we could rejoin the footpath.
Lunch was eventually taken on the roadside next to Old Sontley, where we sat on the bank basking in really warm sunshine. It was here that a large number of ladybirds seemed to take a liking to us. There seemed to be lots of different ones, one black with no spots and then most red or orange with varying numbers of spots. I think they were all Harlequin ladybirds.
The final stretch of the walk was a pleasant stroll through Erddig Country Park, past the hall and Cup and Saucer Waterfall back to the car at Felin Puleston. On the outward journey we saw very few people or cows, but on the return journey people, dogs and cows were everywhere!
It was good to see Dave back walking after his enforced layoff with a painful infection in one of his legs.
Birds seen or heard today included: Wood pigeon, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Common pheasant, Grey wagtail, Grey heron, Mallard, Pied wagtail, Goldfinch and Common buzzard.
Overall a very pleasant walk and no dead cows anywhere to be seen, although a few calves did pay us more attention than we really wanted!
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Pant-yr-Ochain, where Purple Moose's Snowdnia Ale went down well as it always does. Roger didn't join us at the Pant as he needed to get home early so that he and Margaret could celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to them both.
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