The Start of the walk in Aberwheeler - lay-by and bus stop.
On the track from Aberwheeler to Llaweni Hall.
Greylag geese enjoying rich pastures South east of Llaweni Hall.
The view from my lunch spot, well behind me - a field of potatoes.!
The real view from my lunch spot, directly in front of me - a field of maize and two red blobs!
Looking across the Vale of Clwyd towards Snowdonia and the Carneddau.
Bodfari ahead!
Is it a real bird? Well not one that counts on the blog!
Two red blobs or is it piggy in the middle?
The final objective for the day - the Dinorben Arm at Bodfari.
Walk stats: Distance: 8.7 miles. Climb: 743'.
Time: 4 hours 55 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Sue and Michel, Ed, Jim, Mal, David S., and Celia.
This walk didn't quite turn out as we expected. We set off from Aberwheeler at about 10-10, a little later than the planned departure time of no later than 10-00.
The forecast was good, and remained dry throughout, but at times was a little on the humid side in the absence of the refreshing breeze.
As we walked along the banks of the River Clwyd, some of us were lucky enough to see a Kingfisher, but soon afterwards our plans were to change. This section of the route crossed many field boundaries and the consequent stiles, many of them in a poor state or rather awkward for some of us to get over. Unfortunately, Celia managed to catch her shins on the step of one of these stiles, resulting in an injury requiring a visit to A and E.
We thought that we had found a short cut if we used a path on the OS map. unfortunately this was not present on the ground and we ended up taking the original route planned as far as the main road back to Aberwheeler. Michel at this point went ahead and manged to pick up a lift back to Aberwheeler and bring his car back to take Celia of to the Countess. Thankfully she didn't have to wait too long for the treatment and reassurance that she needed and was feeling much better back at home. Hopefully it won't be too long before she gets back walking again.
Meanwhile the rest of us continued the walk, not quite as planned, but at least we managed to find a lunch spot of sorts and avoid the disappointment of taking our packed lunches back home!
However it did mean that for the first time ever, I now had a change of footwear in my rucksack as well as the plastic bottles and glass bottle that we had picked up to fill the blue string bag that I carry just for that purpose!
At lunch we had done just over 5 miles, so the improvised part of the walk put on nearly four miles and a few hundred feet of climb.
The route taken took us from our lunch spot South west of Plas Ashpool along a minor lane past Fron Vox and Gelli to Castell Berth farm and Northwards towards Aifft where we briefly picked up the Offa's Dyke path on the way back to Aberwheeler.
Birds seen or heard today included: Housem sparrow, Barn swallow, Greylag goose, Kingfisher, Grey heron, Grey wagtail, Mallard, Canada goose, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Great cormorant, Carrion crow, Common buzzard, Chaffinch and Stonechat.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Dinornben Arms at Bodfari, sitting out in one of their many outdoor areas with good views towards the Clwydian Hills.
This impressively renovated hostelry has a good chance of winning our favour for our 2018 annual walk and meal.
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