The start of the walk in Llanasa.
Golden Grove hidden in the trees.
"Do you call this keeping to the footpath?"
Time for the first rest - well for some who got to the seat first!
Not what you expect to see in a duck pond.
Turtles sunbathing on the banks of a duck pond North of Gwaenysgor.
Our lunch spot in Gwaenysgor.
The panorama between Moel Siabod and the Great Orme from the Offa's Dyke Footpath above Prestatyn Hillside Nature Reserve.
The lighthouse on Talacre beach.
A Wheatear resting in the hedgerow as we descended North from the Police WT Station.
The first Bluebells in Coed Bell, but not enough to make it a Bluebell Wood Walk.
Our last view of the coast, before heading South back to Llanasa.
Back at Llanasa, enjoying what is left of any liquid refreshments they had.
Walk stats: distance: 8.8 miles. Climb: 1682'.
Time: 5 hours 42 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.0 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.5 m.p.h. (Due to to much sunbathing at lunchtime.)
Group: Martyn, Roger, Jim, David S., Mike, Wendy, Ed, Joyce Russell and Mal.
This was the largest group that we had in 2018 on a normal Wednesday walk. This was the first walk that Joyce had joined us, so hopefully the walk experienced today won't put her off joining us agaibn in the future.
We set off from Llanasa, not 100% sure that we were going to get the glorious sunny day that had been forecast. Those doubting were soon proved wrong, and we ended up with beautifully warm, pleasant sunshine in the morning with a cooling breeze every now and again.
Overall this might be described as a somewhat up an down walk, although not just one up and down, but several!
Plenty of birds were singing and we had several sightings of Wheatears passing through on their migration to their breeding grounds.
The sea views towards the Dee estuary and beyond were superb and later in the day Snowdonia could clearly be seen on the horizon as we headed North along the Offa's Dyke Footpath above Prestatyn Hillside nature Reserve.
The most unusual sighting of the day is normally reserved for the best bird seen, but today the Turtles sunbathing at the end of the duck pond North of Gwaenysgor takes the honour.
Lunch was taken in the memorial garden at Gwaenysgor where suitable seating arrangements were available, even if a couple did have to improvise.
I was pleased see that steps were in place on what in the past had been an unpleasant section of the Offa's Dyke Footpath.
After reaching the Police WT Staion, there were a few grumbles as we descended almost to the Gronant road before heading East towards Coed Bell where we had a few sightings of Bluebells in flower.
The final climb of the day along the byway out of Gronant to Llanasa was quite tiring as by now the temperature must have been in the low twenties at least and were were sheltered from the cool breeze that we enjoyed earlier in the day.
Birds seen or heard today included: Blue tit, Great tit, Greenfinch, Coal tit, Woodpigeon, Black-billed magpie, Barn swallow, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Moorhen, Willow warbler, Wheatear, Goldfinch, House sparrow, Jackdaw, Herring gull, Common pheasant, Canada goose, Chaffinch, and Mallard.
We arrived back at the cars, having had a good varied walk, and feeling a little more tired than usual, but climbing 1600' must have contributed considerably.
Unusually for the group today, several of the drivers had commitments in the evening and needed to get home, so after walk drinks had to be put off until we got home. Several cups of tea with a little whisky added provided the pick me up I required!
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