Harris Hikers Chester Branch Walks. Upton, The Greenway, Blacon, Chester and More Wednesday 25th November 2020

Upton, The Greenway, Blacon, Chester and More.

A Great cormorant on the bank of the River Dee opposite The Cop, sealand Road.

Back in Chester, approaching lower Bridge Street.

A 12 mile loop including The Greenway, through Blacon, The Cop, Sealand Road, the River Dee to town and back to Upton via Hoole .
A lovely day walked at a pace 4 hours including lunch taken outside County Hall on the river. 2Fran did her best to keep up with Nigel’s trot. We saw a cormorant stretching his wings to dry in the golden autumnal sunshine. Good to be out even if we didn’t leave tarmac underfoot.

Talacre, The Warren and Big Pool Wood N.R. Thursday 26th November 2020

Talacre, The Warren and Big Pool Wood N.R.

A Carrion crow tries to hide in the tree.

Looking across The Warren towards the Point of Ayr Lighthouse.

A male Stonechat poses in The Warren.

Local residents taking part in consedrvation work.

A Mistle thrush in field near Big Pool Wood Nature Reserve.

A camorflaged open hide overlooking the reedbed.

A close up of the camorflarged open hide.

Open water and the reedbed near the entrance to the Big Pool Wood Nature Reserve.

The usual view as you head east along the beach toward the Point of Ayr Lighthouse.

A speeding boat heads towards the wind turbines.

Hardly any wind, but it still overpowers the sound of the sea and speeding boat.

Looking over Hilbre Island towards the Wirral amd Liverpool.

The large cranes at Liverpool docks can easily be identified.

Distance: 4.8 miles. Climb: 50'.
Time: 2 hours 22 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.6 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.0 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn.

Another good day for going for a walk, dry, hardly any wind, but on the cool side, but with sunny spells.

On a walk earlier in the week, I noticed a signpost to Big Pool Wood Nature Reserve, so visiting it was my objective for the day.

I set off from Talacre using the path through The Warren Nature Reserve to Presthaven Sands Caravan Park to pick up the path heading south and signposted to the reserve.

It was a steady stroll, as I took every advantage to do a bit of birdspotting as I went.

Big Pool Wood Nature Reserve was well worth a visit and seems well looked after by the Wildlife Trust. There was much evidence of maintenance work going on.  Several small hides were dotted around the reserve, many overlooking feeding stations with well topped up feeders as well as overlooking the reeds and open water. Unusually many of the windows or openings in the hides were draped in camouflage netting to peer through.

On my visit today, I didn't see or hear many birds, but that won't stop me visiting this delightful reserve again in the future.

My return route took me along the beach, but again the sea edge was a long way off. However distant views were good, and Hilbre, the Wirral and Liverpool were easy to identify.

Walking along the beach did however give me my bird of the day as four Whooper swans flew over my head flying inland in a south easterly direction.

Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, European robin, Dunnock, Common blackbird, Song thrush, Woodpigeon, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Blue tit, Great tit, Herring gull, Black headed gull, Collared dove, Eurasian curlew, Stonechat, Rook, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Mistle thrush, Pied wagtail, Common redshank, Whooper swan with Common buzzard and Common starling seen on my way home.

An enjoyable walk, easily extended to visit the Point of Ayr Bird Hide, but today, the call of a pint of Lees bitter at the Britannia Inn at Halkyn was too great!

A Llanfair Talhaiarn and Betws-yn-Rhos Round Wednesday 25th November 2020

A Llanfair Talhaiarn and Betws-yn-Rhos Round.

The new bridge over the Afon Elwy  actually on our route today.

Trees in autumnal colours.

"Farmer Ed" at Ty Mawr.

Emerging from the first gorse challenge.

Distant views of Snowdonia.

Looking toward Llanddulas as we headed towards Nant-y-fedw.

The surprise waterfall near  Nant-y-fedw.

St., Michael's Church at Betws-yn-Rhos.

Distant views of Moel Famau.

The Elwy Bridge at Llanfair Talhaiarn .

Distance: 8.6 miles. Climb:1354'.
Time: 5 hours 15 minutes. On the move walking av
erage: 2.2 m.p..h.Overall walk average: 1.5 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn and Ed.

A good dry day on the forecast and feeling pretty cool as we started, so full Winter gear was put on - this was a mistake, when the Sun came out we were starting to overheat as we climbed steadily out of the Elwy valley towards Moefre Uchaf.

the route started by heading out of Llanfair Talhaiarn on the minor road eastward, so that we could use the new footbridge over the Afon Elwy and northward to Betws-yn-Rhos.  Just after crossig the bridge we encountered our first problem, a felled tree across the path and later a gate tied to a post, but the post wasn't attached to anything else!

as we climbed on this track, we started to get better and better views of the surrounding countryside, but after passing Ty Mawr farm, I attempted to follow the green track through the gorse - another mistake. Ed avoided it by going in the field above the track.

Our chosen route was all on tracks and paths, clearly shown on OS maps, but on the ground it wasn't so easy. 

WE had good distant views of Snowdonia as well as Moel Famau and the Clwydians Hill as we headed towards Mynydd Dir after luunch.

Before lunch we had two good nature spots, a Brown hare raced across the field infront of us  as we headed to the road east of Moefre Uchaf and a Common buzzard flew towards wooded valley west Nant-y-fedw. Normaly spotting a Common buzzard, is hardly worth mentioning, but today we were actually viewing it from above.

Lunch was taken at Betws-n-Rhos, where we used a picnic table at the playground, andhappy to hear the joyful sound of youngsters at play during lunch time at the nearby primary school.

The route back to Llanfair Talhaiarn from Betws-yn-Rhos, started with a steady climb up a minor road, before the challenge of route finding from Bryn-ffynnon and around the east side of Mynydd Dir.  Thankfully today, we had GPS devices with OS Mapping to help us.

The final part of our route today, tok us along the riverside path towards the Elwy Bridge, and today much more water was gushing over the weir.

Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Common chaffinch, Blue tit, Great tit, Goldfinch, Common buzzard, Common pheasant, Common blackbird, Wood nuthatch, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion crow, Raven, European robin, Black billed magpie, Meadow pipit and Fieldfare.

We arrived back at the cars, having had a good, at times challenging walk. All that was needed now was to cap it all with a good pint of real ale. Thankfully we decided to Head for the Black Swan at Llanfair Talhaiarn, where we were served with a superb pint of Purple Moose's Cwrw Eryri (Sonowdonia Ale). This is a friendly hostelry, serving some good local brews that needs to be supported by all real ale drinkers. My only regret is that this was my first visit - it won't be my last!

A sign spotted by Ed - reminds me of my days when I was working!

Hawarden and Its Environs Tuesday 24th November 2020

Hawarden and Its Environs.

Red skies over Saltney Ferry in the morning.

More red/pink skies.

A Grey wagtail on the stubble.

A Beluga on its way.

Looking towards the Cheshire Hills from Cherry Orchard Road.

Part of the Hawarden Castle ruins.

The currently used Hawarden Castle.

JW responding to a call.

A  close up of the Hawarden Castle ruin.

Looking over the wall to a different part of the ruin.

I think this is a Giant redwood, although I may be wrong.

Distance: 5.8 miles. Climb: 622'.

Time: 2 hours 40 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.4 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.1 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn and Jill.This was a good day for walking, dry and pleasantly warm - in fact a shorts day and not just for posties!

Most walkers from this car park seemed to be heading around Hawarden Park in the opposite direction to us, so it wasn't long before we enjoying the countryside by ourselves, briefly disturbed by the voices of golfers playing on the golfcourse nearby.. It was only when we reached The warren that we once more saw people, mainly dog walkers. We saw almost as many "cockerpoos" as horses in the fields seen earlier on the walk.

As is the norm these days, although it shouldn't be, we saw used "poo bags" on the side of the path which is worse than just leaving the mess on the path.

Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Pied wagtail, Grey wagtail, Rook, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Song thrush, Common blackbird, Black billed magpie, Eurasian jay, Blue tit, Great tit and European robin.

Arriving back at the car to bright sunshine, I decided that it would be worthwhile to do a little exta by walking in the grounds of Hawarden Castle to get a better view of the ruins.

After nothing more than a little winge, Jill accompannied me on the circuit of the grounds on the grass paths around the edge and avoiding the continuous stream of walkers on the tarmac path initially below us.

Overall a very enjoyable walk, finishing with someone feeling pleased having completed a walk of nearly six miles and a climb of over 500'. 

I think it might be some time before we attempt Snowdon!

Talacre, Point of Ayr and Tyn-y-Morfa Saturday 21st November 2020

Talacre, Point of Ayr and Tyn-y-Morfa.

The view from the Talacre path towards the bird hide at Point of Ayr.

A Little egret and two Red breasted mergansers in a gully  south west of Point of Ayr bird hide.

The Eurasian curlew seen from the Point of Ayr bird hide.

Autumn leaves on the path on the south side of the gas terminal.

Another Rook in fields south of Talacre - the second one on the blog this week!

The Great Orme from Prestahaven Sands, Talacre.

Is the Point of Ayr Lighthouse there in the distance?

The north side of the Point of Ayr Lighthouse,  the first time that I have ever seen it!

The distant ocean,  Oystercatchers and a Eurasian curlew.

A Little egret near the beach car park at Talacre.

A Common redshank near the beach car park at Talacre.

The stainless steel artwork at Talacre.

What I love to remember about my visits this delightful part of Flintshire.

Distance: 5.5 miles. Climb: 145'.
Time: 2 hours 4 minutes. On the move walking avwerage: 3.0 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.6 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn.

The weather looked dry, windy but fairly warm and only a slight chance of a shower, so I thought it was worthwhile taking a walk that wasn't too far away.

I arrived at the Talacre Car Park, and was only the second car there, a contrast to when I finished my walk to find it pretty full. 

It was quite dull as I started the walk, although the Sun did show itself as I headed towards the bird hide at Point of Ayr.

The tide was well out, so I didn't expecto see many birds, a Eurasian curlew was the best I got close up and lots of Shelduck feeding on the exposed mud a good way off.

I decided to follow the path around the gas terminal and head for tyn-y-Morfa, hoping to see a way of visiting the Big Pool Wood NR, but failed t spot how to get to it - a case of try harder next time!

Arriving on the beach at Presthaven Sands, the sea was a long way away, so I took advantage and walk along the firm wet sand as far as the lighthouse.

With the wind at my back, the odd spot of rain was hardly noticeable and for once I actually went on the seaward side of the lighthouse.

Back at the car in just over 2 hours, I suppose my walk could be described as just a morning stroll.

Birds seen or heard today included: Eurasian jay, Common buzzard, Common kestrel, Common starling, Little egret, Canada goose, Eurasian curlew, Shelduck, Oystercatcher, Carrion crow, Rook, Great cormorant, Mute swan, Common blackbird, Herring gull,  Black headed gull, European robin and Common redshank.

An after stroll drink was enjoyed at the Blue Bell Inn at Halkyn, where a good pint of Lees Bitter went down well.  I was surprised to see so many cars parked opposite the Blue Bell and in the Blue Bell car park, but haf way through my pint, all was revealed, the Saturday Flintshire Wellbeing Walks had resumed and a few of the walkers (including the leaders) came in for refreshments.

Harris Hikers Chester Branch: An Upton, Mickle Trafford and Stoak Round – Wednesday 18th November 2020.

An Upton, Mickle Trafford and Stoak Round.

"No, I'm not lost, I've got a certificate in ......"

Fran on the Greenway near Upton-by-Chester.

Nigel at Stoak church.

Autumn leaves trapped on the Shropshire Union Canal.

Distance: 10.3 miles, climb 120 feet
Time: 4 hours including lunch
Those walking: Nigel and Fran
It was good to get out to stretch our legs on a mild day that threatened rain but never really delivered – only one slight shower towards the end. This was another local walk Nigel had put together during the last lockdown going up the Greenway to Mickle Trafford, followed by mostly road walking to Bridge Trafford where we picked up the North Cheshire Way. Here this follows the river Gowy and the fields were distinctly muddy, not the most attractive path in this season, but as Fran said kindly “it’s nice to do a walk from your own doorstep”. Arriving at Stoak we had lunch in the delightful churchyard before heading home via the Shropshire Union canal.