Around Fron Hen, Loggerheads and the East Side of the A494 8th February 2025

The start of the Plymog path.

On the way to Fron Heulog.

Looking towards Foel Fenlli from Fron Heulog.

Looking towards Foel Fenlli from Fron Heulog.

The track around Fron Hen.

Looking down on Llanferres,

A Common buzzard poses for us.

Snowdrops not quite ready to display.

A better display of Snowdrops near Tafarn-y- Gelyn.

A few gulls, possibly including  Common gull.

Rooks  foraging in a field near Loggerheads.

Crossing the new bridge at Loggerheads.

Colomemdy Outdoor Centre - now closed.

Looking towards Moel Famau?

Back on track.

Plenty of snow on the ground.

The storm damaged path near the end of the walk.

Distance: 8.5 miles. Climb: 1398’
Time: 5 hours 23 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.5 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h.
Temperature: 3.5 Celsius at the start. 0.6 Celsius as we went around Fron Hen, 5.8 Celsius at the Loggerheads Country Park Visitor Centre / Picnic site and 4 Celsius at the end.
Beaufort Wind Force: 0 – 2 Only a 5.6 Light breeze at most, but it still felt pretty cool.
Group: Martyn and Mike.
The weather wasn’t that good, so we decided to go more local and ended up doing a walk from Llanferres (referred to as the Plymog lay-by by DS).
This was a walk that DS suggested back in 2019, and looked like being appropriate for today’s weather conditions.
We were surprised to find that there was lots of snow, particularly as we contoured around Fron Hen. The clouds never shifted off the tops, so in fact we never saw Moel Famau or any of the Clwydian Hils. In fact, we were walking in the cloud around Fron Hen.
This was the first time that I have been able to walk on fresh snow this year.
We saw a few Snowdrops in flower on the roadside near Tafarn-y-Gelyn on our way to Loggerheads.
There is still work going on at Loggerheads, so we were unable to sit on our preferred seats under the tree. There were still picnic tables available, but we had to remove the snow /ice before we could use one of them.
After lunch our route took us east of the A494 and one or two paths, although on the OS map seemed to have disappeared on the ground.
We eventually arrived at the path that we often use when walking around Bryn Alyn. This path has suffered a lot of storm damage, when it looks as though a torrent of water must have cascaded down it.
Birds seen or heard today: House sparrow, Dunnock, House sparrow, Black headed gull, Common gull, Herring gull, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Rook, Common blackbird, Common starling, Carrion crow, Woodpigeon, Blue tit, Common chaffinch, European robin, Black billed magpie, Great tit, Mallard, Eurasian jay, Bullfinch and Common buzzard.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Druid Inn Inn at Llanferres, where Purple Moose’s Cwrw Eryri was excellent.
Overall, another enjoyable walk, despite ending up with muddy boots!