A narrow boat crossing the aqueduct.
One of the challenges on the riverside path through Pentre Wood.
The easy way!
Where do we go from here?
Chirk Castle from the North.
On the courtesy path through the park.
Time: 4 hours 11 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.5 m.p.h. Overall walking average: 1.7 m.p.h.
Temperature: 21 – 23 Celsius. Felt warmer hen the Sun came out.
Beaufort Wind Force: 2-3, when felt, it was a very pleasant Light to Gentle breeze.
The weather was, in the main quite overcast, although around lunch time the Sun escaped from behind the clouds.
We started the walk by going through the Chirk Tunnel and followed the towpath over the aqueduct before dropping down to the Shropshire Way and taking the riverside path to Pont Faen.
The challenge of the day followed as we ended taking the paths through Pentre Wood, first on south side and then on the river side. In hindsight, we should have avoided both. The first had a boardwalk missing and ended with an exit that I had difficulty getting under. The path next to the Afon Ceiriog was even more precarious in part when the path was about a foot wide with six feet drop to the river. However, with care, we all managed to get by, and we ended up back a Pont Faen – not where we wanted to be.
This meant we had to head for Chirk Castle using the path that went past the caravan park.
Nigel took advantage of this changed route by calling in at the shop to buy an ice-cream!
Soon after entering the park, we stopped for lunch, using an old felled tree as suitable places to sit, although we did have to evict a sheep before we could take our seats.
After lunch, we followed the access road to the castle. At one point, we passed an oak tree that had a magnificent “Chicken in the wood” fungus attached to the its trunk. On the other side there were several red blobs – a fungus that was identified s the early stages of a “Beefsteak” fungus.
As it was already 12-30 as we arrived at the visitor centre, we decided to take the shorter route through the park back to the road by the Chirk Canal Tunnel and the start.
The birds seen or heard today included: Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Rook, Lesser black back gull, Herring gull, Woodpigeon, House sparrow, Mallard, Barn swallow, Common buzzard, Dipper (bird of the day first sotted by Nigel) and Common swift.
Despite the challenges, overall, it was a very enjoyable walk. After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Pant-yr-Ochain, where we managed to get a seat, despite arriving at the same time a large wake party. Purple Moose’s Cwrw Eryri was the beer of choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment