Coed Allt-y-tywod, Coed y Garreg and Coed Pen-y-Gell – Bluebell Wood Walk 24th April 2024

The first Bluebells seen in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

More Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

More Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

More Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

More Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

More Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

More Bluebells in Coed Allt-y-tywod.

That explains it!

Views across the Dee Estuary as we emerged from Coed Allt-y-tywod.

Views of Hilbre from the path below Coed y Garreg.

Elevenses at the Watchtower in Coed y Garreg.

Is this the remains of the lime kiln in Coed y Garreg?

Mum keeping close to her youngster.

Still staying close.

An interesting warning sign on the gate at Gelli Fawr.

Our first view of Moel Famau.

Cowslips near Ffordd Las.

Early purple orchid near Ffordd Las.

The best of the Bluebells in Coed Pen-y-Gelli.

More Bluebells in Coed Pen-y-Gelli.

On the path through Coed Pen-y-Gelli after lunch in Chwarei Pen-y-Gelli.

St. Paul's Church, Gorsedd.

A couple of Rooks in the trees outside Gorsedd.

"If we go now, we can head them off!"

The last climb of the day, but where is Ed?

Final views of the Clwydians from Moel Famau to Moel y Parc.

Walk Stats:
Distance: 8.9 miles. Climb: 961’.
Time: 5 hours 18 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.
Temperature: 7 Celsius at the start of the walk (on car thermometer). 11.7 Celsius to 14.7 Celsius.
Beaufort Wind Force: at most 1, just an Light air.
Group: Martyn, Sue and Michel, Nigel, Fran and Ed.
The weather forecast today was pretty good, dry with plenty of Sun, but with a feel like temperature of 6 Celsius. In reality it was much better than that, warm sunshine all day and never feeling cold.
Coed Allt-y-tywod was the best for Bluebells again with Coed Peny-Gelli coming second and Coed y Garreg showing very few.
We had problems as we crossed the field towards Ffordd Las as the field was waterlogged, too deep to walk through unless you were wearing wellies! We manged to get round it by following the fence to the field edge to the East.
It was good to see a few Early purple orchids and Cowslips in flower.
Our surprise of the day was seeing a field full of donkeys including one very young one.
Birds seen or heard today: Carrion crow, Rook, Black billed magpie, European robin, Common blackbird, Blue tit, Common chaffinch, House sparrow, Song thrush, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, Mallard, Winter wren, Great tit, Collared dove, Great spotted woodpecker, Common buzzard, European robin, Chiffchaff, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Canada goose, Barn swallow and Pied wagtail.
Overall, a very enjoyable walk ending up with a visit to the recently opened Druid’s Inn at Gorsedd where we sat outside. A good selection of beers from local breweries was on offer.

The second surprise today was when Martyn accepted Nigel's offer of a second pot of tea!

Waun-y-Llyn Country Park and Nant-y-Ffrith 3rd February 2024.

The first Snowdrops of the day.

One of the woodland paths encountered on the walk from Llanfynydd to Nant-y-Ffrith.

I think it is Hope Mountain in the distance!

One of many stops to adjust our outer clothing in an attempt to feel more cmfortable.

Nant Wood/ Nant-y-Ffrih ahead?

Heading for Nant Wood/ Nant-y-Ffrih ahead.

Looking bac up one of the paths in Nant Wood.

Rhododrendons next to the path through Nant Wood.

Lunch time in Nant Wood.

A large boat in an unexpected placejust west of Ffrith.

More Snowdrops.

A delightful path on the way from Fron to Waun-y-Llyn Country Park.

At the information board in the Waun-y-Llyn Country Park Car Park.

At the toposcope in Waun-y-Llyn Country Park

Somewhere to sit at Waun-yLlyn Country Park, Quarry.

A good place to rest.

Walk Stats:
Distance: 10.3 miles. Climb: 1703’
Time: 6 hours 5 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.7 m.p.h.
Temperature: 10.0 – 11.6 Celsius.
Beaufort Wind Force: 1/2, at most just a Light Breeze
Group: Martyn, Mike and Ed.
Not a particularly good forecast with some rain expected, but feeling warm.
They got the latter light, but there was dampness in the air for most of the day and the real wet stuff accompanied us for the last mile or so down the lane.
At times we seemed to be walking in cloud and distant views were none existent!
Following the route description wasn’t always straight forward and we had one or two occasions where we had to improvise to get back on track.
The main paths through Nant Wood/ Nant y Ffrith had been improved making it easy going.
Lunch was taken in Nant wood, where we took advantage of some convenient felled tree stumps. Lunch time was the only time the Sun came out briefly.
The green track from Fron to Waun-y-Llyn was delightful, or at least it would have been on a warm sunny day!
Arriving at the toposcope in Waun-y-Llyn we were hoping to get good views of Moel Famau and even Yr Wyddfa, but visibility was down to a few hundred feet, so we were thankful to be able to see the path ahead of us.
Birds seen or heard today included: Jackdaw, Common blackbird, European robin, Woodpigeon, Collared dove, Blue tit, Great tit, Wood nuthatch, Eurasia jay, Goldfinch and Greenfinch.
Overall an enjoyable walk, despite feeling very humid most of time. I fact it was more comfortable walking in short sleeves rather than feeling too hot wearing my Paramo jacket. Initially we went across the road to the Railway Inn, but alas they had no real ale so we ended up at the Bridge Inn at Pontblyddyn where they a very welcoming roaring fire and an excellent pint of Otter Bitter.

Exploring Wepre Park and Its Surroundings 3rd January 2024

The water tumbling over the weir from the upper reservoir in Wepre Park.

The water tumbling over the weir from the upper reservoir in Wepre Park.

The boardwalk running alongside Wepre Brook.

The bridge over Wepre Brook.

To the Castle or Devil's Basin, we have a decision to make.

Nigel leads the way to the Devil's Basin.

Wepre Brook on the way to the Devil's Basin.

This must be the Devil's Basin.

The only way now is to escape to Wepre Lane.

Another puddle to avoid. But not much mud on my boots after. 

A rainbow puts in its first appearance.

A Beluga XL disappearing into the clouds.

A Coat of Arms reminds us that we are entering the castle grounds.

First view of Ewloe Castle.

Climbing over the wall into Ewloe Castle.

Exploring Ewloe Castle.

A good vantage point in Ewloe Castle.

In the Fern Garden in Wepre Park.

The pond in the Fern Garden.

A few dogs remembered by the owners of Wepre Hall.

A rainbow appears over The Rosie Pool in Wepre Park.

Walk Stats:
Distance: 6.1 miles. Climb: 438’
Time: 4 hours 3 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.5 m.p.h.
Temperature: 12.0 Celsius at lunch
Beaufort Wind Force: 0-1. Mainly calm but occasionally rising to Light air,
The weather today was more like what the Met Office had forecast, mainly light rain, but never feeling cold. In fact wearing waterproofs meant our bodies were generating too much moisture from the inside. At least we did get the BBC’s forecast (Meteo) of spell of sunshine during our lunch spy at the Memorial in Northop Hall.
Birds seen or heard today included: Jackdaw, Carrion crow, Common blackbird, Black billed magpie, Mallard, Great tit and European robin.
This turned out to be a walk exploring parts of Wepre Park we hadn’t seen before. This included following Wepre Brook as far as the Devil’s Basin, escaping to Wepre Lane before joining the old railway line path though Broardoak Wood to Northop Hall.
This effectively meant that we doing the walk in an anticlockwise direction.
After visiting Ewloe Castle we decided to explore the Fern Garden and The Rosie Pool before returning to the cars.
Despite the rain it was an enjoyable walk and good to see lots of young families enjoying exploring Wepre Park and Ewloe Castle.