Chirk, Craignant, Selattyn Hill, Selattyn and More 16th March 2022

The Chirk Auaduct just aftwer setting off.

Alpacas showing interest in these "odd ball" walkers!

Chirk Castle from the Maelor Way.

On the the Offa's Dyke.

Was this the reason why David S decided to take a short cut back to Chirk?

The view from my lunch spot - not brilluant but at least6 there were daffodild.!

The rest of the group at lunch - seat for on at the picnic table!

Inside Selattyn Tower.

Selattyn Tower,

The Seattyn Tower info board.

St Mary's church, Selattyn.

First views of the "temple / replica of Stonenhenge".

Escaping from the "tunnel",

Looking back through the "tunnel".

Another view of the "temple / replica of Stonenhenge".

Approaching Chirk tunnel, but not for us today!

St. Mary's Church,Chirk the start and of the walk today,
Distance: 11.0 miles. Climb: 1422'.

Time: 6 hours 32 minutes. On the move walking aerage: 2,2 m.p.h. Overall wlk average: 1.8 m.p.h.

temperature: 11.2 Clsius at lunch. 8. 2 Celsius a we passed the Butchers Arms at Weston Rhyn and 6 Celsius at Chirk at the end of the walk.

Ba\ufort Wind Force: At most 2 - just a light breeze.

Group: Martyn, Ed, Nigel, Fran and David S.

we were expecting rain all day, but thankfully it didn't really arrive until after lunch.

The higlight of the walk was walking on the the Offa's Dyke, all we had to do now was to see the "temlpe / replica of Stnonehenge.

All objectives achieved, but perhaps not as we had originally planned.

Birds seen o heard today included: Collared dove, Commn blackbird, Mallard, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Chiffchaf, Common pheasant, House sparrow, Wood nutatch, House sparow, Blue tit and Great tit.

we arrived back at the cars, having had a longer walk than most of us would have liked and all decided that the best option was to head straight home and miss out the usual visit to a local hostelry!

Port Penryn, Its Railways and Rivers 12th March 2022

Looking across the ba to Port Penrhyn.

Some of the boats at Port Penrhyn.

The stone commemorating the setting up of Port Penrhyn.

Part of the Slate Trail along the old track bed.

First views of snow on the Northern Carneddau.

One of the youngest lambs seen on our walks this year.

"Stop wagging that tail, it's making a draft"

The Northern Carneddau seen just after lunch.

A weir on the Afon Ogwen.

Crossing the Afon Ogwen.

The Afon Ogwen on its way to the estuary.

My perfect bicycle seen by the Slate Trail - one that "wooden go"!

Penrhyn Castle seen from the path on he east side of Bangor Mountan.

Flowering Primroses.

Walk stats: Distance: 8.7 miles. Climb: 714'.

Time: 4 hours 44 mintes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.

Temperature: Lowest - 11.7 Celsius.  Highest: 17.1 Celsius.

Beaufort Wind Force: Max 3  - a gentle breeze.

Group: Martyn, Mike and Ed.

A good day for walking, warmer than expected and in the main we were sheltered from any wind.

We had some really good views, especially towards the northern Carneddau with some of the peakes showing patches of snow. Penrhyn Castle also featured several times, often from a direction not seen by any of us before.

Lesser celandine were seen and for the first time this year we saw a small patch of Primroses in flower.

Birds seen or heard today included: Herring gull, Eurasian curlew, Common redshank Shelduck, Mallard, Grey heron, Wood nuthatch, Blue tit, Great tit, Woodpgeon, Oystercatcher, Greenfinch, Jackdaw, Common buzzard, House sparrow and Common kestrel (seen along the A55 on our way home).

An enjoyable walk, although I'm not looking forward to cleaning my boots in the morning!

After walk drinks and crisps were enjoyed by two of us at the Blue Bell in Halkyn where the Lees bitter went down well.

 

Stokyn, The Coast Path and More 9th March 2022

Basingwerk Abbey near the start of our walk.

A pair of Mute swans on the lowest pool in the Greenfield valley.

Good views over the Dee Estuary.

Distant views of the Duke of Lancaster.

Christ Church, Maes Pennant (Mostyn).

Oystercatcher on the shore between Mostyn and Llanerch-y-Mor.

Lunch at Aberkan 

or 

"Who's game for hop scotch".

A close up of the Duke of Lancasster.

One for Roger!

Greenfield Dock

Genning up on Greenfield Dock

Walk stats:

Distance: 8.4 miles. 1037'(wind assisted GPS reading).

Time: 4 hours 17 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.0 m.p.h.

Max temperature: 14.2 Celsius in the Sun, but around 13 Celsius in theafternoon as we walked along the Coastal Path.

Beaufort Wind Force: Max 4 (14.4 m.p.h.) Moderate breeze.

Group: Martyn, Ed, Mike, Nigel and Wendy.

This turned out to be a pretty good day for walking, breezy at times, but never feeling too cold.

Conditions underfoot were better than we had experienced in the past, and our only proble was trying to find a path that was on the OS Map, but didn't appear to be on the ground and we ended up making an obvious detour to link with another path going to the same point.

Views over the estuary were pretty good today as well.

Despite the pace setting by Mike, we arrived at our planned lunch spot a little later than some of us would like. This was the Aberkan at Llanerch-y-Mor /Mostyn where we took advantage of the many picnic tables there and the conveniences well.

After lunch, no-one wanted to play hop scotch and Wendy declined the suggestion that she should go in the "Wendy House" next to our picnic table, so we set off along the Coastal Path back to Greenfield Dock.

Birds seen or heard today included: Black headed gull, Mallard, Moorhen Common coot, Great cormorant, Mute swan, House sparrow, Great tit, Blue tit, Oystercatcher, Common blackbird, Common redshank, Pied wagtail and Little egret.

We arrived back at the car having had a good walk and feeling the affect of the breezy wind in our faces towards the end of the walk.

I pint of Lees bitter was needed! 

We set of to the Blue Bell at Halkyn and arrived there at 14-59, one minute before they opened - perfect timing.

The Lees Bitter didn't disappoint!

Denbigh, the Ystrad Valley and More 5th March 2022

 

Denbigh Casle from the start of the walk.

On the way to the Gwaynynog estate - inspiration for Beaatrice Potter's Peter Rabbit.

Gwaynynog through the trees.

The memorial to Dr Samuel Johnson next to mthe Afon Ystrad,

The site of Dr Samuel Johnson's cottage in the Ystrad Valley.

A fantastic show of  Crocus in the grounds of a house next the the Afon Ystrad.

The Clwydian hills from the path east of Segrwyd,

Checking on the latest set of lambs - the first tha we have seen this year.

Denbigh Castle from our lunch spot.

Stanley's statue in the centre of Denbigh.

The Clwydians above Denbigh rom Denbigh Quarry.

Distance: 7.5 mils. Climb: 950'.

Time: 4 hours 26 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overallwalk average: 1.7 m.p.h.

Beaufort Wind Force: 0 - 2. calm, light air and occasionly a light breeze.

Temperature: 9.2 Celsius at lunch, feeling cooler at the start and warmer when shelterted and in the Sun.

This was a glorious day for walking, a compensation for the many muddy paths encountered on route. Thankfully some of us arrived at home in time to clean our boots still in the warm sunshine. 

This was the first time that I had done this walk in an anticlockwise direct, so it gave me different views  to enjoy and with trees devoid of foliage we could even see the former Denbigh Hospital to the niorth of our path.

The surprise of the day was a fantastic display of Crocus next to the Afon Ystrad in the grounds odf a house that we went through.

Lunch was taken just outside the entrance of Denbigh Castle, but the ony available seat was in the shade, so we took advantage of remains of a stone wall nearby.

After lunch Ed took us on a tour of Denbigh, a little contrived with some interesting historicalbits and one goofd viewpoint over bthetown towards the Clwydian Hills, but an extension that has a good chance of not being srepeated!

 Birds see or heard today incuded: Grweat tit, Blue tit, Wood nuthatch, Common buzzard, Common pheasant, Comon blackbird House sparrow, Rook, Carrion crow and Jackdaw, 

Overall a good and enjoyable walk, only marred by the lack of a suitable hostelry to visit in Denbigh!

Gadlys, Nant-y-Flint and More 2nd March 2022

Walking in the rain!

Halkyn Mountain or is it Holywell Common in the mist or is just the A55?

Taken from Y Nant.

An unexpected but delightful show of Snowdrops in the north side of Nan-y-Flint.

A close up of the Snowdrops in the north side of Nan-y-Flint.

On the "delightful" woodland path above Nant-y-Flint.

"I don't care what you think, I am going over this bridge!"

"This is why this isn't my favourite woodland path at this time of the year."

The last time we were here, we were sent packing by a rather large bull that didn't want us to go anywhere near his girls!

Follow me!

"I always wanted to be a farmer."

Walk stats: 

Distance: 9 miles. Climb: 1100'.

Time: 5 hours 35 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overall walk 1.5 m,.p.h.

Temperature: 9.2 Celsius at lunch. 

Beaufort Wind Force: 2-3. Light breeze to gentle breeze, often helping us on our way.

Group: Martyn and Ed.

Only two of us today, most of the usual band found excuses to declimne the invitation to experience this delightful and varied walk!

Not put off by the iffy weather forecast we set off, it was long before I was regretting leaving my Leki at home, but using Ed's Leki like a baton we managed to get by until I found a suitable stick on the Nant-y-Flint path that I could use.

The rain was very light throughout and by lunch time it had pretty well stopped.

Lunch was taken at the entrance of the track to Maes-gwyn-nawr, using the stone wall as a perching spot if needed (we did this last time we did this walk).

after lunch in the absence of any bull we continued on the walk as planned, but did divert slightly to avoid climbing a gate next to a stile that was blocked by overgrown hedges next to it.

Birds seen or heard today included: Blue tit, Great tit, Rook, Winter wren, Common buzzard, Mallard, Herring gull, Common blackbird and Eurasian curlew.

We arrived bak at the cars, having had quite a challenging walk and disappointed that the nearby Stag pub did not have any real ale,

The Blue Bell Inn at Halkyn (now open from 15-00) came to our rescue and we could enjoy a pint of J W Lees Dark and enjoy the warm air heading towards us from the blazing log fire.