Two pubs, One Breakfast, Two Coffees and Four Churches 6th September 2025

Mold Market.

The Gold Cape, my breakfast location.

St Paul's Church, Rhosesmor.

Inside St Paul's Church, Rhosesmor.

I don't remember seeing that mast on Moel y Gaer before.

The ramparts on Moel y Gaer Hill Fort.

Moel Famau from Moel y Gaer.

Moel-Ffagnallt from Moel-y-crio.

There must be frogs or toads in Moel-y-crio.

Moel Ffagnallt.

Heading for Rhes-y-cae, with Pant-y-pwll-dwr Quarry on the skyline.

The Ebeneser Welsh Indepentent Chapel, Rhes-y-cae.

Christ Church, Rhes-y-cae.

The trig point on Halkyn Mountain.

A selphie at the trig point on Halkyn Mountain.

I must remember to smile next time!

The Clwydian Hills from Halkyn Mountain.

Heading towards the masts on Halkyn Mountain.

The entrance to Halkyn Castle.

St. Mary the Virgin Church, Halkyn.

Looking towards the Dee estuary from St Mary the virgin Church, Halkyn.

A Classics notice inside the Blue Bell, Halkyn.

A perfect pint of Lees bitter.

A last look at the Blue Bell before catching the bus.

Distance: 6.2 miles. Climb: 827'.
Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
On the move walking average: 2.9 m.p.h.
Overall wall average: 2.4 m.p.h.
I thought about going to Holywell to hear Mike singing with the Clippers, but I then had a better Idea. The weather forecast wasn't pretty good, so I decided to go for a walk instead.
I caught the 07-08 bus to Mold for breakfast at the Golden Cape. I then caught the 09-20 Mold to Rhosesmor bus.
I started my walk at 09-30 after getting off the bus opposite the playground in Rhosesmor.
I noticed that St Paul's church at Rhosesmor was open, so I decided to take a look inside.
I was quite impressed by what I found. The whole church was carpeted, and felt this was a very warm community orientated church.
This was the only one of the four churches visited today that I was able to go into.
My walk today included, Rhosesmor, Moel y Gaer, Moel-y-crio, Rhes-y-cae, Halkyn Mountain, Halkyn and the Blue Bell.
I even managed to take a phone call when I was Moel y Gaer, despite a passing dog taking an exception as it went by.
The only cyclists seen today were passed me as I walked along the road near Rhes-y-cae, and they were well behaved!
Birds seen or heard today included: Woodpigeon, Carrion crow, Barn swallow, Wood nuthatch, Winter wren, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Meadow pipit and Linnet.
I was surprised to learn that. Classics club start from the Blue Bell most Sunday mornings for a ride out together.
The Lees Bitter today was excellent; I was happy that missed the 13-00 bus back to Mold and had to time to have more than one pint before the next bus at 14-30.
Overall a very enjoyable day out.

On the bus home, I saw a friend that I played squash with over twenty years ago.He recognised me before I recognised him. He also worked with Tito!

Parkgate, West kirby Marine Lake and River Lane, Heswall 5th September 2025

Canada geese on Donkey Stand Flash, Parkgate.

Donkey Stand Flash, Parkgate.

Common redshank on Donkey Stand Flash, Parkgate.

Spoonbills on Boathouse Flash, Parkgate.

Canada geese on Boathouse Flash, Parkgate.

Turnstones on the rocks by the "old baths" at West Kirby Marine Lake.

A Turnstone on its own.

Two more Turnstones.

Looking across West Kirby Marine Lake towards Hilbre.

Mainly Oystercatchers on the sand banks.

Roseate terns on the sand bank before the tide came in.

Looking across to the Point of Ayr Lighthouse and the Welsh Hills beyond.

The tide has started to come in at West Kirby.

The tide coming into music.

Looking across the estuary towards Moel Famau.

The twin masts on Halkyn Mountain.

The twin masts on Halkyn Mountain with Moel Famau on the skyline.

Taken from River Lane Car Park Heswall.

It was such a nice day that I decided to do a bit of birdwatching at Parkgate and West Kirby Marine Lake.

It was sunny, but quite cool in the fairly strong breeze. In fact I put my fleece on for the walk around the lake.

Birds seen today included: Canada goose, Grey heron, Black headed gull, Herring gull, Oystercatcher, Common redshank, Spoonbill, Little grebe, Great cormorant, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Barn swallow, Woodpigeon and Roseate tern.

Only four miles today, and that included a trip into Chester on the bus to get a link taken out of my watch strap. It cost me just under £10, not a bad return for a job that took less than ten minutes.

I called into the Bull and Stirrup, but the beers on offer didn't tempt me, so came straight home. It was an overall trip that took me less than hour.

One bonus of the visit to River Lane, Heswall, was being able to collect a few windfall apples from a couple of trees next to the road.

 

An Eddisbury Hill Fort, Pale Heights, Manley Common and Delamere Forest Round 3rd September 2025

Heading through the forest  towards King's Chair.

The path that leads back to the Sandstone Trail and on towards Stoney Lane.

A bin on Stoney Lane that makes a statement!

Looking south from Eddisbury Hill Lane.

Eddisbury Hill Fort information board.

The first shower of the day gets us reaching for waterproof gear!

Looking northward from Eddisbury Hill Fort.

Eddidbury Hill Fort ramparts.

One of many Barn swallows seen on our approach to Pale Heights microwave station.

A Raven perched on the mast at Pale Heights.

It isn't obvious why the Denbighshire plinth is surrounded by barriers.

The central plinth on Pale Heights.

Distant views  looking northward from Pale Heights.

The rain contributed to us all getting wet trousers!

 Toad taken by Fran.

In Delamere Forest after lunch.

We must be on the Gruffalo Trail.

It's a new game - Frisbee golf. This id the third tee.

The basket is just around the bend.

We must still be on the Gruffalo Trail, but I think it ends here.

More Autumnal colours showing in some of the leaves.

Crossing the fields towards Manley taken by Fran.

Distant views of the Clwydian Hills as we headed towards Manley.

Our final challenge of the day on the way to Manley taken by Fran

Acorns on the path, a noticeable feature on most of the paths through the forest.

Distance: 11.4 miles
Time: 6 hours 14 minutes.
Overall walking average: 2.5 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.
Temperature - 18 Celsius
BWF – Max 3 At one point it reached a 9.1 m.p.h. Gentle breeze.
Group: Martyn, Mike and Fran.
The forecast for today suggested that that there would be lots of showers, heavy at times with a possibility of thunder.
We decided to risk it, hoping that the showers would miss us. Thankfully most did, but we did get caught in one very heavy driving rain shower that lasted for about 20 minutes and we all ended up with wet trousers as we all left our waterproof trousers in our rucksacks.
We did have spells of sunshine as well, and even in the rain it didn’t feel cold.
Distant views were pretty good, especially after lunch when we were crossing the fields towards Manley.
Lunch was taken in Delamere Forest, where we took advantage of the undercover pic-nic tables near the old café (now used for admin offices). Other walks were already doing the same.
We didn’t actually stick to plan, and ended up walking nearly four miles more than I originally intended.
We arrived back at the car, feeling somewhat tired, but having walked nearly 12 miles, it wasn’t really a surprise. Overall, a very enjoyable walk. We felt pleased with ourselves, having decided to risk coming out for a walk, despite the rather iffy forecast.

The surprise of the day was the tree felling taking place very close to the Sandstone Trail that we were on.  Thankfully the tree being felled, fell away from our path, although some of the large machinery came very close.
Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Carrion crow, Barn swallow, Jackdaw, Raven, Wood nuthatch, Winter wren, Great tit, Black billed magpie, Eurasian jay and Woodpigeon.
As it was nearly 16-30 by the time we got back to the cars, I decided that I would forego my usual pot of tea as I needed to get home as a had a” Prayer and Praise” meeting at church. Instead, Fran and Mike were happy to be dropped off in Upton near to the Wealstone where no doubt they would be able to satisfy their thirst.