north wales

Cows, cows, cows

The original plan was to go to Chipping Norton and join several Abarth owners for a meet at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm. The locals didn’t like the idea so it was cancelled leaving me with an entire week off and no where to go.

My first thought was a camping trip Monday to Tuesday, but the forecast was poor (although it actually turned out not as bad as predicted)
Maybe try Tuesday to Wednesday, but the forecast was awful (although it actually turned out not as bad as predicted). So Wednesday to Thursday it was.

The weather has brought some heavy rain over the weekend and at the end of the previous week, so the ground would be muddy or boggy. I took this in to consideration when I was wondering where to go. I noticed that not only did Cae Dai Wilderness Adventures have a separate, paved car park it was also as wild as it gets for a paid site.

I do like wild camping but it’s had some idiots giving it a bad name recently, also, sometimes it’s nice to have comforts like a compost loo and drinking water. I dropped them an email and got a friendly reply saying not only was I booked in but I could turn up as early as 9am!

After parking up I was free to choose my pitch.
There was the main field which was lovely, but, just over a wooden bridge was the woodland.
To the left was a nice spot, a smaller grassy patch surrounded by trees and the river, but I fancied something a bit more ‘wild’ .

I wandered the woods and found a few possible candidates, then I dropped down a rather muddy path to a spot next to the river.
Perfect.
I pitched the MSR Elixir with the door opening out to the stream. then off I went on a walk.

I’d planned a fairly long route that would take in the castle and hopefully give me a peek at the gliding club, I’m a sucker for anything aviation!
It was nice to see so many gliders in the skies today. The purest form of flying and, having only flown powered aircraft, I admire those pilots a lot.

The walk started easily enough, following a path to the south of Denbigh, then below the castle.
I was very soon looking at some very beautiful scenery. I wondered why it had taken me so long to reach this particular part of the world.

I joined the road for a little while and continued under a tunnel towards Brookhouse Pottery. This Denbigh pottery, by the way is in no way related to the similar sounding Denby pottery!

I was soon back on a footpath which followed a river.
All very pleasant.
It did become rather over grown at one point with large leafy plants that reminded me of rhubarb but it wasn’t difficult to get through.
On reaching a stile, I checked the map. It would he a straight walk to the road on the other side.
There were are few cows dotted around but they were keeping themselves busy, munching on the grass.
All was well.
Then one looked up and started heading my way.
I marched on.
Another looked up, but, this one bounded, like an excited puppy.
Very soon there was a line of large cows and the smaller cowdog moving towards me, slowly at first but gradually gathering pace.
I stopped. They continued.
Maybe I could head to the opposite side of the field to my left and pass around the side of them.
They moved to their right.
The exit was closer than the entrance. Maybe these were friendly cows, cowdog certainly looked a loveable, bouncy character. But, there was more of them and they were rather big.
I turned and headed back to the entrance, quickening my pace.
I crossed the stile, they gathered on the other side.
A few lost interest and went back to eating lunch.
I hid just around the corner for a few minutes and popped my head round to see if they had grown bored of this strange human. They hadn’t.

Oh well, I’d abandon this walk, grab a coffee at camp then head in the opposite direction to see Dr Johnson’s house which, at the time, Google Maps amusingly described as a nightclub.

This route took me alongside corn fields and up to Gwaynynog , the setting for a number of Beatrix Potter books.
As for Dr Johnson’s house…….well, I managed to walk past it!
I decided to ditch the OS map and fired up Google maps, at least then there would be a pin in the right place to find this ‘nightclub’
I returned to the stile bordering the field containing hundreds of grouse and there it was, hidden amongst the trees with a wire fence running around it. To be honest, there wasn’t much to see.
Just prior to the hunt for the house, I took a right at the junction in the woods to look for the monument, however, those pesky cows were at it again. This time three of them gathered on the narrow footpath. I decided it wasn’t really worth trying to pick my way past for a chap I only really knew from an episode of Blackadder.

As it was still fairly early, I continued past the campsite and on up to the castle.

I do like a visit to a castle. Castles and waterfalls are two things I like to hunt down on trips.
Unfortunately, this one was locked up, I later discovered it’s always closed on Wednesday.
I did manage a wander around the outside though and get a few photos.

Returning to the campsite, I’d passed a house selling eggs so dinner consisted of a hard boiled egg, cooked in the Jetboil, and a Firepot Posh Pork and Beans. Nicer than it sounds!

After dinner, I sat down with a can of Brew York beer and listened to the stream. Work seemed a million miles away. No phone signal, no light pollution, no noise.
Bliss

Having the entire site to myself meant the night time was pitch black and as silent as it gets, all I could hear were the owls hooting. It was a real shame it was overcast as I imagine the stars would be amazing.

I was up and out early the next day, which was a shame but, despite the walks not going as planned, it was a lovely trip and just what the Doctor (Johnson?) ordered!

Glider over Debigh, North Wales — I’d have loved to have been up there!!

September 25, 2021 0

Finally out in the tent again!

Flicking through my phone’s photos, I was surprised to find my last camping trip was tent months ago. Since then, we’ve been locked down yet again and Covid related work has been keeping me busy in the (home) office.
To depress me further, Google photos kept popping up reminders; x years ago you were in Slovenia, Andorra, Bavaria, Italy….. There was no chance of a nice week away in Europe this year so time to get the tent back out!

After a few cancelled/unapproved leave requests I’d finally managed to secure three days. One of these days I was getting my Covid vaccine so that left two days for a trip to North Wales.
This trip was a “two bag camp”, basically, one big rucksack with the camping gear and a smaller bag for drinks, first aid kit, map etc.
Bwlchgwyn was somewhere I’d stumbled upon on Google maps. A village most famous for NOT being the highest in Wales!
It looked like it could be a good place for walking, I just had to hope I didn’t have to ask for directions to there!^*

The Wrexham Council website had a nice route but, it was only 5 miles. I wanted something that would last me the day. My route would take me through the village, on to Llandegla forest via Esclusham mountain.
Viewranger optimistically said this would be around 10 miles.

The first footpaths I hit coming out of Bwlchgwyn were very, very over grown. I circled a field at one point in search of a stile which led to another path that became almost impossible to follow.
This path came to a road out of the village. The quiet stretch of tarmac gave my arms a chance to recover before the next onslaught of evil, sharp branches near Ffordd Isaf.
I left the route for a little detour to look around Minera Quarry, once the largest lime works in North Wales.
The quarry once had it’s own steam locomotive and I followed what was once the railway line towards the path climbing Esclsham Mountain.

Just before the path spat me out on to the road, I stopped to take in the lovely views which stretched on for miles and miles.
I remained on the road for a while Here the views were mostly sheep and moorland. On the whole, this is a rather featureless mountain but, at least I couldn’t get lost following a strip of tarmac. I soon longed for the easily navigable when I left the road and headed North along the moorland towards the forest!

Esclusham mountain view and sheep, Wrexham, North Wales

At times, the path was easy to spot but, quite often, what appeared to be a footpath could actually be a route made by sheep. Other times, there was no clear way through at all. Even on this dry, hot July day, I couldn’t tell if my foot was about to sink in to something squelchy. For me, this type of terrain is second only to scree for being my least favourite to walk on.
Armed with my compass, clutched firmly in hand, and frequent checks on my GPS, amazingly, not only did I make my way to the forest entrance but also I’d strayed very little from the path. I’d like to put it down to my navigation skills but suspect it was mostly luck!!

It was nice to have a complete change of scene in the forest. Gone was the featureless carpet of green and bog, now I saw trees, wild flowers and obvious footpaths.

I stopped for a while at the beautiful Pendinas Reservoir, grabbed my flask and consulted the OS map. From here, the plan was to retrace my steps back to the moors but take the path to the left, heading to a quarry.

Navigation along this part of the moors was easier, having a fence as a handrail to my right hand side.
Things became confusing at the farm at the end of the moors. The one bent footpath sign wasn’t clear but the gate wasn’t padlocked, always a good sign!
I could see two people in a field working with horses. I kept my head down and kept walking. Nobody shouted. Maybe I had stayed on the correct route but I decided not to linger.
I couldn’t find either of the footpaths I wanted across fields to the edge of the quarry, instead I joined the road and followed that until I saw an obvious footpath heading in the right direction.

Overgrown stile walk Llandegla — There’s a stile here somewhere!

There’s several paths around the old quarry and a number of old buildings which you can walk around.

The nice, easy to follow routes didn’t last long. I headed to the left hand side of the next quarry where things were slightly overgrown!
I spent most of this walk wishing I had a scythe. My rucksack became a ‘battering ram’ against the bushes and brambles. Not only was the path almost impossible to see, a few strategically placed, stealth rocks impeded progress somewhat. It was nice to reach the terra firma of the roads in the village once more.

14 miles later (not the 10 predicated), I’d completed the route. Ususally, I post GPX files for download. I wouldn’t recommend this one though!

So, in this “two bag camp”, it was time to switch from the little sack to the bigger one containing the tent, bedtime things and the most important bits, beer and dinner!
I was using the MSR tent this evening. As it was so warm, it was tempting to use it in it’s inner only configuration.

Dinner was a first for me, a dehydrated bolognaise orzo pasta from Frirepot. I usually buy the wet, Wayfayrer meals but Firepot was just as tasty, lighter, contained more calories (I felt I’d earned them!) and it was far less messy. I’ll definitely be investigating more on their menu!
Drink came from Black Lodge Brewery in Liverpool and it tasted so good after the long, hot, sweaty walk!

Breakfast was slightly less adventurous, porridge and coffee. My one ‘must have’ luxury when camping is my Wacaco Barista Kit. I can get by without many things, but decent coffee in the morning isn’t one of them!
After packing up and, obviously, leaving no trace, it was back to the small bag and a walk around Llandegla forest. This area is more famous for it’s mountain bike trails but there’s a number of walks, each clearly marked with coloured posts. I took the 7 mile (plus a couple of little detours) yellow, Moorland View path. I have made this route available to download as a GPX, however, it is very well signed.

Back at the main car park, I noticed that the cafe serves meals until 21:00 on a Wednesday, perhaps something worth bearing in mind for my next over night trip!

Returning to the car, I calculated I’d walked 30 miles over the last two days. 30 hot, humid, verging on lost miles. But it was so good to be back!

* in case you’re wondering Bull-ch-gwin

July 25, 2021 0

Lockdown, a year on.

It’s now been a year since all this Covid malarkey first really kicked in and a very strange year it’s been.

All the plans made in 2020 were cancelled or postponed and the most excitement has been a couple of camping trips and day walks in the summer.
On the one hand, I’m so glad I managed to get out on the few walks I did in the Clwydian hills and Snowdonia. On the other hand, I wish I’d done more.

Our freedom was short lived and so soon we found ourselves back under more stringent lockdown rules. Wales was closed to us once more.

I’d been bimbling around, close to home. Watching the sunrise in the local woods and taking country lanes to see where I’d end up.
I did one such walk on a day off in November and, rather naughtily, I crossed the border in to Cheshire.
It was a painless experience and I found myself in Neston.
Despite being walking distance (ish) from home, I’d never been before. The closest I got was Ness Gardens where, as a kid on a school trip, I fell head first in to lake trying to catch tadpoles.

Neston is a nice enough place. The usual shops but with an old market town feel and plenty of little nooks and crannies to explore.
The walk round the back of the church is pleasant and leads on to the Wirral Way with great views over to the Welsh hills.

The Wirral Way would be a possibility to get home but my return leg was mostly on pavements alongside the roads.
I did manage to get off road for a shore while walking an extremely muddy bridleway.
Most of the quagmire had been caused by cyclists. I’ve been cursing them a lot this past year.

Those that would have been riding around the tracks of Delamere or Llandegla were now turning their attention to footpaths.
At best, you find a route unwalkable. Fat bike tyre marks cutting though narrow footpaths At worst, a Lycra clad granddad on an over specced and over priced bike comes hurtling downhill towards you and the old couple walking their dog and small grandchild….
…..but I digress.
I was on a bridle way so I can’t shout at them this time.

By December, things had eased a little and once again, we were allowed back across the border in to Wales.
As soon as the restrictions were lifted, I booked two days off work. Surely one of those days would have decent weather?
One did, the other was atrocious!

On the nicer of the two days, I went to one of my favourite spots, Moel Famau
I’d been here many, many times in the past but, after so few walks in 2020, it was so good to be back.
I parked up and spotted a large group of older people heading up the main path, I headed in the opposite direction.
My route took me around the hill, initially heading East, walking towards the little village of Cilcain.

The weather was beautifully sunny and I soon wishing I’d worn lighter layers but, the paths were very wet. Thick gloopy mud covered my boots and worked my way up my trousers. I did manage to wash much of the mud off as I waded through what used to be little brooks but were now quite fast moving streams.

This route is available to download as a GPX file.

We managed to have a fairly normal family Christmas day but by the new year we were back in lock down and walks were back to ‘roam from home’.
It’s tough to find the motivation especially on the cold, dark mornings. To give me an extra kick I signed up for the Lancaster 500k Challenge. This celebrated 80 years since the first flight of the Avro Lancaster. As a pilot myself, I’m keen to support such events. I managed to complete the challenge in 2 months, despite being stuck in Wirral. I’m feeling rather smug about that 🙂

I walked around the streets, woodland and country lanes a few miles from my font door.
Boots and hiking gear were the most commonly worn items on the local residential streets and most of us had become masters at zig zagging across the roads to avoid others, Unfortunately though, once again, I was sharing pavements and footpaths with cyclists.
On one occasion, I was about to unleash my wrath while pointing at the ‘No Cycling’ sign, or, more likely, shake my head and tut loudly but, as I approached the wooden post, I noticed the sign had been prised away. At this point, I was imagining the Lycra clad chapter of Hell’s Angels appearing in the dead of night, armed with tools from their puncture repair kits removing anything that may prevent them from riding wherever they fancied.
This particular cyclist continued his ride along the pavement towards a woman pushing a pram…

Generally though, early mornings were cyclist free and were a time to appreciate what was on my doorstep and explorer previously undiscovered spots.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel…maybe….

March 21, 2021 0

First hill walk of 2020!

Lock down is tough.
I’m lucky, I’ve had a fairly easy time compared to many but; all trips abroad and a city break cancelled, concerts postponed or cancelled, no camping trips and unable to access the hills for months.

I have tried to average around 30 to 40 miles a week doing local walks (I’m determined to still complete the ViewRanger 1000 mile challenge!).
I’m lucky, I live near woods and quiet country lanes but Wirral is flat, very flat so, as soon as it was announced that Wales was opening it’s borders, I booked some time off work.

I’m very keen to try out the new MSR tent but I’m holding off any overnight stays at the moment as only self contained units (things with their own loo) can be used for overnight stays.
At least, I think that’s the current rule.
To make matters worse, on the drive up I passed signs saying Welsh Covid rules apply.
I don’t fully understand my own country’s rules!

The weather forecast was brilliant. A bonus blast around the country lanes in the Abarth with the top down perhaps.
Needless to say, the weather forecast changed considerably the day before and, to quote Half Man Half Biscuit, the cloud base was low on the Clwydian hills but, to quote HMHB again, no storm warning was going to stop me setting out again.

I parked up in my usual spot in Llanferres and walked through the Druid Inn car park to Rectory Lane. Just past the last house, I headed up hill.
Only a few minutes from the car and the views were lovely.

It’s strange how Covid-19 has changed normal activities. Previously I’d think nothing of opening a gate. Now, it was a well planned manoeuvre involving one ‘dirty hand’, a foot and a squirt of hand sanitiser. Other than though, everything was as it has always been.

The first part of this walk was a route I knew well. Up Foel Fenlli and down towards the Bwlch Penbarra car park. The second part was (surprisingly!) new to me. I stayed to the west edge of the foot of Moel Famau then headed to the north of Coed Ceunant.
Shortly after joining a narrow road, I had planned on cutting across a field towards Llanbedr hall.
After crossing a small stream, I noticed a number of cows in the next field. They seemed content enough, munching away on their lunch.
I glanced down at the map, just continue in the direction I was heading, towards a gap in the fence.
I altered my route slightly to give the cows a wide berth.
They noticed me and started heading closer.
I moved further to the right, they started to group.
They were congregating between me and the gap in the fence which I discovered, led to another field of cows.
I wimped out and turned around and crossed back over the stream.
I knew the road would lead me down to the road in to Llanbedr and from there, I could get back on track.

As it turned out, this wasn’t a bad decision. I headed up the track towards old St Peter’s Church.
After a good look around at the gravestones dating from the 17 and 1800s and getting the obligatory photos, I headed to the back of the grounds, through an old gate and on to a path.
I’m not entirely sure I should have been there, but it got me on to the lane where the cow field would have led to.

It was now getting close to midday. The temperature had increased and it had become rather muggy. I was glad of the drizzle to cool me off as the route slowly climbed back to Fenlli.
I stayed on the lower path around the hill before following the path I’d taken earlier to the car.

This route (with the cow detour!) is available to download as a GPX
I’ve also added a Relive Fly Through.

Tuesday was another walk, this time near Ruabon.
Not as hilly and not as scenic but a pleasant walk, despite a detour along the roads. A farmer had decided to grow the world’s biggest and thickest corn right across the path.

Wednesday was back to the realities of Covid, spending over two hours negotiating a full refund for another cancelled holiday, but the hills are back!

July 20, 2020 2

A night at Llyn Rhys Campsite, Llandegla

Camping, for me, is done in a tent which can be stuffed in a rucksack and pitched in a field or woods with basic (if any!) facilities. This time I was to be camping in the Vango Woburn 500.
There’s always room for comfort.
Well no, that’s not entirely true. There’s not much room for anything when you drive an Abarth 124!
First mission was to find a way of getting a tent, sleeping bag, mat, Jetboil, change of clothes and walking boots in the car. The solution was a Boot-Bag.

This is a large waterproof bag that sits on the boot lid and securely held in place with webbing straps.
I had the ‘original’ which gave me 50 litres of space or, put another way, it easily took the tent.
On first use, I was apprehensive about putting too much in there, however, I could have stuffed a few extra things in there without any trouble.
The other stuff went in to my large rucksack.
My day sack was also loaded in to the boot. I’d be using it to hold a couple of drinks, waterproofs etc for the two walks I had planned.
In retrospect, perhaps just the smaller rucksack may have been better with everything else stuffed around the boot and Boot-Bag.
I had no seating (the floor would have to do) and no food (I hoped there would be a table free in the pub) but I had my accommodation and a bed for the night.

The Boot-Bag was slightly lopsided but seemed secure enough as I pulled off my drive and carefully made my way to the motorway, getting used to only using wing mirrors as there was zero visibility out of the back. As I gained more confidence in the Boot-Bag, I increased the speed, it remained stable and I arrived at the camp with everything intact.
I had booked my spot at Llyn Rhys Campsite on their website. £8 per person per night (as of July 2018) which included use of the showers. Kids cost just £3.
I was met by the friendly owner and given a choice of places to pitch, anywhere I wanted as long as I left 6 meters between my tent and others. I wanted to be as far away from others as possible , that wouldn’t be a problem!
The site was fairly quiet. I’d arrived a week before the school summer holiday started, I suspect it can get a lot busier. I drove my car down the track in to the large field I pitched up on the side of the field, close to the stream. I didn’t want to venture too far from the track in my rear wheel drive car!

The tent had been pitched in the garden a coupe of times, the first time, just after getting the tent home, resulted in part of a fibreglass pole snapping. After an email to Vango another pole was posted out to me.
Needless to say, Vango don’t send out poles every time one beaks, however, I argued that they should last at least one pitching and, fair enough, they agreed.
Out in the real world, the tent went up relatively quickly, although the little hooks to attached the ground sheet were a bit awkward to fit.
I think Vango say it will take 15 minutes to pitch. Seems a little optimistic to me but perhaps with more practice.

The tent is described as 5 person, I wouldn’t like to fit more than three in there. The Cotswold Outdoors promotional video describes it as a good tent for couples and young families, which seems more accurate.
There’s lots of room in the bright, airy living area. Plenty of space for a couple of chairs. Shame there wasn’t the room in the car!
Comparing it with many of the other tents on site, it did look dinky!
With the tent up it was time to head out on a walk.
Leaving the campsite, I headed up to the road junction next to the Crown Hotel Pub. Continuing virtually straight ahead on the A5104, the path started just after the junction to the right. This path was quite well signposted until I reached a farmers field. Whatever had been growing here had been recently dug up and the route across the field to the road wasn’t clearly defined.
At the road I took a left, before rejoining the same field higher up. There were no signs here either and at the end, it was almost impassable. A large, over grown, prickly hedge hid a fence with no easy way to climb. If it wasn’t for the large footpath sign at the other side of the hedge, I would not have realised this was the route.

The next path I wanted should have been straight over the road according to the Ordnance Survey map and my GPS but there was nothing obvious so I decided to follow the road back in to the village.
The village has a great little community run shop and cafe, at the front was all the supplies you need for camping, pasties, scotch eggs, wine, jam etc and at the back is the cafe. I just had a cafetiere of coffee but the food looked good.
Happily caffeined up, I left the cafe for the second loop on this walk. After the poorly maintained paths on the first loop, I decided to take the Offa’s Dyke section at the end knowing it would be the easiest part of the route to navigate.
I needn’t have worried. This walk was also well signed and I followed it up to the narrow road. From there it’s an easy walk back along the Offa’s Dyke to the village.
Both loops of the walks are available in on one GPX file, downloadable from Viewranger.

Back in the tent, I got changed ready for dinner. It is nice being able to stand up in any part of the tent, something you don’t get with the backpacking one and two person tents!
The Crown Hotel is a short walk from the campsite and serves real ales, wines and has a good whisky collection along with the usual stuff and the food is fantastic!!
I started with the spicy chicken wings. Main course was a perfectly rare steak with chips and peas. Their monster of a mixed grill looked and smelt great and, if you’ve got a sweet tooth, they’ve a good choice of deserts and local ice cream.

Suitably fed and watered, I walked back to the tent where I took down the divider to make one large bedroom, got in to my sleeping bag and settled down for a reasonable nights sleep.
The Vango has a slightly darker bedroom, while not a black out, it did a reasonable job at keeping the morning light out.
Next morning the tent was moisture free, the vents under the main window had done their job. I opened the ‘curtains’ sat in the porch, fired up the jet boil and made a coffee. The tent is really bright and airy with plenty of large windows. A very pleasant place to be.
Packing up was easy and (amazingly!) everything fitted in and on the car. The first rule of any camping, ‘leave no trace’!

Breakfast was taken at One Planet Adventure, just up the road. Already the car park was filling up. I paid my £4.50 and made my way to the overflow car park.
The breakfasts at their cafe are good and the slices of toast are huge!!

I was one of the odd ones, I wasn’t cycling, instead I took the longest of their walking trails, the well marked ,7 mile Moorland trail.

A pleasant walk through woodland and offering great views.

So, in conclusion…..I love to be miles from anyone and anywhere with a small backpacking tent. This was quite different but still a great trip although I must admit the very un-British sunny, warm weather helped make this such a pleasurable camp!
I’m looking forward to getting out in the Vango again soon….but maybe after a trip in the smaller tent 🙂

July 29, 2018 1

Two days off, two trips to Wales

I was swearing at my Satnav.
There was several gig worth of unused SD card sitting in the slot but it refused to use it and refused to accept the car park I’d selected on my laptop route planner.
I muttered to myself as I scrolled through the settings on the satnav and typed in the ridiculously long Welsh road name. There were three potential car parks, the one I wanted, one quite close to the one I wanted and one quite a distance away. The latter was easier to enter in to the satnav as it sat in the middle of a distinctive junction.
Press the screen. Navigate to here. Sorted.

I headed down the same familiar route, down the A55 towards Conwy, however, I experienced my first drive through the centre of town and on to the parking spot in the hills just off Sychnant Pass Road.
The weather was lovely as I got out the car, perused the walking route and left the car park. It was about a mile to the car park I planned to start the walk from. In retrospect it would have been easy to find if I’d have persevered driving down the road. Oh well, hindsight and all that.

When I reached the third car park, just past a large country house, I crossed to the left hand side of the road, walked through the gate posts and on to the footpath.
The path was very easy to follow and plenty of signs along the way ensured I was heading in the right direction, South (ish) initially.
The views over the bay towards Anglesey and Puffin Island were beautiful.
As usual in this part of the world, there’s always plenty of sheep but I also had a bit of a Rolling Stones moment passing several wild Carneddau horses.

The path changed direction, crossing a stream to my right before hitting a crossroads where a number of paths joined. I took the path to my left.
The map below may provide some useful inspiration for other walks in the future!

As I stopped to take a swig from my water bottle I began to wonder if I should change my route as I was not parked where I’d planned the walks started and ended. I dug out the map and decided to take the next (and only) path to my left. This should eventually bring my out right at the car park I was using.
Unlike the paths previously, this was not signed and not easy to follow. It was difficult to stay on the right path across the wet, muddy terrain. I knew I wanted to be heading South East so using a combination of GPS and compass, I headed in roughly the right direction.
At one point the ground dropped away steeply to a stream below, but despite a jiggle to take the less steep slope, I stayed on course and it wasn’t too long before I’d rejoined a more obvious path.
Again, the views were great and I saw a great opportunity to get the Jetboil out for a coffee break. I’ve marked the point with a beer glass on my downloadable route (well, it’s the best icon I could find!)

After my brew, I continued to Craigyfedwen and on towards the road where I’d left the car, however, rather than head straight back, I looped around Crow’s Nest Hall and Farm, meeting a couple of llamas along the way.
All in all and enjoyable 8 mile walk with some great views…..I even forgave the satnav….but how do you move content to the SD card….hmmmmm….

A week later, another Monday off work and another walk.
Again, I was planning to try somewhere new. I had two ideas, both were in North Wales, one 40 minutes drive, the other 70 minutes away.
Looking at the weather forecast, rain was due to hit the furthest location at around 3 pm, the closer location would be dry all day, so, a 40 minute drive it was!
I’d driven through the village of Trelawnyd on my way to Dyserth on previous walks so no swearing at the satnav today!
I left the car in the free car park near the church at the centre of the village. I changed in to my boots and walked back to the main road, crossed over and down the one way road opposite.
This soon became slightly muddy path through field, the theme for the day.
Initially I was following the North Wales Pilgrims Way, a 130 mile route which links ancient churches dedicated to saints of the 6th century. I had followed part of this route on the walk 30 miles down the road the week before.

As I wandered through farm land towards I started to sense I was being followed.
One sheep initially, then two, three…
….eventually there were about 20 sheep extremely close to me, following me across the field bleating very loudly.
It was like a scene from ‘The Walking Dead’…..if ‘The Walking Dead’ featured zombie sheep.

At Graig Arthur, I left my woolly tormentors and headed South towards Glanllyn.
Here, I joined the Offas Dyke path, following a road.
The path left the road to the right, passing through a hedge and over more fields towards Marian Cwm.

I remained on the very easy to follow Offas Dyke path until I reached a junction at Marian Mill Farm.
Here I took a right and found a great spot to pick some wild garlic.
It’s quite easy to spot with it’s wide green leaves, however, you will smell it before you see it!

I love this stuff, it makes a particularly good pesto when whizzed up with olive oil and Parmesan cheese
It’s a shame the growing season is quite short. It is really worth tracking some down in the Spring months.
After filling my now rather garlicy rucksack, I continued to Cwm Road (stop sniggering!) then back to the main road then over to the car park It was still early afternoon, I still hadn’t made a coffee and I still had a lot of energy left so I passed the car park and went on the path up Gop Hill.
The views from the peak were pleasant. I found a decent, sheltered spot to get the Jetboil going and make a cuppa.

Two very nice walks, but, if I’m honest, I preferred the first and suspect I will be back around there very soon.

As usual, this 8 mile route and the Conwy route are both available as downloadable GPX files on Viewranger.

April 29, 2018 0

Walking Through Cwm

Yep, there is nothing like a rather rude sounding village to get me giggling like a stupid child but (surprisingly) walking through Cwm was a humorous coincidence. I was wondering where to walk, I opened the OS mapping on ViewRanger, found a place with some walks, check for car parking on Google Maps.
Dyserth ticked all the boxes, plenty of paths and free parking. It was an easy drive there, M53, A55 then not far from the A5151. First impressions, Dyserth is a very hilly town!
I parked up in the waterfall car park. I had arrived early and there was only one other vehicle but I can imagine it can get very busy here.
After paying a visit to ‘Loo of the year 2009’, I left the car park, took a left and headed up hill. Following the road up to the traffic lights, I went straight across and joined Cwm Road (cue some giggles), a pleasant, hilly residential road. As I climbed up, I got some great views across to the coast below.
Shortly after taking a left on to Lower Foel road, I got on to the path through Foel woods.
At the end of the woods I crossed a small road over to the farmland opposite, following the signs to Cwm.
Cwm itself is a small village containing a church and a nice looking pub, The Blue Lion The pub has extremely limited opening times (Thursday to Sunday from 18:00 to 24:00) and needless to say, was closed when I got there.

Leaving Cwm, I took a footpath towards Mynydd y Cwm, one of the hills of the Clwydian Range I skirted the base of the hill then joined the Offa’s Dyke path. This is a trail which is on my ‘Bucket List’. I’ve walked small sections of it many times but I’d love to do more of the 177 mile route. Today, I’d only be following the Acorn signs for a short distance initially to Marian Ffrith where, on this lovely summers day, the views were fantastic. As with many of the hills in the area, this was once home to a hill fort.
Dropping back down the hill, I crossed the road and headed towards Marian Mill farm. Continuing on the Offa’s Dyke path, I crossed the A5151 road.
I left Offa’s Dyke when I reached the wide, tarmac North Wales Path. Initially I mistook it for a road given how wide and well surfaced it was. As it was school summer holiday, there were a large number of families walking and cycling. I felt rather over dressed in approach shoes, walking trousers and rucksack!
As I got closer to Dyserth, I left the North Wales Path and took the path over the bridge through Maes Hiraddug nature reserve and down towards the impressive 70 foot high waterfall at Dyserth.
After popping my 50p ‘entrance fee’ (Aug 2017 price) in to the honesty box it was a short walk back to the car park.

The GPX file for this route is available to download.

August 10, 2017 0

Llanfair Talhaiarn

This post should have the subheading, ‘I’ve made the mistakes so you don’t have to’
I had some time off work, no time constraints and the weather forecast was good. I had a number of routes planned and I wanted to go somewhere different, somewhere new.
I opened up the OS map, looking for places with plenty of paths then looked on Google Maps to see if there was anywhere to park up.

Llanfair Talhaiarn seemed to tick the boxes. A pleasant little village 5 miles south of Abergele, it has a good size car park with toilets, a couple of pubs for refreshments and it is easy to get to, just off the A548.
After leaving the car at the School Lane car park, I headed to the river Elwy, taking the bridge on the A544 to get to the footpath on the other side.
This was a pleasant start to the day.
Easy to follow, well maintained footpaths, a nice river, a waterfall and a little ‘beach’ which if I’d come across it later in the walk, would have made a great spot to brew up a coffee.
The route followed the river, along the edges of a field and through woodland…
then came the overgrowth.

The path seemed to go on forever through this mass of wet plants. I’m quite tall but plants where taller. It was difficult to see the path on many occasions.
Despite being a warm, summer day with no clouds to be seen, I was drenched.
My trousers stuck to me and my feet squelched with every footstep.
Just when I thought I’d reached the end, there was more. These plants were almost goading me.
No mater how well you plan a walk, there are somethings you don’t expect and this was one such thing.
Sadly, I suspect that unless something is done to clear this path it may well become unwalkable soon
There was eventually a light at the end of this fern covered tunnel…..it came in the way of a muddy track covered in cow manure.
At the end of the track, through a gate I hit a road. This would give me a chance to dry off if nothing else. I followed the road south for a while, crossing over a bridge. At a second bridge I had a choice, assume that that the track to the right of the cottage with the barking dogs was the way to a path on my planned route or continue to the signposted bridle way. Not wanting to argue with the dogs, I took the second option.
This was more like it, a good path and nice views.
I carried on until I reached a farm house. According to the maps, there was a footpath running behind the house. I couldn’t see it. There were a number of signs, none pointing to where the path should be so I continued along the bridleway which brought me out on to a road.
I spotted another track on the map which would lead me back the route I had planned, however, the ‘access forbidden’ signs on the gate made it clear this was no footpath! Once more I went back to the road and continued up hill.
Not to worry, there were another two footpaths up by a farm, one of those would lead back on track. I walked up the farm track and opened the gate. According to my GPS I was right where the path should but there was nothing. No path, no signs. I really didn’t want to go trudging through the farmers land looking for the route so, again, I returned to the road.
To be fair, the walk along the road wasn’t too bad, I’d only seen the one car and the views were good. I’d come to the conclusion that if all else failed, I had an ‘escape route’ . I could follow this road to the main road then back to where I had parked the car.
There was one last route I could take, crossing over the sheep fields towards Llyn Du. The path was easy to find from the road and the lake was a good reference point. A little voice in my head kept telling me that this part may be easily navigable but at any point the path and signs could disappear and I wouldn’t have the road to fall back on. I put these thoughts to the back of my mind, I wasn’t to be defeated!
Things were going well until I reached the farm at Cefn-treflech. There were a number of signs between the road and the farm then nothing. Well, not quite nothing, a post lay on the floor in front of the gate. I wondered if this once had the route labelled on it. To make matters worse, the owner of the property had come outside. I didn’t want to go marching through his property, he might get angry, he might have a shotgun or worse, he may ask if I needed directions!
Once I was through the rusty gate, walked round the back of the house and on past another farm, I started to enjoy the views.
This seemed like a good spot to fire up the JetBoil and make myself a coffee.
I consulted my map. Perhaps I should have braved looking for the path at the side of the house near the second bridge. Not too worry, this coffee stop was enjoyable and I could see clearly where to head next. I confirmed the route on my map and with my GPS – all was good!
Nope, this was the calm before the next storm!
From the coffee stop, I headed towards the woods. A sign confirmed I was heading in the right direction. Splendid. I then ended up in more tall, wet foliage but, to make matters worse, there were also two meter high prickly blackberry bushes. At times the only way I could get through was to turn my back, duck down and let my rucksack push the worst of the branches out of the way. I couldn’t see the path at all but, amazingly, one I reached a crossroads with a track I was right on course. I crossed the track and followed the sign. Again, the plants made the path impossible to see so I checked the GPS and compass and headed in what seemed to be the right direction, unfortunately, although I achieved the objective of reaching the woods without being ripped to shreds, I was in the middle of a mountain bike track.
I couldn’t find any information about this track, only finding this one YouTube video. Luckily for me there were no bikes around as I weaved my way as best I could through the woods in roughly the right direction.
I could see the track I needed but a barbed wire fence stood between it and me. It seems that I’m not the only person to have made a mess of navigation, at one point the painful bits of the fence had been removed. I managed to step over and follow the track down to the road to Llanfair Talhaiarn.

In conclusion, this wasn’t one of my favourite walks! Llanfair Talhaiarn is a lovely village and a great base for walking, it’s shame the navigation is made awkward.
I can understand why landowners don’t want people trudging through their land, their home, their place of work but, put up a few signs, make the paths obvious and you won’t have people climbing over fences and being in places they shouldn’t be.
As a crude analogy, my office has signs to the training rooms, the toilets and the reception. Visitors find where they need to be and we don’t have people wandering past our desks looking lost.
I’m sure I’ll revisit Llanfair Talhaiarn in the future, perhaps trying some of the paths to the other side of the village.
In the meantime, my route is available to download as a GPX file.…good luck!

August 9, 2017 0

JetBoil Flash Review

I’ve a new toy – the JetBoil Flash basically, a portable device for boiling water.

In the past, my rucksack contained a couple of flasks of juice and I would march along my route, hardly breaking stride as I reached round for a swig.
More recently I started to fill a flask. I would make up a coffee before I left home/base and it would be there when I needed it. Trouble was, I often ended up drinking cold coffee, especially in winter and much of the drink would spill or leak.
I progressed on to a meths burner. It wasn’t the easiest thing to use but it was cheap, light and usually/eventually provided enough boiling water for a drink – just add instant coffee and milk.
I did, however, have problems in winter, in the wet and when I forgot my lighter – the most likely problem!

Step forward the JetBoil Flash cooking system. It is self contained (at least it would be if I had the smaller gas canister!) and boils water in around two minutes.
Every thing except the a screw top gas canister comes straight out the box.

I packed my rucksack and headed to my usual playground – the Clwydian Range.
Initially, I noticed the sack did feel a bit heavier but after a few minutes climb didn’t notice the extra load. Needless to say, not only would the smaller gas fit in the mug, it would also reduce the weight considerably.

I had followed the first part of the walk many times before but today seemed so much more picturesque. Spring was in full force leaving a technicolour vista punctuated by the imposing, snow capped Snowdon in the distance.

I took the Offa’s Dyke path up Moel Famau and continued to the west passing Moel Dywyll before dropping down towards the road. I’d often been around this area and wondered where the track to the left hand side of the road went….so I followed it.
The path soon moved away from the road and I found a spot with lovely views to christen my JetBoil.

Setting it up was easy.
I took the orange ‘feet’ out from the mug, unfolded them then clamped on the gas canister.
Next out was the stove itself. Flip out the gas regulator on the site and screw the stove on to the gas canister.
Covering the bottom of the mug is a measuring pot which is handy for keeping dry ingredients – coffee in my case. Popping the bottom off reveals the flux ring heat exchanger. This does the clever stuff which enables the JetBoil to work so well.
Little lugs can be found on the bottom of the mug, line these up with the stove and give it a small turn to lock in place. No chance of accidentally knocking the cup over, something that happened a few times with the slightly top heavy meths burner and mug.

I removed the top from the mug and poured in enough water to reach the ‘2 cup’ mark.
I put the lid back on, turned the regulator to start the gas flow, clicked the lighter on the opposite side and it started to boil up the water.
Simple!
It sounded vicious but in less than two minutes, the water had boiled.
A handy feature is the marking on the side of the mug which turns orange when the water has boiled. This takes the guess work out of the boiling and stops the urge to pop the lid to see how hot the water is getting.
The neoprene ‘cozy’ covering the mug ensures the mug is safe to lift up. Incidentally, the side strap of the ‘cozy’ can be used to store teaspoons.
Once boiled, stop the gas flow, twist the mug to unlock and brew some coffee……or tea, or cook noodles, make up dried food….there are a whole load of things you can create and JetBoil have posted some recipes on their website

After my cuppa, I continued on my walk.
I could have remained on this path right around the ‘base’ of Moel Famau, however, keen to increase my mileage for the ViewRanger challenge, I turned off on to a road to my right.
At a junction, I took another right towards the small village of Llangynhafal.
A footpath passes to the left of the Golden Lion Inn and through the campsite behind. The views from this campsite are spectacular, however (at the moment at least) the only ‘facility’ is a tap in the corner of the field.

The path crosses a road before following the base of Moel Famau, at one point I got cracking view of the Airbus Beluga aircraft taking wings from the nearby factory in Hawarden.
Near a farm, the path joins a concrete ‘road’. There is a path which continues South, however, it was impossible to tell what was the route and what was a gate in to their garden even checking against my GPS and paper OS map. I wasn’t brave enough to risk trespassing so continued along the road to a junction in Hirwaen where I took a left.
There are a number of ways back on to the original route, I took a left at Pen-y-waen, from there I headed East back to the car park.

All in all, a very enjoyable walk and I can definitely see the JetBoil getting a lot of use!

Download this route as a GPX file

April 30, 2017 6

Black Pudding Gaiters

Hiking, travelling, gear

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