The best day on the whole of the Path: 12 miles of fabulously varied countryside walking in snow and lovely spring sunshine. A gem of a walk.

Date walked: 31st March 2022

Distance:  12  miles

Maps used:  OS Explorer  256 Wrexham and Llangollen (downloaded onto my phone)

Guide used: Walking Offa’s Dyke Path by Mike Dunn published by Cicerone in 2016

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Bob and I had stayed last night at The Cambrian Guest House. Breakfast, we were informed by its exuberant owner, would be a socially distanced time-slotted affair; we ate our (reasonable but not exceptional) cooked breakfast in the company of a solitary fellow walker who yesterday had climbed up to Castle Dinas Bran from Llangollen – rather him than us. It had been snowing when I went to bed but the streets on Llangollen were hardly damp as we waited for our ride to take us back up to the Panorama Road.

Bob limbering up

Our ride was from Ian, he of the Llety’r Eos Ucha Bed and Breakfast at Bodfari where I would be staying 2 nights hence; they do baggage transfer in style in an electric powered Jaguar. Ian arrived promptly and somewhat nervously negotiated the single track lanes whilst we admired the increasingly snowy views.

Castle Dinas Bran just about visible on the top of the hill

Leaving the car we found a stiff, cold breeze, but it was a beautiful day, the countryside as pretty as you like with the dusting of snow.

The countryside is always enhanced by sheep

Above us, and where we were soon to walk, the snow cover was thicker but not so deep as to worry us.

We marched along the road for a mile or so until a finger post by Rock Farm directed us to leave the road….

Not content with additional “50th anniversary” badges, some people have been knitting socks for the posts.

…. and take a track heading for the escarpment.

I had walked this bit of the path before when I did the Llangollen circular walk on a bright  November day; in the snow it was incomparably spectacular. The track had us “ooing” and “ahhing” as it snaked around the base of the cliffs….

…. and then just above the property called Bryn Goleu it peters out, the Path now taking a narrow route traversing the scree slopes.

Yep that’s me

Although the snow was around us it had not laid on the path itself, which led to wide speculations about just why that might be.

Salts? Rubber deposits from boots? Early morning path sweepers?

Whatever the reason we were grateful that we were not walking on snow as in places this section was very narrow and quite steep.

I was mostly walking ahead but periodically commanded Bob to pass me so that I might take pics of an intrepid walker that Getty might licence to China in due course for a couple of cents.

Note that my model is kitted out very appropriately

We stopped frequently to admire the exhilarating views.

I think that this has to have been my favourite section of the entire path so far.

The Path gradually heads north-east, following the Eglwyseg valley as it narrows towards Worlds End.

Below us, near the head of the valley was the handsome property of World’s End Farm.

Worlds End was something of an anti-climax…..

…. marked by a ford and stepping stones across the stream which descends to the valley.

The Path then follows the steep road to the top of the valley; Mike Dunn’s Guide book describes this ascent as “brutal” but I’d just say it was a bit of a pull in places.

After about a mile of road walking the path levels out and leaves the road to head north-east towards Llandegla Forest.

People complain sometimes when path surfaces are laid that seem incongruous with the landscape but I’m usually just grateful for a decent surface to walk on in preference to getting my feet wet. The plateau of Cyrn-y-Brain would obviously be one of those boggy walks were it not for the excellent slabs of stone that cross it (the guide book refers to railway sleepers – I reckon these slabs are an improvement).

So here’s me giving a positive shout out to to whoever looks after this section of the path.

At the far side of the moor we found a couple taking a meal break who told us that they were on a practice walk for a trip they were about to make walking around the Orkney mainland; Anne and I had a great archaeological site visiting holiday some years back – amazing place but I don’t recall much by way of footpaths. The path heads into the forest, the snow-covered pines providing a flavour of Christmas that we never head earlier in the year.

The light was beautiful shining through the tall conifers, ….

……lines of snow clinging in narrow bands on their trunks.

So why would snow just stay on the trunks in such a way?

The path – now a good gravel surface….

….brought us out into a cleared area of the forest, giving us views out to some of tomorrow’s route.

Not having studied the contours, I was surprised that in the second half of the wood we dropped several hundred feet;

easy and pleasant walking…..

We crossed a minor road at Hafod Bilston and immediately found ourselves in open countryside, the snow completely gone.

Ahead the village of Llandegla promised a shop and cafe which we were well up for. On the outskirts of the village, one property was undergoing some major improvements.

Signs of solidarity  were a reminder that the Ukranians were experiencing an obscene war; ….

….local people were doing what they can to help them by raising funds. And praying.

The village shop/post office/cafe is also a community enterprise run by volunteers and is housed in a fine stone building.

Inside it was surprisingly well stocked and the cafe was offering home made soup and cakes. We were greeted warmly and stayed longer than we should have, our legs starting to think that they had finished for the day.

The post-lunch section started easily enough following the River Alyn……

…..and crossing several rough pasture fields.

Ahead the beginning of the Clwydian Range

Mike Dunn describes this landscape as “curious”, though to my eye it seemed a very familiar mixture of small woods and undulating terrain. Crossing the B5431 both he and I missed a small diversion to view St Garmons Well,though my Googling suggests that there would not be much to see. Throughout this day signposting had been exceptionally clear. At the entrance drive for Chweleiriog Lwyd, a finger post pointed the way for our first hill of the Clwydian Range,  Moel y Gelli.

(Heres a snap of Chweleiriog Lwyd)

A steepish little section after the farm brought us to a minor road which we followed for half a mile, going downhill at first.

At the bottom of the hill we left the road and started a short but steep climb on a track by Nurse Fawr wood to the pylon on the side of Moel y Gelli.

But our first summit was ahead of us.

Ahead, Moel y Plas

Moel Y Plas is a modest 1,443 feet but  we made heavy weather of climbing the steep slope towards the summit.

Still the view over the Llyn Gweryd fishing lake and surrounding countryside was nice……

…. and having gained that height, looking ahead it seemed hat we would keep most of it for a while.

Looks can be deceptive though and we needed to drop down a couple of hundred feet to the little farm of Ty’n -y-mynydd…..

…. before taking the green lane (described, reasonably, as “excellent” by Dunn) on the west side of Moel Llnfair.

That’s Ruthin in the centre of the pic – our destination for the night.

This lane dropped gently as we headed north and when it joined a farm track we needed to climb again towards Garreg Lwyd.

We reckoned that we had about half and hour left to walk so at this point I rang Roberto’s taxis who agreed to meet us at Clwyd Gate. Our path took us on another green lane (“magnificent”) around the western shoulder of Moel Gyw, giving us a super view.

This lane took a left turn off the hillside and to a farm track down to the A494.

Clwyd Gate, it turned out, is the name of a now closed hotel on the roadside.

As we approached it I saw our taxi arrive -always a reassuring sight. Roberto was a very chatty and helpful chap and we quizzed him on our eating options in Ruthin. Nothing stood out. We were staying in the Castle Hotel. It’s a Wetherspoons, which is not normally associated with good food but has a well-earned reputation for cheap and good beer. I’d booked a double room (£73) as is my wont and was very happy with it and with the fact that it had a big bath. Bob had opted for a rather cramped single (£62).

Being a member of CAMRA Bob had come equipped with a fist full of Wetherspoons money off coupons. Generous chap that he is. And our luck was in on food as they were having a special curry night and from what we could see the curries and accompaniments looked excellent. So after a stroll around the (very attractive) town and a visit to another drinking hole we returned to the Castle for a few boards of Cribbage, and a few more extraordinarily cheap but excellent pints. I forget who won at Crib – might have something to do withy the beer. An excellent day all round.