Walking pages Autumn/Winter 2013

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

Issue 3 Autumn/Winter 2013

Magnificent Moelfre

£2.95

Standing stones and shipwrecks

ISBN 978-0-9572806-6-3

Sandstone Trail

9 780957 280663

A NWN Media publication

Walk along Cheshire’s backbone

Walking Pages Winter 2013

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

in this issue...

Anglesey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11 Sandstone Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-19 Great Orme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-25 Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-27 Sugarloaf Mountain . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Llantysilio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32-37 Llangollen Corn Mill . . . . . . . . . . 38-43 Geocaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44-46 Historical maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Hills of Wales Tryfan . . . . . . . . . 48-53 Bodnant Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . 54-55

WELCOME to Walking Pages, the third edition of NWN Media’s new guides for walking in North and Mid Wales, The Marches and Cheshire.

In this issue we feature a section of the Wales Coast Path on Anglesey, which is well known for shipwrecks and prehistoric sites, and the village of Moelfre in particular.

We look at a walk along The Sandstone Trail taking walkers through some of Cheshire’s finest scenery. It stretches a manificent 50 kms - 32 miles in old money - from Frodsham to Whitchurch in neighbouring Shropshire.

We explore the Great Orme at Llandudno with its abundance of wildlife great and small including a herd of Kashmir goats which roam freely across the hillsides.

In this issue we also continue our series of walks centred on pubs, this time The Corn Mill in Llangollen, and investigate the geocaching craze which may revolutionise your walking.

If you have any feedback, suggestions or comments please do get in touch. You can contact us on the number below or email walkingpages@nwn.co.uk If you would like to be notified when the next edition is out please email us at walkingpages@nwn.co.uk

Published by NWN Media Ltd Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, CH7 1XY Tel: 01352 707707 www.nwnmedia.co.uk

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ANGLESEY

Standing stones and shipwrecks Carl Rogers

Moelfre

Anglesey is well known for both shipwrecks and prehistoric sites, and the village of Moelfre on the east coast of the island has some of the best prehistoric remains in Wales. It is also the site of one of Wales’ worst shipping disasters

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches Porth Helaeth, the rocky bay near Moelfre where the ‘Royal Charter’ was wrecked in 1859

Looking at a map of Wales pinned to my office wall a few months ago, as I traced its coastline from the Dee estuary out along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and around the long arm of Lleyn, then on down the graceful curve of Cardigan Bay, around the indented, craggy fist of Pembrokeshire, Gower, and finally the softer bulge of Cardiff Bay to the border at Chepstow, one thing struck me.

I suppose it’s an obvious thing in a way, but I hadn’t really considered it before: little, if any of this coast - almost 900 miles of it - is east-facing.

The only exception is the Isle of Anglesey, where almost one third of the coastline faces east. This may seem a very mundane piece of information, but it explains why the east coast of Anglesey is so different to the rest of the island and indeed the rest of Wales. It was also a key element in one of the worst shipping disasters of the 19th century, but more on that later.

The exposed nature of the Welsh coast defines

both its character and its physical shape — its sea cliffs, its huge sandy beaches, its sand-dune systems, its stunted vegetation and its general lack of trees. These are all common features of coastal Britain as a whole — a rugged and beautiful landscape, one of the finest in Europe and the reason so many northern Europeans come to Britain to walk its coastal paths.

But back to Anglesey. You can divide the island’s coast into four distinct sections corresponding approximately to the points of the compass north, south, east and west. Each is very different in character and the east coast is no exception.

Turning its back on the prevailing westerly winds, it escapes the majority of the storms that sweep in across the Irish Sea. Instead of exposed, treeless headlands you have fields, hedges and woods - sometimes right down to the water’s edge.

Different indeed.

Midway along the east coast is the village of Moelfre. It’s a small village, most of it built in the last 50 years or so. In its original form it would have been tiny — a handful of cottages arranged around a sheltered cove where a few fishing boats could be pulled up onto the shingle. In the holiday season it fills up quickly — a pub, a handful of tearooms, one or two gift shops and a tiny beach

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ANGLESEY you could just about swing a cat on.

Unless you know Anglesey well, you are unlikely to have even heard of Moelfre, but in the mid-19th century it briefly became a household name for all the wrong reasons. In 1859 one of the worst shipping disasters of the century occurred here when the ‘Royal Charter’ was driven ashore by a freak, once-in-a-lifetime storm and the area became the focus of the national press.

You can visit the site of the shipwreck along with an inland loop walk that also takes you to some of the finest prehistoric remains in Wales in an easy 4.5 mile walk starting at Treath Lligwy, a superb beach, a mile or two north of Moelfre.

The large beach car park is busy in the holiday season, but there will probably be room on all but the busiest of days.

The Walk:

The anchor from the ‘Hindlea’

Moelfre

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From the car park head right along the coastal path which is well-defined and gives a fine view of the wide sweep of Traeth Lligwy with Ynys Dulas beyond. The first cove - Porth Forllwyd - is private and the path takes you beside a wall around the bay, before the path rejoins the coast to run along a series of low limestone cliffs.

On the approach to the small shingle inlet of Porth Helaeth, look to your right where a small stone memorial commemorates the wreck in 1859 of the ‘Royal Charter’: ‘This stone commemorates the loss of the steam clipper ‘Royal Charter’ which was wrecked on the rocks nearby during the hurricane of 26th October 1859 when over 400 persons perished.

Erected by public subscription in 1935.’

The memorial overlooks the rocks where the ship was pounded to pieces and can be approached by a short field path on the right, just before the beach.

Looking around it’s hard to see why the event was such a disaster. There are no towering sea cliffs or off-shore reefs to tear a ship apart, just a rather mundane shingle cove where the water is quite shallow. It seems the ship was incredibly unlucky. In its day, the ‘Royal Charter’ was one of the fastest clippers on the run between Liverpool and Australia. In late August 1859 it was on the return voyage and had sailed halfway around the globe, almost 16,000 miles. It had safely navigated the Cape and dealt with the stormy seas of the South Atlantic. It had passed the Cornish coast, the hazards of Pembrokeshire and Lleyn, and the dangerous north coast of Anglesey was now behind it. There were just 50 miles to its home port of Liverpool - plain sailing.

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches The little sea front at Moelfre

It was the middle of the night and they would be in port by be morning. Then came the first piece of bad luck. A storm was gathering, an unusually fierce storm and it was approaching not from the west as normal, but from the east. This was, and still is, extremely rare. Sailing ships can’t sail directly into the wind so the ‘Royal Charter’ had an auxiliary engine to assist its sailing rig. With the sails down this would normally have carried it into port, albeit a little slower against the wind. But this was no ordinary storm and as it gathered strength it became clear that the engine was not powerful enough and eventually failed altogether.

Out in the ocean a ship of this size would probably have coped even with these freak conditions and if it could have turned tail and headed out to sea it would have done. The only option was drop anchor and try and ride out the storm. This was done, but the anchor chains broke and the ship was then helpless.

Driven southwest it was heading directly for the next piece of bad luck - the only sizeable section of coast in Wales that faces east! In the dark those on board could only guess what lay ahead. The crew no doubt hoped beyond hope that they would be blown out into the Irish Sea. As it turned out the ship came ashore here at Porth Helaeth. There must have been a sense of relief at first, but more bad luck was on the way.

The tide was low but rising and initially the ship

ran aground on the sandy floor of the bay a few hundred yards out.

Had the tide been falling she would have ridden out the storm, battered and bruised, but probably in one piece. As (bad) luck would have it the tide was rising and gradually the ship was lifted off the sandy floor and carried onto the flat, gently sloping rocks on the far side of the cove.

When the ship broke those on board were thrown into the water where most were battered to death on the rocks just a few feet from safety. In total 465 lives were lost and there were no women or children amongst the handful of survivors. Grim indeed and what incredible bad luck! It was the worst storm of the century blowing in from the east, towards the only sizeable section of eastfacing coast in this part of Britain, along with the worst possible tidal conditions.

The nation was shocked. Charles Dickens came here to report the events and tales of villagers plundering the bodies washed ashore were rife. A local country vicar - Rev Stephen Hughes - spent weeks trying to identify the broken bodies for grief-stricken families and his little church became a temporary mortuary packed with the dead. The events, it seems, led to an early grave for him. He died shortly after at the age of 47 and is buried along with many of the victims in the cemetery at Llanallgo a mile or two inland from Moelfre.

Beyond the cove, the footpath rises to a

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ANGLESEY The superb beach at Traeth Lligwy, where the walk starts

caravan site then bears left to continue along the coast to open land on a small headland with Ynys Moelfre ahead across the narrow channel of Y Swnt. Further along, a signpost directs you onto a small shingle beach by cottages and at the far end you are directed right immediately before a cottage.

Follow the path past the lifeboat station and Seawatch Centre, which houses an exhibition of sea rescue, along with the RNLI lifeboat ‘Bird’s Eye’. This craft was presented to the RNLI by Birds Eye Foods Ltd and was used for over 20 years between 1970 and 1990 in New Quay. It was launched 89 times and saved 42 lives.

Beyond the Seawatch Centre, the path bears right to Moelfre harbour. Join the road here and turn left along the front, then up the hill passing

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the ‘Kinmel Arms’ on the right and the anchor taken from the wreck of the ‘Hindlea’, lost on October 1959 almost 100 years to the day after the loss of the ‘Royal Charter’ and in almost the same location.

Take the first road on the right and continue for approximately ¾ mile. Immediately after the entrance to quarry workings on the left, turn left through a kissing gate onto a signed path. Rise to a second kissing gate and follow the right of way ahead along field edges. In the far corner of the second field, turn right along the field edge to a quiet lane.

There are three remarkable historic sites nearby which are well worth visiting. The first is the Lligwy Chamber thought to date from the late Neolithic period. To visit the chamber turn left here and

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

follow the lane for about 300 yards. The chamber lies in fields to the right.

The most obvious feature of this burial chamber is the massive capstone: over 18 feet long and nearly 16 feet wide. It is estimated to weigh around 25 tons and was probably lifted into place with the aid of timber scaffolding. Two thirds of the chamber lie below ground level and make use of a natural fissure in the rock giving the chamber a very squat appearance. The entrance faces east towards the lane and originally the whole structure would have been covered by a mound of earth and stones that has been eroded away over the centuries.

Excavations in 1909 revealed the unburned remains of up to 30 individuals as well as animal bones and pottery. The form and decoration of

the pottery suggests that the chamber was in use during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods.

Retrace your steps along the road passing the spot where you entered the lane. Beyond this, look for the signed footpath to ‘Din Lligwy’ and ‘Hen Capel’ on the left. The path keeps beside the fence on your left with the ruins of Hen Capel to your right. A metal kissing gate takes you into a small wood where a short rise leads to Din Lligwy.

Din Lligwy is a remarkable place. It is one of best-preserved British settlements in the country and is thought to date from a period when the Romans were withdrawing from North Wales — around the middle of the 4th century.

It is most likely to have been the dwelling of a local chieftain or ruler and consists of a total of

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ANGLESEY Porth Helaeth

Traeth Lligwy

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nine buildings; seven rectangular and two circular, which would originally have been thatched. The entrance is at the eastern end and a defensive wall some five feet thick surrounds the site (which covers about half an acre. The two circular buildings are thought to have been dwellings, the rectangular huts were most likely barns or workshops.

Retrace your steps to the lane passing Hen Capel, standing alone and isolated in the fields overlooking the bay.

Hen Capel or ‘Old Chapel’ dates from the twelfth century when most early Celtic churches were built in stone for the first time, replacing earlier wooden structures. By this period Anglesey was finally free from the fear of Viking raids and the lower parts of the walls survive from this time.

The upper half of the walls were built 200 years later and additions were also made in the 16th century. Inside, the walls were originally rendered although little remains today.

To complete the walk return to the lane, turn left and at the crossroads go straight ahead returning to the beach car park.

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches Ordinance Survey Mapping © Crown Copyright 057/13

P

Information Start: Beach car park, Traeth Lligwy.

Grid ref.

SH 497 871 Distance: 4.5 miles Other facilities: WC and café at Lligwy Beach.

Pub and cafes in Moelfre More walks like this: Coastal Walks around Anglesey, by Carl Rogers (ISBN 978-1-902512-20-4) published by Mara Books, £7.99. www.northerneyebooks.co.uk Official Guide to Walking the Anglesey Coastal Path by Carl Rogers (ISBN 978-1-902512-15-0) published by Mara Books, £10.99. www.northerneyebooks.co.uk

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SANDSTONE TRAIL

Along Cheshire’s backbone Words: Tony Bowerman Photographs: Carl Rogers

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Cheshire may not spring to mind when you think of walking trails, but it has one of the oldest and most popular recreational trails in the country.

The Sandstone Trail traverses the county from north to south and takes walkers through some of Cheshire’s finest scenery

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches The Pheasant Inn, Higher Burwardsley

Way-marked walking trails are a common sight these days. They can be found just about anywhere in the country and range from a few miles in length to ambitious multi-day long distance paths such as the Offa’s Dyke Path, the Coast to Coast and the Pennine Way. But back in the 1970s when Cheshire County Council’s Countryside and Recreation Department began way-marking a linear footpath through the county, it was something new. In fact the Sandstone Trail, as it became known, was one of the very first ‘recreational trails’ in the country. It was officially opened in 1974 and its popularity has grown ever since. Today an estimated 150,000 walkers a year use the trail or paths along the route.

In the early days, the Trail was shorter than it is now and stretched only 25 kilometres/16 miles between Delamere Forest and Duckington in central Cheshire. But it was such an immediate

success that it was soon lengthened to cover 50 kilometres/32 miles between Beacon Hill, above Frodsham, in the north, and Grindley Brook locks, on the Cheshire/Shropshire border, in the south.

It was extended yet again in the late 1990s to link Frodsham, on the Mersey, and Whitchurch, in Shropshire. This not only makes it easier to reach both ends of the Trail by public transport, but also allows walkers to access facilities in the towns at either end.

The Sandstone Trail was well conceived and offers unbroken walking over some of the finest countryside in Cheshire. High ground has always been a magnet to walkers; and for most of the way the route follows the dramatic, wooded sandstone ridge that runs roughly north to south across the Cheshire Plain. With its beautiful scenery and wide, ever-changing views — overlooking the Pennines in the east to the hills of North Wales across the Dee basin in the west - it’s an invigorating walk at any time of year.

The Trail is not just hills and woods though. The central section incorporates several attractive, ancient green lanes and where there are gaps

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SANDSTONE TRAIL Whitchurch

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in the hills, between Tarporley and Beeston, and south of Larkton Hill towards the CheshireShropshire border, the Trail crosses undulating Cheshire farmland punctuated with scattered farms and hamlets, streams, copses and scores of flooded marl pits.

The southernmost section of the Trail follows the Llangollen arm of the Shropshire Union Canal between Willeymoor Lock and Whitchurch. One of the aims when the Trail was created was to avoid all settlements. The result is that you can traverse the entire county and never actually pass through a single settlement.

At 55 kilometres/34 miles the Trail can just about be tackled in one go by strong walkers and as such it is often used as a single-day challenge walk. Most people, however, choose to walk the Trail in sections to suit their individual style and pace. The route can be joined at countless places along the way and the well managed and waymarked side paths give easy access to towns, villages, pubs, cafés and other amenities along the route. They also provide a wealth of potential half-day circular routes.

For 12 well-planned and immensely popular circular walks along the Trail, see the book, Circular Walks along the Sandstone Trail by Carl

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches There are regular information boards along the Trail

Rogers, published by Mara Books, £6.99 (ISBN 978-1-902512-10-5).

Other walkers choose to spread the journey across two days, staying overnight at a suitable halfway stop. Higher Burwardsley, Beeston and Tarporley are all roughly halfway along the Trail and offer plenty of places to stay overnight.

Cheshire is famous for its country pubs and there are some excellent pubs in both Tarporley and Higher Burwardsley. Among others, Tarporley offers the luxurious ‘Swan Hotel’ and the ‘Rising Sun’. Others prefer the upmarket Pheasant Inn - almost on the Trail in Higher Burwardsley. Not too far away is the excellent Sandstone, and the Edgerton Arms at Broxton. All these pubs serve superb food and locally brewed beers.

If you like the sound of the Sandstone Trail, here is a sample in the form of a circular walk along a section of the Peckforton Hills with the chance to visit the Pheasant Inn for a local pint at the end.

The walk

1. Turn left out of the car park, then bear immediately right and continue straight ahead at a small crossroads up Rock Lane. Follow the narrow rising lane ignoring a left fork to join the Sandstone Trail at the top of the rise where a second lane joins from the left.

2. About 75m further on turn right through a kissing gate and follow the footpath along the field edge. A kissing gate in the far corner leads onto an enclosed path beside the pine woods of the Peckforton Estate. After this keep ahead through the following fields to a lane. Turn left to the gatehouse at Peckforton Gap. Peckforton Castle was built in 1850 for the first Lord Tollemache by Anthony Salvin, the Victorian architect responsible for a number of Cheshire country houses. This one is quite different though.

Built in the style of a Norman fortress, it uses local

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SANDSTONE TRAIL Beeston Castle

‘...the contrast between the plain and the hills has always existed’ stone and has been used as the setting for several television productions.

Turn right along the sandy lane opposite the gatehouse. Walk along the lane for about 150m then turn left up a flight of stone steps which lead into Bulkeley Hill Wood. Follow the rising path through the trees. As the angle eases the path follows the edge of the steep escarpment which falls dramatically to the flat farmland around the village of Bulkeley.

In the winter months an absence of foliage on the trees allows an extensive view which takes in much of the central Cheshire Plain laid out like a vast green carpet. Nearer at hand this patchwork of fields and hedgerows ends abruptly at the foot of these steep tree-clad slopes.

This contrast between the plain and the hills has always existed. In prehistoric times when the plain was thickly wooded and poorly drained, the

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hills provided a lighter, drier environment with thinner tree cover and easily worked soils. This made them more attractive to Bronze Age and Iron Age settlers whose earthworks still crown several hilltops in the vicinity. In later centuries, when settlers drained and cultivated the plain, the hills became extensive heathland used to graze livestock. Today a lack of grazing has allowed the woods to regenerate.

On the steep eastern face you will see tramlines used in the construction of a water pipeline to one of the nearby pumping stations. These access vast reservoirs of fresh water which collect against the impenetrable clay soils of the plain. Further evidence of this can be seen in the many springs, which are particularly common on the lower slopes.

Continue along the edge of the hill passing through a gap in metal railings with an

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

underground reservoir enclosed by a fence to your right. Make a drop now to eventually leave the woods by a kissing gate beside a larger gate.

Turn half-right and cut through the centre of a field to Coppermines Lane.

3. Go ahead along the farm road opposite until it bears left to Rawhead Farm. Continue straight ahead on a footpath for about 50m before bearing left through a kissing gate. This path hugs the edge of the hillside with occasional views out to the right along the hills to Beeston Castle.

As you walk along the path look for a wooden walkway below to the right which leads to a well and weeping stone known locally as the Droppingstone - dripping stone. This is one of many fresh water springs, which are quite common along these hills. Also common are caves that have been cut into the soft sandstone, possibly by

those in search of fine sand for scouring cottage floors.

Local folklore has endowed the caves with all manner of fanciful legends. Outlaws, brigands and hermits are all reputed to have occupied them and they have been given names to match: Bloody Bones Cave, Queen’s Parlour, Musket’s Hole and Mad Allen’s Hole.

The path eventually leads above small crags with fields on the left to the summit rocks of Rawhead - marked by an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar, at 227 metres the highest point on the Sandstone Trail.

As you would expect the view on a clear day from all along this hillside is extensive - although trees are beginning to encroach particularly around the summit itself and takes in much of south Cheshire, the hills of North Wales and the Pennines to the east. Further south the Shropshire

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SANDSTONE TRAIL hills are often visible against a foreground of rolling wooded hills that shelter the tiny village of Brown Knowl.

4. Retrace your steps from the summit for about 300m and turn left onto a path that drops steeply into the trees. Descend through the woods and at the road turn left. After about 150m (opposite a signed path on the left - follow a footpath which drops steeply on the right to enter a field by a stile. Walk ahead through the field to the left of a cottage and enter woods by a stile.

Go ahead through the trees to a stile leading into fields. Cross the stile and turn right immediately over a second stile. Bear half-left through the following large field to a stile below a large oak tree - aim to the left of a stone house.

Cross the stile and walk ahead along the top edge of the following field to meet the lane below the wooded slope of Burwardsley Hill. Turn right and follow the lane for about ½ mile.

Take the first turning on the right which leads into Burwardsley village and after about 50m bear right again. Where the lane forks at the end of houses on the right, keep left. Follow the lane and after a dip and rise look for a stile on the left just before a small cottage, signposted ‘Willow Hill’.

Turn left over the stile and follow the path through a garden, then up to a stile and along the top of the wooded hillside before dropping to the lane. Turn right here and follow the lane up to The Pheasant Inn at the top of the hill. Turn right here to the car park to complete the walk.

Field path below Burwardsley Hill

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches Ordinance Survey Mapping © Crown Copyright 057/13

2 1 P

3 4

Information Section of Sandstone Trail: Burwardsley to Rawhead.

Start: Start at the Cheshire Workshops in Higher Burwardsley. There are two car parks here, the outer one is for walkers, the inner car park should be left for visitors to the workshops.

Grid ref.

SJ 523 565 (Ordnance Survey Landranger 117, Explorer 257).

Local facilities: Higher Burwardsley: The Pheasant Inn. Broxton: The Sandstone & The Edgerton Arms.

Website: www.sandstonetrail.co.uk A new edition of Tony Bowerman’s guide Walking Cheshire’s Sandstone Trail will be published by Northern Eye Books in the autumn (ISBN 978-0-9553557-1-4). More information at: www.northerneyebooks.co.uk and www.sandstonetrail.co.uk

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LLANDUDNO & THE GT ORME

Exploring the Great Orme Lorna Jenner

‘The Great Orme is a massive limestone headland, created millions of years ago’

Photo by: Carole Johnson

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

One of the most memorable sections of the Wales Coast Path along the North Wales Coast is the stretch between Llandudno and Conwy, going around the massive limestone headland of the Great Orme.

The official Coast Path hugs the coast tightly following Marine Drive, a four mile toll road, around the lower part of the Great Orme. The Drive was originally built in 1878 as a scenic carriage road for the Victorian tourists who were beginning to flock to Llandudno. This route has lots to offer as the ever-changing views are magnificent and the walk is along the pavement, making it accessible for all. There is even a good tea-shop, the ‘Rest and be Thankful’, part-way round. However the café name is a reminder that, although this route doesn’t include the steep climb up to the Orme Summit, it still involves some ascent.

We first walked it on a very windy day and it was quite hard work so we were truly thankful for the rest at the cafe and enjoyed the cakes as well! Perched on the cliffs just below the café is the former Great Orme’s Head Lighthouse, whose

powerful light could be seen from 24 miles away, helping ships navigate the treacherous waters.

The disused lighthouse building is now a bed and breakfast – a perfect base if you want to explore for a few days.

However, I prefer to get off the tarmac wherever possible and, for this article, have described a delightful waymarked circular walk that leads up the Orme itself. Needless to say it involves a steep climb up to the summit, but the pleasure of walking on the springy turf and the panoramic views make the effort worthwhile.

The Great Orme is a massive limestone headland created millions of years ago when this part of Wales lay beneath a shallow tropical sea that teemed with life. The limestone was formed from the skeletons and shells of these sea creatures that accumulated on the seabed and were compressed over millions of years. You can find many fossils of these creatures in the rocks.

Wild flowers thrive on the thin limestone soils and, during the summer, the grassland is dotted with colour. Look for deep pink bloody cranesbill, yellow rockrose, yellow birdsfoot trefoil, white bladder campion, and meadowsweet with its clusters of tiny cream flowers. On the thin clifftop soils, blue spring squill, wild thyme and pink

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LLANDUDNO & THE Walking Pages Winter 2013GT ORME Guillemot

by Steve Young

Great Orme Lighthouse.

Courtesy of Visit Wales

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thrift thrive. The flowers, in turn, attract numerous insects including many butterflies. The blue butterflies are particularly pretty and in sheltered spots on warm, sunny days you may see large numbers of these tiny butterflies.

Birdwatchers will be equally satisfied. Looking down from Marine Drive you will notice numerous sea birds wheeling round the cliffs below or bobbing on the water. Guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, cormorants and fulmars all nest on the cliffs. Ravens, chough - blackbird like but with bright orange legs and beaks and peregrine falcons frequent the more remote cliffs.

In the summer the plentiful insects in the grassland provide food for nesting birds including skylarks, meadow pipits and wheatears. Many other birds pass through on migration in spring and autumn and others overwinter here.

Any description of the wildlife on the Great Orme has to include its largest creature, the Kashmir goats. Introduced about 20 years ago, the herd roam freely across the hillsides and are an impressive sight with their long white coats and large curving horns.

Jutting out into the Irish Sea, the Great Orme can sometimes seem an inhospitable and windswept place but, nevertheless, it has attracted people for thousands of years. Stone Age people lived in the caves around the headland, the rich veins of copper ore in the limestone were mined in the Bronze Age and an Iron Age tribe built a hillfort on Pen Dinas, below the main summit near the ski-slope.

St Tudno was a 6th century Christian saint who established his first church on the hillside part way up the Great Orme. The present simple church was built in the 12th century and extended in the 15th century when it was the main place of worship for the scattered community. In 1839 the roof was seriously damaged in a storm and it was decided to build a new church nearer the centre of the town rather than repair the old church. It was neglected until a local benefactor funded the repairs and reopened the little church in 1855.

Llandudno itself began to develop as a popular seaside resort following the opening of the railway in 1848. The building of Llandudno Pier in 1877 brought more visitors, coming by paddle steamer.

Attractions and entertainments for visitors on and around the Great Orme soon developed. Happy Valley at the bottom of the hill was developed as gardens in 1887 with miniature golf courses, music and an open air theatre. In 1902 the tramway was opened giving visitors an easy way to get to the summit and it remains a popular attraction today.

New attractions have opened alongside the

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

traditional and the Great Orme seems as popular with modern visitors as it was with their Victorian predecessors.

For me, however, the best way to explore the Great Orme is on foot. There are several options, but I particularly enjoy this walk because it descends back to town on the quieter western side. The views across to Conwy Mountain and along the coast are breathtaking and, in contrast with the summit area, it is very peaceful.

The Walk

1. From the roundabout at the northern end of Llandudno promenade, continue alongside the coast, walking along pavement, passing the Grand Hotel and the entrance to The Pier on the right and Happy Valley Gardens on the left.

Go past the toll house onto Marine Drive then continue walking along pavement with sea on right and wonderful views back to the pier and Little Orme as you climb. Continue round the first small headland.

2. Just after the steep cliffs on the left give way to grassland, cross the road to take narrow, natural path on left, waymarked with Great Orme razorbill marker. Climb up steps and follow the narrow

grassy area that winds up the hillside, climbing quite steeply.

At a path T junction, turn right and follow the yellow arrow as the path winds left uphill.

Eventually, go through a wooden kissing gate onto a clear sunken path between two fields. Ignore the first path on the right to a white cottage, continuing on the waymarked path ahead.

3. Go through a wooden kissing gate then turn right, down to a gate in front of the white cottage.

Go through the gate, following the permissive path marked with a white arrow, passing the cottage and then farm buildings on the left.

Continuing along clear path between fields.

Go through another wooden kissing gate. Pass Powell’s well on the left and go through another wooden kissing gate, following the clear path until it meets the road opposite the church.

4. Turn left and walk alongside the road, passing the large cemetery on the right. Just beyond the cemetery, take the grassy path on the right, signed to ‘the Summit’. Climb steeply uphill toward the summit, then either cross under the cable car to detour to the triangulation point or turn right in front of cable car buildings and follow the path round to the summit café and car park.

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LLANDUDNO & THE GT ORME

Llandudno Pier from the Great Orme Photo by: Carole Johnson Leave the car park by the access road and walk downhill on grassy path on right-hand side of road. Pass a path to an old quarry on the right.

5. Just beyond the quarry take path on right, waymarked to the town. Follow this natural path round the back of the old quarry, then bear left at path fork, following the razorbill waymarker.

Follow the natural meandering path over the thin grassland, which is interspersed with limestone boulders and crags and strewn with flowers in the summer.

Continue to follow the waymarkers as you slowly descend, zig-zagging down the steep hillside, enjoying the superb views east to the Little Orme and west to Conwy Mountain and the coast. After bearing right for some distance

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steadily descending, you eventually meet a flat grassy path at a waymarker, signed ‘to Town’. Turn left onto this grassy path that contours around the hillside.

Continue on this open path until you reach the corner of an old stone wall, with housing visible ahead on left. Continue ahead, keeping the stone wall on your left but taking the lower path through the gorse that bears slightly away from the wall.

6. As you near the housing look for a waymarker post, signed ‘to Town’. Turn right here onto a narrow stone-stepped path and follow this as it winds down the hillside.

At bottom of hill the natural path meets a tarmac path. To go back to Llandudno, turn left and follow this flat path, Invalid’s Walk, back to

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

2 4

3 5

6

Ordinance Survey Mapping © Crown Copyright 057/13

town. Go through a metal gate into the gardens and continue, passing Haulfre Tea Rooms on left - an ideal spot to round off your walk with tea and cake. Continue ahead where path meets a road, passing the tram station on left. Walk back to your starting point on the sea front.

For more information on the wildlife, history and archaeology of the Great Orme, call in at the Visitor Centre on the summit to look at the displays and pick up some of the informative leaflets produced

by Conwy Countryside Service who mange the Great Orme Country Park and Nature Reserve (www.conwy.gov.uk/countryside or phone: 01492 575290).

Information Parking: Roadside parking usually available on the roads around Church Walks and Abbey Road near the tramway terminus Start: SH 781827 Distance: 5 miles / 8km Lorna Jenner’s forthcoming guidebook Wales Coast Path: The North Wales Coast, is due to be published in the autumn.

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VIEWPOINT

Carl Rogers

Viewpoint Where

Looking west along the coast from Mynydd Penarfynydd to Ynys Enlli or Bardsey Island, Lleyn Peninsula.

Grid ref: SH 217 260

Walks here

Wales Coast Path: Top 10 Walks Lleyn Peninsula published by Northern Eye Books, £4.99 (ISBN 978-1-902512-12-8) www.top10walks.co.uk

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Why

The western tip of Lleyn is a wonderful place.

Remote and hidden away beyond a network of narrow lanes that snake through a landscape very different to the rugged jumble of adjacent Snowdonia - a rolling carpet of green fields separated by the distinctive earth-covered cloddau, lap around the ankles of a handful of low but shapely hills.

The coast is dramatic with high cliffs, coves and some wonderful larger bays of soft, silver sand.

The sand grains here have an unusual shape and make the famous ‘whistling’ sound as you walk on

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

‘...dramatic with high cliffs, coves and some wonderful larger bays’

them. The ‘whistling’ is more accurately described as a ‘squeak’ and is achieved by striking the dry but firmer parts of the beach with the base of your foot as you walk.

Much of the coast makes for superb coastal walking with the new Wales Coast Path opening up large sections of the coast that were previously closed to walkers. One of the very best is around the coastal hill of Mynydd Penarfynydd. To the south, the wide rocky jaws of Hell’s Mouth make an impressive sight, but it is the view west that always catches my eye. The coastline forms a series of curving bays separated by rocky headlands that lead the eye out to the enigmatic Ynys Enlli or Bardsey Island.

The rocky spine of Mynydd Penarfynydd make a superb viewing platform high above the sea and you are nearly always looking into the sun assuming it is shining of course! So the scene is simplified into silhouettes that ‘float’ on a silver or golden expanse. Stunning.

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NATIONAL TRUST

Sugarloaf Mountain Rising up above the town known as the ‘Gateway to Wales’, the Sugarloaf mountain dominates the skyline of Abergavenny. Standing 596m high, two miles north-west of this market town, it is of huge importance to both visitors and locals as a source of recreation and adventure.

What makes the Sugarloaf so special to so many?

It could be the majestic oak and beech woodlands covering the lower slopes of the three ridges running from the summit. The valleys of Cibi and St Mary’s Vale are nestled between the Llanwenarth, Rholben and Deri ridges and are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).

But they are also an adventure playground for children with streams to be dammed, gnarled, twisted trees to be climbed, deep piles of leaves to be rolled in and a warren of paths leading off into the next adventure waiting to be discovered.

Many of the National Trust’s 50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾ can be ticked off during an afternoon in these beautiful valleys. Visit www.50things.org.uk to download the full list of activities aimed at getting children outdoors and closer to nature.

Maybe it’s the wonderful, rich heather moorland found on the north side of the summit, home to the red grouse. As one of the most southern areas where this elusive and declining game bird can be found, the National Trust manages the moorland with it in mind by creating different ages of heather.

The result from the summit can look like a strange patchwork of crop circles and other irregular shapes.

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By Nick McAllister, National Trust ranger

Or perhaps it’s because the mountain is so accessible to those who want to enjoy its wide, open spaces. Whether you’re arriving in the area by bike, car, train or even canal boat, you can find a footpath that will lead you up to the top of the conical-shaped summit.

From the main car park on the Llanwenarth breast, you can reach the top of the Sugarloaf in little more than an hour and a half. The grassy tracks take you gently up before the last rocky scramble to the summit. Or you can make it more of a challenge by dropping into and climbing back out of St Mary’s Vale on your way to the top.

Download a circular walk of Sugarloaf for free, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sugarloaf-and-usk-valley For a longer walk, you can start from the car park at Porth a Parc in the Cibi Valley between the Deri and Rholben. Walk up through Parc Lodge – now a tenanted farm owned by the National Trust, but once a deer park owned by the monastery in Abergavenny.

Once past the farmhouse, take the footpath following the Cibi stream through oak woodland up onto the open hillside. In spring the woodland here is full of birdsong as warblers, flycatchers and other migrants add to our resident birds. The sound can be almost deafening.

Once you reach the open common, the steep ascent to the summit can be taken on several footpaths. Make your way back by following the Rholben ridge until you’re almost above the car park and follow the track back through the woodland to the start.

The National Trust’s walking festival, The Great Welsh Walk, is running from September 1st to November 3rd. To take part, you can download one of our walks for free or join a guided walk by visiting www.nationaltrust.org.uk

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

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BOOK REVIEWS

Wales Coast Path: Top 10 Walks: North Cardigan Bay North by Sioned Bannister

Wales Coast Path: Top 10 Walks: Llyn Peninsula by Carl Rodgers ^

Northern Eye Books £4.99 www.northerneyebooks.co.uk These two pocket-sized guides are the first in a projected series of ‘Top 10’ circular walks along the Wales Coast Path, declared officially open in May last year.

The first, authored by writer and publisher Carl Rogers, covers the 80 miles or so of coast around the Llyn Peninsula; the second, by Sioned Bannister, picks up the baton in Porthmadog and runs with it until just past the Dyfi Estuary, on the north coast of Ceredigion. ^

A lot of thought has clearly gone into both the concept and design of these books, which combine attractiveness with practicality. For example, the striking covers, each illustrated with a photo of stunning Welsh coastline, include a handy fold, which not only acts as a bookmark, but also provides a thumbnail contents list for easy reference.

Inside, a generic introduction to the coast path is followed by a brief description of the specific area covered and a photo summary of the walks.

We’re then straight into the walks themselves, which are described clearly and concisely in a series of numbered instructions. Walk routes are marked onto OS mapping, eliminating the need to purchase further sheets. Although there is only limited interpretation of places of interest along the way, what is mentioned is precise and relevant and more than adequate for most visitors’ needs.

As is usual for books of circular walks, the target audience for these two guides is clearly families and leisure walkers. Routes vary from around two to seven miles in length and the emphasis is on tried and tested routes—the best an area has to offer. There are no arduous physical challenges and those who know each area well are unlikely to find much new. However, for families, holidaymakers and casual visitors, these books provide a fabulous

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introduction to walking on the Welsh coast.

Have I missed anything? The photography is excellent (the books contain some truly mouthwatering images) and the design, though eyecatching, is always clear and uncluttered. Retailing at only £4.99, expect these books to sell like hotcakes!

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches Cardigan Bay

Saints and Stones A Guide to the Pilgrims Ways of Pembrokeshire Damian Walford Davies and Anne Eastham Gomer Press £7.95 ISBN 1-84323-124-7 I find anything to do with pilgrimage fascinating and love the Pembrokeshire landscape so this book immediately appealed to me. St David’s was one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Medieval Britain; two trips to St Davids were the equivalent to one to Rome and three to a pilgrimage to Jerusalem!

Pilgrims flocked to St Davids, using a variety of routes, and rural Pembrokeshire is peppered with sites of spiritual significance, simple churches in remote locations, holy wells and early Christian standing stones in addition to numerous Prehistoric sites.

This clear and informative book is ideal for those who want to locate and visit these sites, many of which are ‘off the beaten track’. It is based around a series of trails that all converge on St Davids, Pilgrims from the Sea, In the Shadow of the Preselis, The Bishops Road and Clych David.

There is a brief introduction to each trail with a map (only small scale so an OS map would also be needed to explore effectively). The entry for each featured site begins with a grid reference and brief directions before the informative description and historical background. The book is well illustrated with photographs and line drawings.

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Llantysilio

High above the Dee Valley

Tony Bowerman

For a sense of space and panoramic views, the treeless whalebacks of Llantysilio Mountain are hard to beat. This lovely circuit climbs from the lush Dee Valley up through woodland and pasture to the slate quarries and heather moorland of the tops. For a ridge with a difference, walk this way

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

They say ‘variety is the spice of life’ and a good walk needs that too: variety along the way, plenty to see, and a sense of change, progression and development.

Well, this circuit onto and then along the undulating top of Llantysilio Mountain above Llangollen, in North Wales, offers precisely that. Plus amazing views, some unusual wildlife and the fascinating spectacle of paragliders dancing in slow motion in the air alongside. What could be better?

The walk starts in the tiny village of Rhewl on the gentle, sloping farmland above the Dee Valley. This is open farming country punctuated by occasional trees and characterised by sheep and quiet rural noises. Nearby is the iconic 14thcentury Sun Inn at Rhewl — a drovers’ inn once popular with the stockmen who drove cattle, sheep and even geese overland from the Welsh agricultural heartlands to the markets of England.

While the animals were penned up overnight, the drovers ate, drank and slept indoors.

The walk ascends the hillsides, rising through a wooded stream valley before emerging onto the heather-clad slopes. In summer, the moorland is ablaze with low, yellow gorse and purple heather and home to red grouse, meadow pipits and skylarks. For the lucky few, there may be glimpses of other rare upland birds, too, such as black grouse, golden plover, ring ouzel and even merlin.

Higher still, the landscape changes to open mountaintops underlain by 420 million-year-old slate. This upland of rounded hills and wide skies is in stark contrast to the twisting valley below.

But if the uplands seem quiet today, it’s worth remembering that they have been busy with people carving a scant living from the land since time immemorial. There’s evidence of Bronze Age farming on the hills and a large burial cairn still crowns the summit of Moel Gamelin.

Nearby, Moel y Gaer hosts the remnants of a small Iron Age hillfort. Its lofty defensive position overlooks an ancient trade route heading north from the Dee Valley. Today, its tumbled earth and stone ramparts still trace a faint circuit around the summit, complete with a single entrance on the eastern side. Within the defences, you can make out the level platforms that once supported thatched round huts.

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Llantysilio In more recent times, the hills have been transformed by large-scale slate quarrying. The largest is the Berwyn Slate Quarry, close to the Horseshoe Pass. Many of the quarrymen lived in Rhewl and trudged uphill to work each day and then back in the evenings. For them the walk was a daily necessity rather than a modern leisure activity.

The views from the ridge are impressive, too.

On a clear day the panorama is one of the most extensive in North East Wales. To the north, the Vale of Clwyd is laid out like a vast green carpet, bordered to the east by the shapely, sheep grazed slopes of the Clwydian Range and on the west by the flat uplands of the Denbigh Moors. Further west, the pointed tops of Snowdonia are visible, while to the south the Berwyns rise above the Dee Valley. To the west, the view is dominated by the pale limestone crags of Eglwyseg Mountain, which rise steeply above the Vale of Llangollen.

But it’s not just history and wildlife that bring the Llantysilio hills alive. Walkers, mountain bikers and paragliders also enliven the hills. The most visually striking of these are the paragliders whose brightly coloured canopies float and twist above the western end of the ridge. Like rainbow-hued thistledown, they seem to pirouette gently on the breeze. Often, alongside them buzzards and ravens spiral on the thermals. Before you descend again into the valley, it’s worth pausing, deep in the heather, and eating a sandwich or two, watching the view and perhaps dozing in the sun.

Ah, Llantysilio. I’d like to be there right now …

The walk

1. Park on a broad gravelled area opposite the little red brick chapel of Capel Hebron, in Rhewl.

Cross the road and follow the narrow lane that rises beside the chapel. Within 50 metres, bear right onto a short track with cottages on the right.

A kissing gate behind the cottages leads onto a footpath that runs beside a stream. Fifty metres later, cross the stream on a narrow footbridge.

Walk straight ahead, away from the stream, up the slope on a zig-zagging path that rises through the trees.

At the top of the bank, ignore a stile and path to the right; instead, bear left along the contours of the slope on a narrow path beneath the trees. The path continues along the top edge of a conifer plantation, now with the fence on your left, to emerge through a gap in the fence into a sloping grazing field. Bear uphill to the right, to a large metal gate at the top of a track rising from the left.

Immediately through the gate, turn left, uphill,

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

on a waymarked farm track. Climb over a stile beside a second gate, and bear right, up the bank, to follow the waymarked right of way uphill alongside a sloping pine wood.

At the far end of the trees, a narrow footgate leads onto bracken-clad slopes; fine views of the Dee Valley open out below. Continue uphill, beside the fence, and then turn left along a broad grassy track.

Thirty metres later, turn right over a waymarked stile and rise diagonally right, up the hillside on a curving, grassy path. Follow the path as it rises alongside the pinewood, with gorse-clad slopes up to the left. When the wood ends, continue uphill on the clear grassy path over the moors.

As you break out onto the open moors, you increasingly benefit from the height gained.

Below, the River Dee meanders through the lovely Glyndyfrdwy, surrounded by neat, sheep-grazed fields and small woods that rise gracefully to the heather-clad slopes of Llantysilio Mountain.

It was in this beautiful valley that Owain Glyndwr lived until his rise to fame as the fifteenth century Welsh rebel leader and folk hero. Surprisingly, his journey to fame was triggered by a relatively minor incident-a quarrel over a small plot of land with his neighbour, Lord Grey of Ruthin. Grey it seems, was a royal favourite and managed to get ^

Glyndwr branded a traitor.

At a time of unrest-with much of Wales suspicious of the new king, Henry IV, who had obtained the crown by usurping Richard II-and in the face of such apparent injustice, Glyndwr’s countrymen were quick to support him, proclaiming him ‘Prince of Wales’.

With his men behind him, he embarked on a series of raids and skirmishes which included the burning of both St Asaph Cathedral and the Ruthin estate of Lord Grey. During this campaign, his ability to disappear into the hills with his armies and appear again in another location with such speed gave rise to the belief that he possessed magical powers. Henry tried to suppress the uprising but Glyndwr had gained the support of the powerful Sir Edmund Mortimer, Earl of Northumberland who was soon to become his son-in-law.

After failing to take the King’s castles at Caernarfon and Harlech in 1401, he won a decisive battle on the slopes of Plynlymon and in 1404 managed to bribe a mutinous garrison into surrendering Harlech Castle. He now had a headquarters and moved his entire family into the safety of the castle where they remained for four years.

Glyndwr almost achieved his dream of a ^

^

^

^

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Llantysilio separate Welsh kingdom before his fortunes changed. Harlech fell, his supporters quickly left his side and by 1409, just nine years after his quarrel with Lord Grey, it was all over. He lived as an outlaw for many years, refusing a pardon from Henry V, and died in obscurity at an unknown location in the hills.

2. Just below the distinctive spoil heaps of the Berwyn Slate Quarries, turn left and follow a good path towards Moel y Gamelin, with the slate tips rising immediately to your right. Cross a boggy stream and continue, straight ahead through the heather and bilberries, on a steadily rising path to the summit of Moel y Gamelin.

From the summit cairn, a steep descent to the west takes you to a saddle crossed by several tracks, including the long-distance Clwydian Way. To shorten your walk, turn left here onto a broad track, then fork right, on the lower path - not the upper, left-hand Clwydian Way - and follow the bridleway across the slopes above a wood, to join a lane by Ty‘n-y-mynydd. Follow the lane on downhill to the Sun Inn at Rhewl.

The main route, however, continues along the ridge, rising to the low ramparts of the Iron Age hillfort on Moel-y-Gaer. From here, the wellused path undulates across the rounded slopes, before snaking uphill again to the white-painted

concrete Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar on the summit of Moel Morfydd. Continue west from Moel Morfydd and make a further steep descent.

Where the path levels out at the bottom of the slope, two tracks merge in a triangle of paths; turn sharp left here to join a prominent track which contours the hillside below the summit.

Around a kilometre later, the now grassy track levels out and bends sharply downhill to the right; continue straight ahead here on a slightly narrower, curving, grassy path, with Castell Dinas Bran soon clear on its hill ahead. At a sheep fence, turn right and follow the wire downslope to the field corner. Turn left over the stile, and then bear right, downhill again. Continue past a zig-zag in the fenceline, keeping the fence on your right.

At the bottom of the slope, look for a fourway wooden fingerpost beside a gate at the junction of four fences. One finger points diagonally left across the sheep slopes. Head over the crest of the hill; roughly 200 metres to the right of the small conifer wood ahead, there is a waymarked stile at a corner of the fence.

3. Once over the stile, cross a boggy stream and climb over a second stile. Turn immediately left here, downhill on a waymarked path through the bracken. It drops downhill, now with the stream on your left, before skirting the top edge

‘On a clear day the panorama is one of the most extensive in North Wales ’

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

2 3

1 P

Ordinance Survey Mapping © Crown Copyright 057/13

Information of the wood. Beyond the wood, the path continues downhill alongside the fence and tumbled drystone wall.

Just beyond the working farm below Craig Ddu, drop down to join a broad farm track. Turn right, along the track. Roughly 60 metres later, turn left over a stile, and drop down the field to an overgrown track that follows the fenceline down to the right. At the bottom of the field, turn left over a waymarked stile, then right, over another stile. A short path leads to a grassy access drive to nearby Fron cottage. Turn left down the drive, which is a ‘permissive path’.

The drive curves above a wood, then kinks left to join a farm access track. Turn right here, along the track, and after passing over a stream, rise to a T junction.

Turn right, downhill, along the lane to the Sun Inn at Rhewl, a tiny but delightful old drovers’ inn and a welcome pint. From the Sun Inn, continue along the lane back to point 1. at Rhewl to complete the walk.

Start: Begin the walk at the tiny hamlet of Rhewl, 5 kilometres/3 miles west of Llangollen on the northern banks of the River Dee/Afon Dyfrdwy.

Park on a broad gravelled area opposite the little red brick chapel of Capel Hebron, in Rhewl.

Map grid reference: SJ 183 449 Distance: 9.5 kilometres/6 miles.

Other facilities: Sun Inn, Rhewl. Real ale, bar food, real fires, games room, beer garden. 01978 861043.

More walks like this: Best Walks in North Wales: Twenty-eight of the finest circular walks in North Wales,

by Carl Rogers (ISBN 978-0-9553557-3-8) published by Northern Eye Books, £8.99. www.northerneyebooks.co.uk

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PUB WALK Words: Lorna Jenner Photos: The Corn Mill & Carl Rogers

The Corn Mill, Llangollen Lorna Jenner describes another of her favourite pub walks

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

Llangollen is a perfect starting point for walkers. The picturesque town nestles in the Dee Valley, with the Berwyn Mountains to the south and the Llantysilio Mountains to the north.

The focal point is the River Dee itself and the historic bridge that spans the fast flowing waters is renowned as one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Wales’. The Llangollen Canal runs parallel with the river, linking the town to the magnificent Pontcysllte Aqueduct a few miles to the east and the Horsehoe Falls to the west.

There is plenty of choice of cafes and pubs but, for me, the Corn Mill is hard to beat, both for the character of the building, its wonderful riverside setting and the excellent choice of food and drink that is served. Walkers are welcome and, even if you don’t want a meal or to sample the beers and wines, teas and coffees are served all day.

As its name suggests, the Corn Mill was a working mill, powered by the river, and continued

grinding until 1974. In the 1990s, the old mill was bought and lovingly restored by the present owners, Brunning and Price, who reopened it in 2000 as a pub and restaurant.

The present building dates from 1786 but there has been a mill there for over 700 years. The original mill was built by the Cistercian monks of Valle Crucis Abbey. The fishing on the River Dee has been always prized and several of the old photographs that now adorn the pub walls show men proudly standing beside the very large salmon they have caught! The first written reference to the mill is a 13th century document recording a fishing dispute between the freemen of Llangollen and the Abbot, which indicates that the fishing rights were highly valued from the earliest times.

The water wheel and machinery have all been carefully restored and, as you walk into the pub, you usually hear the creaking of the old wheel slowly turning. The interior is a mass of mellow wood, with old beams, wooden staircases, polished floorboards and an eclectic mix of old prints, posters and photographs covering the walls. Looking out across the river, it is easy to feel you are going back in time with the sound of

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PUB WALK

Valle Crucis Abbey

The Llangollen Canal near Chainbridge

40

the slowly turning machinery in the background and the regular hoot and hiss of the steam trains chuffing in and out of Llangollen Station on the opposite bank.

Each floor has its own character. The stone flagged ground floor, with its wide bar edged with stools is popular with locals. The first floor is on several levels, centred on the atmospheric bar with the turning machinery for the water wheel running through it. Small flights of steps lead up to two quieter sitting areas and down another small flight is a light, airy room overlooking to the river and beyond that is the decking where, on mild days, it is idyllic to sit out and experience the sounds, sights and freshness of the fast flowing river. You can often watch intrepid canoeists tackling the rapids, or the fishermen casting their lines. The top floor is in the eaves and also has a special atmosphere with its sloping ceilings and milling machinery.

Food is served all day. Many of the ingredients are locally sourced and the food is freshly cooked.

An interesting range of starters and main courses are always offered. The menu includes traditional dishes such as Ploughman’s lunches, ham, egg and chips, local sausages, rump steak and steak burgers or deep fried haddock in beer batter

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

with chips and mushy peas. More contemporary dishes such as smoked haddock and salmon fishcakes, roasted belly pork, roasted cod with pea and saffron risotto with a mussel fennel salad, parma ham salad with honey roast figs, marinated mozzarella, pumpkin seeds and raspberry vinaigrette are also served. Interesting new additions are regularly added, often making the most of seasonal produce. Vegetarians are well catered for too with dishes such as butternut and spinach Penang curry or pasta with asparagus, courgette, spinach, olives and gazpacho dressing.

If you don’t want a large meal, there is always a good range of light bites such as macaroni cheese and crusty bread, grilled sardine fillets on toast or steamed mussels. Substantial sandwiches are also served.

There is plenty of choice for pudding too such as pecan pie with clotted cream, chocolate nut brownie with honeycomb icecream, bakewell tart with custard, sticky toffee pudding with toffee and vanilla sauce or waffle with butterscotch sauce and vanilla icecream. I sometimes choose one of these with coffee and tea after a walk as they make a good alternative to afternoon tea.

For the lover of real ale there is always a good choice, with two house beers and three regularly changing guest ales, often featuring local

breweries such as Plassey and Abbey Grange.

There is also an extensive wine list, including a good range of wines available by the glass.

The Walk

A historic walk along the Llangollen Canal to Thomas Telford’s Horsehoe Falls that were built to feed water from the river to the canal, then past the remains of Valle Crucis Abbey and ending with views of the ruined medieval castle of Dinas Bran.

This is a gentle walk following the canal towpath and then returning along natural paths with little climbing, although there are several stiles. There is an option to climb up to Castell Dinas Bran if you feel energetic.

This walk is adapted from the Llangollen History Trail, developed by Denbighshire Countryside Service. A leaflet describing the historic features of the route can be downloaded from: www. deevalleywalks.com//llangollen.htm 1. From the Corn Mill turn left and walk to the road junction. Turn left here and walk over the bridge.

Cross the road, turn left and then right after a few metres onto a path between buildings, signed to the canal. At the wharf turn left onto the towpath and follow this for approximately 2.8km.

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PUB WALK Castell Dinas Bran

Soon after passing the Chain Bridge Hotel cross a small bridge beside the old pump house for the canal, then go through a small gate into a field beside the Horseshoe Falls. Follow the path through fields before reaching the road by Llantysilio church.

2. Turn right and continue on the road past Llantysilio Green car park until you reach a fingerpost on your left, just past the entrance to Bryntysilio Outdoor Education Centre. Take this path right then left, following the waymarkers, then go up steps at the woodland edge and follow the path to a stile. Cross the stile and turn right along the path across the bottom of Velvet Hill.

Turn right at a fingerpost, signed to the Abbey,

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and walk down the hill. Cross a stile and continue to the road.

3. Carefully cross the road then turn left and walk along the roadside for a short distance then go through a kissing gate on the right. Cross the field to another kissing gate onto a track. Turn left and follow the track past Valle Crucis Abbey into the caravan park. Follow the path straight ahead between the caravans down to the stream. Cross the stream at the bridge and go up the steps. At the top turn left and go through the gate into fields, keeping to the left-hand fenceline. Cross a ladder stile and turn right heading for another ladder stile. Cross and turn left following the path to a junction. Turn right onto a clear path along the

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3 2

4

1 P Ordinance Survey Mapping © Crown Copyright 057/13

lower hillside, crossing two stiles before descending down a track past a house, Bryn Hyfryd to join a road. Turn right and follow the road round to the left down hill.

At the bottom of the hill, go over the stile on the left, signposted Dinas Bran. Follow the waymarkers across the field to a stile in the top corner. Cross and turn right following the fenceline up the hill.

4. At the sculpted crow marker continue straight ahead. If you wish to extend the walk to Castell Dinas Bran, turn left at the waymarker and follow the zig zag path uphill to the ruined castle on the summit, and return back the same way. Go through a kissing gate and continue down the hill, across a small crossroads. Go through another kissing gate and follow the concrete path down hill and through a third gate. Then follow the path alongside the school. Go down steps and cross the road and a small canal bridge. Then turn right back to the wharf and retrace your steps back into Llangollen.

Information Start point: The Corn Mill

Explorer map: 265

Distance: 6 miles / 9.6km

Practical information Contact details: The Corn Mill, Dee Lane, Llangollen, L20 8PN Tel: 01978 869555 Website: www.cornmill-llangollen.co.uk Open from midday to 11.00pm daily 10.30pm on Sunday n Food served 12pm - 9.30pm Mon - Sat and until 9pm on Sunday n There is no parking at the pub itself but there are a number of public car parks in the town fee charged, n Dogs are not encouraged n Well-behaved children are welcome children’s menu available n Worth booking in advance for meals as can get busy n

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GEOCACHING

Hidden treasures

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

Why not turn your walk into a real adventure. If you’ve not been introduced to the art of geocaching yet, it may revolutionise your walking. The Leader newspaper’s feature writer Rhian Waller recently investigated what all the fuss was about.

Armed with nothing more than a handheld device or printed map, treasure hunters across the region are making intriguing discoveries.

When Lee Silvester and Dan Stainton invited me on a morning of tracking geocaches at the Old Warren, Broughton, I jumped at the chance.

Lee, 26, who works at Boots, in Broughton, is a keen outdoor adventurer with a passion for biking and hiking, but he stumbled across geocaching by accident.

“I heard about it through a friend, but I didn’t actually know what it was,” he said. “One boring Sunday I was at Dan’s house and I thought, I’m going to check this out. “We had a search online and it turned out there was a cache right at the end of the street. “There are four quite close by.

We’re looking for a ‘mini nano’.” Dan, from Mold, and Lee escorted me up a leaf-strewn lane to a gate.

Although I wasn’t yet feeling the rush of a true treasure-seeker, as my hosts already knew where the tiny capsule was hidden, I enjoyed the clean, bright light and fresh winter air.

“It’s great because it gets you outdoors,” said Lee. “And it’s a good feeling when you find it. You just want to go and find your next one.

“There’s a bit of friendly competition with other geocachers, to become the ‘First To Find’ with a new cache.

“I’ve got a bit of a rivalry with a girl in Broughton to see which of us gets to 300 finds first.

“But if you arrive at the same time as another hunter, you help each other out.” When we reached the gate, Lee crouched and felt around near the base until he found the cache. It was a tiny magnetic capsule, just big enough to hold a scroll of paper marked with the signatures of previous geocachers – a benign, barely visible version of an ‘I woz ere’ graffiti tag.

It was odd to think dozens of people had been there before, standing in the exact spot for the same reason.

“There’s one in Mold near the top of the High Street too,” said Lee. “We went up there to have a look and didn’t find it at first. Then we went back again.

“When we logged it we found out it had been positioned there for five years. That’s pretty amazing.”

Then it struck me that I’ve been missing out on all this. The geocaching craze started in America more than 10 years ago before migrating to the UK, and most people have been walking past secret little messages for years. Lee said: “A lot of people know about geocaching. But there

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GEOCACHING

GEOCACHING FACTFILE • There are 1.9 million live geocaches listed on the geocaching.com website.

• There are caches in places as diverse as the International Space Station and the Antarctic. Players can set their own caches.

• Caches should not be placed on private

property and may be limited in certain public areas, such as Loggerheads, due to environmental concerns.

• To offset accusations of littering (by placing the cache), many geocachers litter-pick as they hunt.

• Geocache hunters and cache-setters should always be aware of the law. No dangerous items should be put in the box, and it should be placed sensibly (a cache found near a school in New Zealand triggered a bomb scare in 2009).

• Keep geocache lids firmly closed to stop the signature list getting damp.

• The National Trust offer free loan on Garmin GPS devices if you want to trial it. Visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/ activities/geo-caching/ for details of your nearest venue.

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are a lot of ‘muggles’ (members of the public who aren’t aware of the pursuit) so you do have to be careful in case they see you looking and take away the cache. You do get some funny looks.”

The next cache was the spectacular ‘graverobber’, a mocked-up coffin that was more than a foot long, containing gold coins, a notebook and a skeleton.

Some players take and leave little trinkets in the bigger boxes, including ‘travel bugs’ that can be traced online, but we laid the skeleton back.

Judging by the number of signatures, he wouldn’t be resting in peace for long.

“This is my favourite,” said Lee. “I took my daughter Scarlett to find this one and you should have seen her face. It’s amazing.”

From the twinkle in his eye, I suspected dad enjoyed the find as much daughter.

But after being led from cache to cache, I still wasn’t getting the buzz Dan and Lee had both enthused about – until we reached the last location.

It was nicknamed ‘The Floating Vicar’ on the website geocaching.com.

“We haven’t found this yet,” said Lee. “One of the great things about geocaching is you can find out a lot about the area. This one is named after a local ghost story you can read on the online profile.

“The clues can be tricky – anagrams or puzzles.

“There’s a series around Mold designed to teach you about the town. Some are amazingly technical.

There’s one you have to do at night with torches.

There are mirrors you bounce the light off and that shows you the location.

“One was driving us insane – we must have gone back about four times. Finally we found it. It was a kind of test-tube slotted right into a wooden post, and the cork on the end was completely disguised.”

Although they are tech-savvy, Lee and Dan prefer to navigate by map rather than a GPS global positioning system - signal, as it presents more of a challenge.

We did a quick scan for dog walkers and then we fanned out. And then, miraculously, I found the cache.

As I retrieved it, I felt a wave of triumph. It clicked. Suddenly I understood why the game was so addictive.

I won’t spoil the hiding place for other players, but I signed the scroll (my first proper find!) and replaced it for the next treasure hunter to find.

And just as Lee had predicted, I couldn’t wait for my next find.

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

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HILLS OF WALES Tryfan rises abruptly above Llyn Ogwen

Tryfan

Tryfan is a mountain walker’s dream.

A great cathedral of rock buttresses and gullies, it has delighted and terrorised travellers, walkers, and rock climbers for more than two centuries.

the scramblers’ mountain Words: Tony Bowerman Photographs: Carl Rogers

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches A view looking down the North Ridge to the A5.

Early stagecoach travellers on Thomas Telford’s new road through the Ogwen valley are said to have ‘gasped in awe’ and ‘shielded their eyes in terror’ (as was the fashion of the day) as they passed below its huge east face. Others voiced heartfelt concern for the sanity of the two tiny figures they could see trembling on its topmost rocks. Here, of course, they were mistaken: the two ‘tiny figures’ are actually two curious rock pillars — ‘Adam and Eve’ — that form the highest spots on this monumental mountain.

Even today, Tryfan still impresses travellers as

they drive west from Capel Curig on the main A5. The first hills that come into view are the rounded hump of Gallt yr Ogof, backed by the higher, but still rounded Carneddau group. Closer to, however, the serrated profile of Tryfan slides into view. At first sight, the impact of this iconic mountain is electric. Its brutal east face rises 600 metres above the valley floor in an impressive triple buttress separated by deep gullies. Slung across the face like a great scar is Heather Terrace, a prominent feature when seen from the valley yet not so easy to find once you’re climbing through shifting mist.

Tryfan’s unique feature — and it’s one that’s probably immediately obvious — is that, unlike the neighbouring summits, it has no ‘easy’ side.

There is no simple way up. There are no grassy slopes, no walkers’ routes as such. This is because the mountain is really an offshoot, or secondary ridge, running out from the main mass of the

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HILLS OF WALES Tryfan looking very Alpine in winter conditions

Glyders. Because of Tryfan’s sheer height, the Ice Age glaciers that hollowed out the hanging valleys on the north-facing slopes worked on all sides at once. The result is a striking up-turned axe blade of a mountain. To reach the summit, whatever your route, means using your hands as well as your feet.

The easiest way to the summit is by the South Ridge. This connects Tryfan to the adjoining Glyder Fach at Bwlch Tryfan. It is still a scramble, but there is not much exposure except for a short

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stretch just below the summit. Bwlch Tryfan can be reached either from Cwm Tryfan on the east, or by the beautiful route from Idwal, past the hanging lake of Llyn Bochlwyd. You can also reach the South Ridge from Heather Terrace (see below).

This cuts a deep scar across the east face of the mountain and gives superb views down into the boggy depths of Cwm Tryfan.

For the more adventurous, the East Face route offers easy scrambling and bird’s-eye views of the Ogwen valley, but you will need a steady hand as

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

well as a head for heights. Beginning at Gwern Gof Uchaf, the route heads up past the impressive rock slab known as Little Tryfan, then scrambles up onto the mountain’s North Ridge. When the going gets tough, the path swings into the gullies on the East Face. This avoids any real exposure and the hardest scrambling, too. The final section is an exciting scramble out of the gully to reach the summit crowned by the distinctive rocks of ‘Adam and Eve’.

If all this sounds a little too easy, then the North

Ridge scramble could be for you. The North Ridge is a similar standard to the famous Crib Goch ridge on Snowdon — straightforward scrambling on good rock, but with numerous exposed sections where a fall would be disastrous. It follows the East Face route at first, but keeps to the ridge crest in the upper section.

There are some superb situations - like the finger of rock known as ‘The Cannon’ and the bird’s-eye views down to the A5, more than 600 metres below.

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HILLS OF WALES Tryfan slides into view from behind the rounded bulk of Gallt yr Ogof

“Tryfan is extremely dark and awful” Black’s Picturesque Guide to North Wales, 1857

The Walk

Climb Tryfan by Heather Terrace and the South Ridge.

Walk east along the A5 and turn right down the track to Gwern Gof Uchaf farm. Follow the track to the farm, passing it on the left-hand side where a stile leads over the wall onto a bridleway (previously the old road through the valley). Turn right along the bridleway for a few metres to a point level with the farm outbuildings and then bear left on a footpath which heads towards Tryfan. Ignore a left turn at a fork in the path; instead, continue ahead to walk up past the prominent rock slab known as ‘Little Tryfan’.

Immediately after the slab, the path bears right, and climbs up over several small rock ribs to a stile in the fence line that gives access to the Cwm Tryfan path. However, don’t cross this stile; instead, take the path to the right and walk up parallel to the fence. Higher up, the path rises by stone steps through a short gully.

At the top of the gully, take the path immediately on the left that leads onto Heather Terrace. The path along the terrace is well used and can be Tryfan’s Rocky Summit

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The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

Ordinance Survey Mapping © Crown Copyright 057/13

followed comfortably. The rock scenery is also superb as you pass below the impressive buttresses of the East Face.

At the far end of Heather Terrace, turn steeply right up a broad, short scree slope, which leads onto the South Ridge of the mountain. Cross the stile over the wall and follow the path rightwards up the broad rocky ridge to the summit marked by the twin monoliths of ‘Adam and Eve’.

To descend, retrace your route down the broad South Ridge passing the Heather Terrace Path where you crossed the wall. Continue down to Bwlch Tryfan, which separates Tryfan from Glyder Fach.

Cross the wall by the stile on the left at the lowest point on the bwlch, and then take the path across the head of Cwm Tryfan.

Before you reach the broad shoulder ahead, look for an obvious footpath on the left, which takes a direct line down Cwm Tryfan below the towering East Face of the mountain.

Finally, cross a stile in the fence above Little Tryfan and follow the path down to Gwern Gof Uchaf to complete the round.

Information Start: Layby on the A5 at the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen Grid ref.

SH 671 605 Distance: 6.5km/4 miles Distance: 6.5km/4 miles Map: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Outdoor Leisure/ Explorer: Snowdon/ Yr Wyddfa, sheet OL 17 More walks like this: Snowdonia’s best Mountain Walks,

by Carl Rogers.

ISBN 978-1-902512-19-8, published by Mara Books, £7.99. www.northerneyebooks.co.uk

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BODNANT GARDENS The Waterfall Bridge as it is normally seen by visitors … and (right) under repair

Once in a lifetime facelift for Garden’s iconic bridge

Work has begun on a £150,000 project to renovate one of Bodnant Garden’s most famous features – the Waterfall Bridge.

The cascading waterfall in The Dell is one of the most iconic parts of the National Trust garden near Conwy, and it’s the first time the bridge has undergone such extensive repairs in its 100-year history.

Adam Salvin says: “Along with the Pin Mill and Laburnum Arch, the Waterfall Bridge must be the image most photographed by the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to the Garden each year.

“It may look a little different right now, covered in scaffolding, but visitors are seeing history in the making. It’s part of a major project to open up

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more of the riverside garden in the next couple of years and so it’s a really exciting time.”

The Garden’s founder Henry Pochin bought the house and estate of Bodnant in the 1870s and remodelled the valley garden of The Dell, planting giant conifers and constructing rockwork to re-enforce the stream and river edges.

In the early 1900s the dam was built to harness the River Hiraethlyn and enhance the dramatic scenery of The Dell by creating a waterfall, and a bridge from which to look down upon it.

However, the time has come for repairs. The dam has suffered from water erosion over the years and in the last quarter of 2013 it will be pressure grouted with an infill which is environmentally safe for the river and the stone frontage will be repointed. Bridge timber will be removed and renovated.

Included in the project has been the

The best walking in North & Mid Wales and The Marches

FACT BOX • Bodnant Garden is one of the most

beautiful gardens in the UK, spanning 80 acres situated above the River Conwy and looking across the valley towards the Snowdonia range. It is noted for its botanical collections and 180-foot long Laburnum Arch which flowers in late May. Bodnant Garden welcomes over 160,000 visitors annually.

• Holder of 4 National Collections -

Embothriums, Eucryphias, Magnolias and Rhododendrons.

construction of an eel pass. It is also hoped to install a fish pass to promote the river’s wildlife.

After this, the next part of the project is the construction of a new bridge further upstream and a 2m wide, accessible, all-weather walkway with riverside landscaping around the south west area of the Garden, which is currently private but which will be unveiled to the public in 2015.

All this is the result of long consultation with planners, the Welsh Government’s historic environment service CADW and the NRW (Natural Resources Wales). Talks are also going on over the problem of silting, which has contributed to flooding in the Garden as well as inhibiting river wildlife.

Last year the Garden spent £60,000 on major de-silting works and is in talks with local landowners, farmers, and other authorities about work upstream as far as the nearby village of

• Italianate-style Terraces lead down through Shrub Borders to steeply-sided informal valley garden of The Dell.

• In 2013 Bodnant Garden will be open daily from January 1 to December 31 (closed 24, 25, 26 December).

Eglwysbach to find a long term solution.

Adam says: “In a few weeks time the Waterfall Bridge will be back to its full splendour but in the meantime come and have a once-in-a-lifetime look at the work going on down there - it will be some time before it’s done again!”

Why not combine a visit to Bodnant Gardens with a walk in the Conwy Valley, as featured in the last edition of Walking Pages. Back copies available by calling 01352 707707 or email: walkingpages@nwn.co.uk

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Walking Pages Winter 2013

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