CEFN-DU + DINAS OSIAN.21-7-12.

Today me and Julie visited Llanberis to do a small walk up to visit the antennae buildings on Cefn-du.Llanberis was a hive of activity today as it was the day of the Snowdon Mountain Race so we parked in the long car park that runs along side Llyn Padarn and waked through the town and took the steep road to reach the narrow lane that runs below the hill fort of Dinas Osian,it was very hot as we gained height and the views weren't bad,below looking back to Elidir Fawr.

Julie's feet were hurting already so we slowed the pace down and had a few stops so she could recover.Once we got to the path that branches off for Moel Eilio the path flattened out and we could see Cefn-du ahead.

Julie's spirits were lifted when we saw that we didn't have far to go or to gain a lot of height.We left the lane near to the Chwarel Fawr slate mine and picked up a narrow path and as we gained height we could see the peaks of Yr Eifl to the right of Moel Tryfan.

We were soon at the summit which is marked by a trig point,seen below,and the ruined antennae buildings.

Cefn-du was the site of the first radio transmission from the UK to Australia in 1918.Marconi used this hill to experiment with long distance radio waves.We stopped and had dinner here,marvelling in the far reaching views across to Anglesey,the Lleyn Peninsula,the Nantlle Ridge,Moel Eilio and its 2 small quarries of Donnen Las and Bryn Mawr,Snowdon and across to the Carneddau.We took a detour to see the massive chasm of the Chwarel Fawr quarry before returning to the track.Below is the hill fort of Dinas Osian in the foreground and the scarred side of Elidir Fawr.

I made a quick visit to the hill fort whilst Julie carried on down the track,its summit cairn seen below.

Leaving the hill fort i took the very steep path down through the bracken slopes to get in front of Julie and took a photo of Yr Wyddfa,below,while i waited for her.

We made our way back to town by 1.30.The Snowdon race started at 2 o'clock and there was a lot of competitors running around warming up for the race.A quick change by the car and we made our way over for the start of the race.

The lad in the white vest is last years winner and 6 times champion Andy Jones but he pulled out with injury half way up,and the lad in the dark blue vest on the left is Murray Strain from Scotland.Last year he finished runner up but this year he won it,his Canadian girlfriend won the womens race in her first ever mountain race !.
    Today we walked 7 mile with 1,500 feet of ascent.

MILEAGE WALKED     341.5
ASCENT                         81,800
TOPS                               78.

BLEAKLOW + HIGHER SHELF STONES.19-7-12.

Having completed the Welsh Nuttalls and wanting to bag a few more of the English ones me,Howie and Clive set off to Glossop,Derbyshire where we met Mike to bag 2 of only 5 Nuttalls south of the Lakes/Yorkshire Dales.Parking at the industrial estate in Old Glossop we set off in light drizzle but thankfully in only lasted 15 minutes as we made steady progress up an old trackway,which had quite a bit of water running down it.

Roofing and paving slabs were transported this way from the quarry on Cock Hill which loomed ahead.

I veered off from the boys to find a geo-cache and to explore the quarry.

By now the rain had stopped and i caught up with the boys at the trig point on Cock Hill.

Now we headed north east past lots of grouse butts to reach the shooting hut which had a helicopter parked by it,with bags of lime and a spreader,i couldn't resist a sit in it.

We now dropped down to the Pennine Way and followed it up Torside Clough.

We crossed the stream at the top of John Track Well and followed Wildboar Grain a short distance before Mike took us to see the site of the Bristol Blenheim Bomber that crashed here.

We returned to the clough and walked the short distance to the summit of Bleaklow.

Here we had our dinner and we then visited the "kissing" Wain Stones.

Next entailed some serious bog trotting and stream jumping before we reached the Hern Stones.

Over these stones,more bog trotting and we reached the wreck of the Super Fortress.

A short distance away is the summit of Higher Shelf Stones.

Leaving the summit we headed south east and followed Crooked Clough down the valley to join Doctor's Gate which affords a great view back up to the summit we had just left.

The path now joins the bridal way following Shelf Brook back to Glossop,but we had to walk the last 15 minutes in heavy rain.This walk was 10.5 mile long with an ascent of 2,200 feet.I have completed 62 of the English Nuttalls.

MILEAGE WALKED    344.5
ASCENT                       80,300
TOPS                             76.

The CLWYDIAN HILL'S linear walk.17-7-12.

Yesterdays walk with Clive and Mike to Rhobell Fawr was cancelled due to the poor weather forecast so we arranged a walk to the Clwydian Hills today as the forecast for north east Wales was favourable and so we all met in the village of Cilcain where me and Mike left our cars and Clive drove us to Afonwen where we left his car at the craft centre.A steep ascent is immediately thrust upon you as you head up to the mast at Moel y Parc and with it being hot and overcast we were immediately plagued with flies,Clive taking a nasty bite on his wrist from a horsefly.I stopped to apply deet and got myself a piece of bracken to swot them away.As we reached the col by Nant Coed-y-mynydd farm the flies left us alone and we followed the Offa's Dyke path up to Penycloddiau,the summit marker seen below.

Next we walked along side the wooded area,through a car park and made our way up to Moel Arthur.

We then took the steep path down its south side to another small car park and lane and headed up to the unmarked top of Moel Llys-y-Coed.We continued along the Offa's Dyke path to eventually reach Moel Dywyll,our 4th top.

We now had the short but steep walk up to the highest point in the range,Moel Famau,but we had to share its summit with about 40 other noisy people.

We had a quick break here before descending along side the forest and passing Cae Newydd before walking back up to Cilcain via the lanes.We drove back for Clive's car before calling in the Glasfryn for a cider.The distance of this walk was 10 mile with an ascent of 2,900 feet.

MILEAGE WALKED   334
ASCENT                      78,100
TOPS                            74.

HILBRE ISLAND.15-7-12.

Having worked 7-7 nights i woke at midday and to my surprise it was sunny.I came downstairs and after having breakfast i said to Julie "come on,lets go to Hilbre Island",and we were setting off just after 12.30 Parking at West Kirby we set off across the sand on a beautiful sunny day.

After a 1 mile walk you reach Little Eye,the smallest of the 3 islands.

Little Eye with Little Hilbre yonder.

Leaving Little Eye.

Although sunny the northerly wind had a bite to it.We soon reached Little Hilbre A.K.A. Middle Eye.

Little Hilbre is a lot bigger than Little Eye with nice rock formations on its west side.

Below,the causeway across to Hilbre.

Hilbre is the largest island,we passed the Bunter Sandstone which looked great in the sunshine.

Nearing the ruined lifeboat station.

Looking across to Wales.

Close up of fishermen on sandbank.

After visiting  the lifeboat station and watching the seals we rounded the island and dropped down to the east shore for the return.

Returning to Little Hilbre we sat at the south side sheltered from the wind and sat sunbathing and people watching.

 Returning to West Kirby we had a massive ice cream before setting off to the Cottage Loaf pub in Caldy for a sunday dinner.This little walk is 4 miles long with 100 feet of ascent.

MILEAGE WALKED   324
ASCENT                      75,200
TOPS                            69.

AN OLD FAVOURITE.10-7-12.

Today i took Clive on one of my favourite local walks,the circular walk from Froncysyllte Aqueduct,along the Offa's Dyke path to Castell Dinas Bran and then down into Llangollen,and then the canal walk back to the aqueduct.Clive drove us to the aqueduct car park and we started walking in light drizzle and leaden skies picking up the canal path for a short distance before heading for Trevor.

Crossing the A539 in Trevor we headed for the wooded area above Trevor Hall.At least here we were sheltered a little from the rain which had got really heavy by now.The path was slippery and very muddy,the worst i have ever seen it and we took our time,not wanting to have an injury and hoping the rain would stop before we got from under the trees.As luck would have it just as we reached the open ground it stopped raining and we stopped high above the Dee Valley for a break and to take some photo's.

Walking up to the Panorama we came across an area that was full of hundreds of foxgloves,i've never seen so many.

Walking towards the castle the skies started to brighten up and the clouds began to lift.I gave Clive the option of bypassing the castle but he wanted to walk up to it so we did,and we had our lunch in the castle ruins.

We took the steep path down to Llangollen passing the school and stopped for a pint of Unicorn in the Bridge End.The sun was trying its best to come out as we crossed the river and made our way to the bakery where we both bought an Oggie,they are the tastiest in North Wales ! As we crossed the bridge again a steam train pulled in so we walked down to the station to have a look at it.

We walked back up to the canal and followed it all the way back to Froncysyllte and when we got back to the car Clive couldn't find his keys,he had dropped them somewhere.We walked to the Thomas Telford Inn and got a phone number for a local taxi and he drove us back to Llangollen.First stop the bakery where somebody had handed them in,phew.The taxi took us back to the car and we drove to the Hampden Arms,Acrefair for a pint.We walked 9 mile with 1,800 feet of ascent.

MILEAGE WALKED    320
ASCENT                       75,100
TOPS                            69.

NORTH BERWYN WAY.8-7-12.

I travelled to Llangollen with Glyno and Killy and we parked in the Market Street car park and there we met Julian.Leaving Killy's car there we drove to Corwen in JC's car and parked at the football/cricket club car park.Already very warm and the cloud dispersing we were walking by 9.15 a.m. Walking up to the A5 we stopped to take photo's of the Owain Glyndwr statue.

Walking now towards the river after half a mile we dropped down onto the disused Ruabon to Barmouth railway line.

A short distance away you get a good view of the A5/Corwen Bridge with the River Dee swollen after the recent heavy rains.

The disused railway line runs parallel to the River Dee.

A half mile walk and near where the Afon Alwen joins the Afon Dyfrdwy in Llangar Church.

The clouds had now disappeared and it was very hot and the flies were a real nuisance.1 mile further down the line we reached Cynwyd were we walked up to the B4401 and crossed it to pick up a lane near the Blue Lion which follows the Afon Trystion up to Cynwyd Forest.

Im not a big fan of walking through forests/wooded areas and today with the flies annoying us i was hating it.I stopped to apply Deet and got a piece of bracken to swot them away.We reached an open section were there was a slight breeze and the flies left us alone.Below the photo shows the twin topped Moel yr Henfaes.

Back into the trees and the flies were back to annoy us.We were walking at a fast pace and were quickly through this section and on to open ground again and gaining height we were getting a view to the mountain ranges further afield,although a murky view.

As we neared Moel Fferna and the climb up to it we saw the first of the few people we were to see on this 15 mile walk.

Summit photo.

Leaving the summit we headed down to the Moel Fferna Slate Quarry.

After a mooch around we left the quarry by the incline following the Nant y Pandy.The NBW stops short of the lower quarry before heading back up the fence near the Ceiriog Forest.Turning east we now headed for Vivod which is 2 miles away.

Numerous trees had been blown over and were covering the path which resulted in a few detours and we soon reached the last steep pull up to the summit of Vivod.Below,looking back to Moel Fferna.

From Vivod it was 3.5 miles back to Llangollen on good tracks.It started to cloud over and looking across to the Berwyns you could tell that rain was on its way so we didn't hang around and picked the pace up to try to beat the rain.Below,looking down on Llangollen.

We had walked exactly 15 miles by the time we had reached the car with a total ascent of 2,700 feet and it had taken us 6 hours,walking at an average of 3 MPH.Within 5 minutes of leaving the car park and heading back to Corwen to pick JC's car up the heavens opened up and its teemed down with rain,we had timed it to perfection.We stopped at the Berwyn Hotel for a beer where we talked to the locals who were rum characters.

MILES WALKED     311
ASCENT                   73,300
TOPS                        69.