March 2025 Llangollen

A Walk Lead by Peter Hitchcock

10 miles & 1,000 ft Ascent

For the 1st walk of the new season to Llangollen, we shall break with tradition and instead of breaking your backs early on by climbing up to the castle then onto Offa’s Dyke ridge path, I shall lead you to the South to break your back up on to the southern flank hills and to Y Foel Tor. (Only joking!)

From the car park (toilets now 40p – inflation), we climb south-east through a lovely national forest wood before trekking up to the ridge. It is steep out of the town and up to the wood, then the route tails off a bit before we start a good “long-haul” hours climb – as we call it – up to the top road. But, it is a gradual, albeit fairly steep path but with rewarding views north across the valley. A 2.5km upland road will take us to the foot of the Tor where we quickly conquer a ‘midday’ sting-in-the-tail climb to the top for lunch.

Its all downhill back to Llangollen via the very nice North Berwyn Way but it does get steep again as we approach the town – no options as we have to reach the valley floor again, the car park and the riverside resting house! Overall, we climb about 1000ft above the town and find it again after 10.25 miles. Muddy in parts, for the most its good, solid track. A fine ‘A’ walk test to christen the 2025 season.

B Walk by John Wilson

A circular picturesque route of 7.5 miles and 1000 ft ascent following the route on the map anticlockwise. Weather permitting we follow the black line to Castell Dinas Bran and descending down the other side. If the weather is poor we will stick to the orange line which is predominantly tarmac. 

Continuing anticlockwise round the route is a gentle walk down to the canal, then along the towpath to the canal end and Horseshoe falls. We then return to Llangollen along the towpath. 

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C Walk led by Bill Farr

Dist: approx 5 miles with 430ft ascent/descent

 

We start along the canal and turn off after just over a mile towards Valle Crucia Abbey - a 12th century monastery now mostly in ruins.  We then descend to cross a footbridge heading towards the very small hamlet of Hendry.  From here, we cross some muddy fields to a lane which takes us to Llantisilio church.  We go through a gate and head down to join the river at Horseshoe Falls before following the canal back to Llangollen (1.8 miles).

 

Walk B Trefiw 9th November 2024

Walk lead by Mark Stanford, 8 miles appx, 1000ft of ascent.

Just shy of 8 miles with a bit less than 1000ft of ascent this challenge will reward the B party with stunning views of Creigiau Gleision, as well as two lakes. The terrain is good with a mix of woodland paths, forestry tracks and mettled road finishing with a pleasant riverside stroll through fields.
 

We begin with a stiff climb taking in the falls behind the mill before picking up a woodland trail out of Trefriw. As we level out, we leave the trees behind passing evidence of mineworks. The path takes us to the northern end of Llyn Geirionydd. The map shows that I walked the western shaw on the recce, but we’ll follow the quiet mettled track on the east to avoid a challenging and slippery quarter of a mile. 

At the end of the lake we head west for the high ground separating the two lakes, where, weather allowing we’ll stop for lunch to enjoy the views, before making our way down to the lakeside.
We’ll follow the quiet lane before picking up footpaths through fields that will return us to Trefriw before dusk with sufficient time to enjoy all that the village has to offer.

 

 

Walk C Trefiw 9th November 2024

Walk lead by Gwyn Jones, 5 miles appx.

An easy walk but wet and muddy in places.  After coffee etc. we will make a short uphill walk to the waterfall; which was in full flow when we did the recce. Then we return to the village and head to the Cob which is a grassy flood wall alongside the river. We walk along the cob to the suspension bridge. We cross the river into the town for a short while before we can pick up the riverside path to the road bridge. Here we stop for our lunch. We return through the village to the suspension bridge and continue  to Trefriw along  a tarmac road. I recommend good leg- ware eg Spats. Gwyn

Walk A Trefiw 9th November 2024

Walk lead by Peter Hitchcock, 10 miles, total climb 2360ft.

You’ll be delighted that the last walk of the season at Trefiw offers you woodland
paths, Forestry tracks, relics of the slate-mining days, and Fell paths that offer
fantastic views of the Carneddau range – even in the rain! But, it will be a fairly hard
graft route with lots of “uppies and downies” being Wales!! Although we climb to only
1000ft amsl, the total climb range during the walk is 2360ft with a similar amount of
downs, but all within your excellent capabilities.
From the car park, with its free toilets, we head south along the main road for about
200 yds before skirting off into an extensive woodland area – all Welsh National Park
- and up to the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall. Unfortunately, the path to the fall itself is
locked due to the risk of falling trees (local ‘elf & safety!) but you can see some of it
from our standpoint.

 

We continue on westwards to a lookout point before climbing up through disused
mine buildings and on to the 2 high level lakes we shall see today: ‘Llyn Geirionydd’
and ‘Crafnant’. Between the two there will be tremendous views of the Snowdonian
mountains. We turn back towards Trefiw staying in the national park all the way,
passing some interesting points en route.

 

A varied trek at 10 miles but quite muddy and slippery in places due to the wet so
over-trousers or gaiters would be beneficial if you have them. We also cross about a
dozen strong stiles. See you there!

 

 

 

Walk C Tideswell 12th October 2024

Walk lead by Helen & Mike.

This lovely 6 mile walk starts and ends in Tideswell. It passes through Tideswell Dale, past Litton Mill and then on to the Monsal Trail which is a dis-used railway track. We then progress to Millers Dale on the river Wye and will stop for lunch by the Anglers Rest pub right next to the river. From Millers Dale we head up to the Limestone Way where there are fantastic views of surrounding hills and the Monsal Trail. This leads onto a quiet country road which we walk back into Tideswell village where there are a number of pubs/shops and a Cathedral.

There are no stiles or fields (with cows) to pass through.

Whilst much of this walk is easy on flat well made paths there are some uphill sections e.g. Litton Mill up to Monsal Trail and after lunch from the Anglers Rest up to the Limestone Way.It then levels out and gives great views of the countryside. There are also some short parts where the terrain is uneven and rocky. We will take care in these parts and help each other if necessary.

Another lovely walk and again one not to be missed in our opinion.

 

Walk A Tideswell 12th October 2024

Walk lead by John Gobin, 9.6 miles long with about 1900ft of ascent.

The October A walk starts at the lovely village of Tideswell in the Peak District.
Tideswell is a large village in the heart of the Peak District National Park.
It has a great selection of independent shops, pubs and cafes, and is surrounded by some of the most beautiful White Peak limestone uplands in the area.
Its magnificent church is known as the Cathedral of the Peak. There are lots of independent shops ,cafes and a couple of pubs in the village.

We start from the centre of Tideswell and travel out to pass the village of Litton. From there we walk through Derbyshire Dales national nature reserve. We walk through the valley until we arrive at Cressbrook and loop round to Litton Mill. We venture from there and walk by the river Wye. We arrive by Millers Dale and from there back to Tideswell.

 

 

Walk B Tideswell 12th October 2024

Walk lead by Andrew Phillips, 6.7 miles long with about 1,500ft of ascent. 

This walk starts in the village of Tideswell, where there are public toilets (voluntary donations). The route follows a country lane (probably not much traffic) to the village of Litton, where we will turn south across fields to Tansley Dale, crossing a number of styles. Where Tansley Dale enters Cressbrook Dale, we can take a short detour north to Peter’s Stone, before returning south along Cressbrook Dale to the hamlet of Cressbrook, where the route joins the valley of the River Wye, which is a deep valley with impressive limestone cliffs on either side. Hopefully the riverside path is not flooded, so that we can proceed along Miller’s Dale, before turning north along Tideswell Dale back towards Tideswell. There are toilets at the car park part way up Tideswell Dale.

 

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