Category Archives: Seasonal weather

A stunning late autumn sun-filled walk at Bickerton Hill, with lovely views

On Tuesday I took advantage of the beautiful sunshine, wrapped myself up like the Michelin Man, and went on an Iron Age hillfort hunt – Maiden Castle on the National Trust’s Bickerton Hill, to be precise. The hillfort is, as they often are, rather easier to get to grips with from the air and in plans and illustrations, but it was still really good to see it on the ground. I have written up Maiden Castle on a separate post here. The real joy of the day were the deep blue skies and the slanting late autumn sunshine as it cut through the spectrum of reds, copper-oranges and yellows, and put a great golden spotlight on the bright, emerald green of the Cheshire plain below. Utterly stunning.

The walk leads from the car park up to the ridge that overlooks most dramatically across the west Cheshire plain towards the Clwydian Range, with views too across east Cheshire. I walked up from the Goldford Lane car park, a gentle slope across red sandy soil and sandstone slabs to the ridge, and then walked first in one direction towards and beyond the hillfort, and then retraced my steps to go along the ridge in the other direction, before returning to the car. An alternative is to do one of a number of circular walks, one of which is shown below. Whichever route you take, it is really spectacular on a sunny autumnal day. Visiting details at the end.

Click to enlarge

Google Map of Bickerton Hill and Maiden Castle

The hill was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1979. Interestingly (and unfortunately) the former heathland environment underwent ecological change when cattle and sheep ceased to be grazed on the hill during the 1950s, allowing birch, oak and endless swathes of bracken to gain a foothold, killing off the natural bilberries and heather. Although very beautifully copper-coloured in the autumn sun, the bracken, Pteridium aquilinum, has a number of worrying ecological downsides to it, described here on the “Moorland Association” website. Most of the silver birches and oaks are still very young, but in places the silver birch in particular forms dense clumps. The National Trust has now initiated a project of long-term work to re-establish large areas of heathland on the hill.

Bickerton Hill nature conservation

Visiting is easy. The hill is just south of the main Wrexham-Broxton-Nantwich road (the A534). There are two car parks, one on either side of the hill. I used the one off Goldford Lane, which is a large free parking area, with a shallow slope uphill towards the ridge. The What3Words location is ///device.emulating.upwardly. The National Trust page for the site can be found at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/alderley-edge-and-cheshire-countryside/things-to-do-at-bickerton-hill#rt-visit-maiden-castle.

You can download a leaflet about the hill and the hillfort here, including what looks like an excellent walk taking in Brown Knowl, on the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge website: https://www.sandstoneridge.org.uk/lib/file-323329.pdf

The geology of the sandstone trail can also be investigated on the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge website at: https://www.sandstoneridge.org.uk/geology.html

My video from the top of the ridge:

Cheshire Proverbs 7: “Rain has such narrow shoulders . . . “

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Rain in Churton

Rain has such narrow shoulders it will get everywhere

J.C. Bridge no.274, page 105

Beeston hill, seen from Churton, under a very black cloud

And oh boy. When it rains around here one is left in no doubt on the subject. It comes down in dense sheets of uncompromising verticality, bouncing when it hits pavements, roads and patios and it pools morosely wherever it gets the opportunity, seeping into every nook and cranny. The river Dee builds ominously between its banks, eventually overflowing into its floodplain, drenching footpaths and edging its way ominously towards the little hairdresser at the foot of Holt and isolating the new house above the footpath on the Farndon side of the bridge.

I lived in Aberdyfi on the mid-Welsh coast for two years immediately prior to coming to West Cheshire after leaving London, and I thought that I would never see such thoroughly determined rainfall ever again. But most Aberdyfi houses are on the side of a steep hill, mine included, and all the rainwater had the courtesy to run downhill and deposit itself into the sea. Cheshire, being flat and often poorly drained, is different. The wellington boots that I bought for mudlarking on the Thames foreshore when I lived in London have come into their own for use on what I once thought of as dry land. In west Cheshire, dry land is a very movable feast.

Joseph Bridge offers no comments about this proverb, presumably believing, very justifiably, that this one speaks for itself. Not all of them do, even when Bridge seems to think that they are perfectly transparent, but this one is completely unambiguous to a resident on the Welsh borders.

I started this series on Cheshire Proverbs a couple of years ago and then, during a big rearrangement, lost the Joseph Bridge book on which it was based: Cheshire Proverbs and other Sayings and Rhymes Connected with the City and County Palatine of Chester. I found it the other day, and even though there has been a big gap between the previous proverb in the series and this one, it seemed worth reviving. If you would like to know about his proverbs, sayings and rhymes, you can see the Introduction to the series here. Other proverbs in the series are listed here, at the very end of the Archaeology, Heritage and Art page.

Ewloe Castle in Wepre Park, near Connah’s Quay

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Artist’s reconstruction of Ewloe Castle. Source: Renn and Avent 2001

The ruins of the 13th century Ewloe Castle, one of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd’s more puzzling constructions, is located in the public Wepre Park, near Connah’s Quay and not far from Chester.

Visiting details are at the end of the post, including information about car parking, the visitor centre, an excellent downloadable guide to the routes through the park and its key features, as well as where to find out more information about the castle.
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Wepre Park

Wepre Park map in the Explore Wepre Park PDF by Denbigh County Council online. The Main Trail leads from the car park all the way to the foot of Eweloe Castle. The Boardwalk is also reached from the car park, and is shown at bottom left.

Wepre Park is a woodland valley, largely deciduous, that flanks the Wepre Brook, and is very popular with dog walkers, joggers, and families. According to the park’s literature, it is a remnant of the great hunting forest of Ewloe. More recently it was the site of Wepre Hall. On a sunny day in the autumn, with the light filtering through the trees, this should be a wonderful display of illuminated colour. The autumnal display was very fine, with the light filtering through the multi-coloured leaves and the woodland floors carpeted with bright yellows and oranges. The woodland contains a wide mixture of different trees, shrubs and vegetation and is home to varied wildlife, including aquatic species, insects, birds, bats, badgers and a lot of very busy squirrels. There is also a small wildlife meadow, although there is not much to see at this time of year.
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The valley was owned in the 11th century by St Werburgh’s Abbey in Chester. In the mid 12th century it was the site of a major confrontation between Henry II and the forces of Owain ap Gruffydd, ruler of Gwynedd in west Wales, during Owain’s campaign to extend his territories to the east. In 1157 Henry II took an army into northeast Wales to subdue Owain, but was ambushed by Owain in the Ewloe valley. Although Henry escaped, and defeated Owain at Rhuddlan, Owain later regained much of the lost territory.

Wepre Hall, first built in 1788. Source: RCHAMW

A house is recorded at the site from at least the late Middle Ages. During the Civil War a house at Wepre belonged to Royalist supporters who, in 1645, supposedly hid in the cellars a Royalist sympathiser who was a participant in the the Battle of Rowton Moor. It was rebuilt as a 2-storey Georgian house in 1788 by Edward Jones, the owner of a local lead mine, with outbuildings and later extensions. It was demolished in 1960. There is nothing remaining of Wepre Hall except for the cellars. The visitor centre sits on part of the Wepre Hall site, and the gardens here and nearby are designed to echo the formal gardens of the Hall.

There are a number of routes through the park. From the car park, the Main Trail is a wide metalled track that leads from the car park past the visitor centre nearly as far as the castle (after which there are wooden steps leading up to the castle). It follows the line of the brook, which drifts in and out of sight and is constantly audible. The most notable feature on the Main Trail, apart from the lovely woodland, are the outcrops of Hollin Rock, a 320 million year old red sandstone, popular as a building material. Towards the end of the trail is a small and attractive bridge, Pont Aber, that was once located further upstream but was moved here in 1800 to improve access to Wepre Hall. There is a delightful small waterfall on the other side, which used to be the location of the Castle Hill Brewery that used the water from a natural spring.
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The second significant route is a boardwalk, which leads from the car park along the brook and connects to the Main Trail about half way way along. The main feature of the Boardwalk route is the waterfall, actually built as a weir to power a small hydroelectric plant, but it is a very attractive feature. The plant used to provide electricity to the Hall before mains electricity arrived in the area in 1925. There is a variety of aquatic vegetation flanking the boardwalk, and information boards indicate the different wildlife, including birds, that can be spotted on a walk. The boardwalk follows the brook closely until it slopes up slightly to meet the Main Trail, and the “bubbling brook” phrase never seemed more apt. This is a very audio-visual walk.
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Some of the other footpaths are just well-worn tracks, very muddy at this time of year, but follow lovely winding routes through the woodland. I tried the track from the bridge to the Devil’s Basin, supposed to be a short set of very pretty falls, but after five minutes or so the deeply churned mud made it completely impassable in ordinary hiking boots. It would have required wellies.

Near the visitor centre there is a small lake called the Rosie Pool that was created in the late 19th century for fishing and is now managed by the local angling club. Immediately behind the visitor centre is a small but very attractive formal garden with a small pond, a nod to the former hall. Even at this time of year, fuchsia, hydrangea and sedum still have some flowers. There is a small pet cemetery located at its edge. For more about the park download the Explore Wepre Park guide (in Sources at the end of this post).

Ewloe Castle

Ewloe Castle from the air. RCHAMW 6463845. Source: RCHAMW

There is some discussion about who built the castle. It was certainly either built or rebuilt in c.1257 by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (also known as Llywelyn the Last), but he may have been restoring a castle originally built by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great). The D-shaped keep has been seen as characteristic of Llywelyn the Great, and differences in the stonework of the upper and lower wards have been used to argue for a two-phase construction. If this was indeed the case, it is argued that the upper ward would have been contemporary with the keep built by Llywelyn the Great and the lower ward built by his grandson Llywelyn the Last. On the other hand, there is an early 14th century document that states that the entire was built by Llywelyn the Last. The question remains unresolved, but it is not doubted that whoever built the castle, Llywelyn the Last certainly carried out extensive building work here.

Plan of the castle. Source: Lloyd 1928

Although it is built to a fairly standard Welsh plan, it is something of an oddity in strategic terms, not being built high on a hill but on the edge of a small valley. Although the sides slope steeply away from the castle on three sides, it was actually overlooked from the south, so required quite extensive outer defences on that side, consisting of a ditch, the digging out of which would have provided a bank.
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The keep sits within a small upper ward. A larger lower ward was added, possibly at a later date, with a tower at its furthest extent from the upper ward and both were provided with curtain walls, some of which remain. The D-shaped (or apsidal) keep has a small footprint with its semi-circular end overlooking the defences, whilst the tower in the lower keep overlooks both the southern aspect and the valley below. The lower ward would have been provided with timber buildings for domestic functions and storage.

On the former ground floor of the keep, to which the steps at the back of the upper ward lead, the former hearth is still visible, and there are windows set in the thick walls. Looking at the keep today, the lowest layer was a basement with no lighting. The keep had an outer stone staircase at its south, and this is still in use for accessing the inner staircase that leads up inside the walls of the keep to a viewing platform at the top of what remains of the keep’s walls.

Two entrances, one into the upper ward and one into the lower ward would have been approached by bridges over the defences. The lower ward’s tower was probably accessed from the curtain walls of the lower ward.

In 1257, when the castle was either built or rebuilt, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was on the offensive, attempting to retake Perfeddwlad, otherwise known as the “Four Cantrefs,” which incorporated the cantrefs of Rhos, Rhufoniog, Dyffryn Clwyd and Tegeingl, a constant bone of contention between the Welsh princes and the English crown.

The problem of the poor strategic location could be explained by suggesting a different intention for the castle as more of a political statement than a fully functional military outpost. Its location on the edges of disputed territory, not far from older English castles and the site of Owain Gwynedd’s defeat of Henry II may simply have been a statement of a Welsh return to land that they claimed as their own, and a useful staging point for any future negotiations, given its proximity to the Anglo-Welsh border. This is supported by its probable use first in November 1259 and again in December 1260 when English ambassadors were sent to meet with Llywelyn at a place identified as Wepre, which must have been the castle. There is no record of the castle’s involvement in 1276 and 1277, when war between England and Wales reignited, which may give added weight to this castle being a political gesture rather than a strictly military base, but could also reflect the necessity of Welsh retreat to safer ground.

Ewloe Castle by Moses Griffith (1747-1819) NMW A13529. Source: National Museum of Wales

Edward I does not appear to have felt that Ewloe Castle was worthy of his interest. Although he restored other castles for his own use, this was probably too small, too badly sited and too difficult to defend. Instead, in 1277 Edward began to build at Flint (posted about on the blog here), Rhuddlan (posted about here) and Denbigh (posted about here). Owain Glyndwr’s rebellion in 1400 found no use for it either.
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Visiting

Access to the castle, managed by Cadw, is free of charge and open all year round, as is the entire park, but you will need to be confident with stairs, as they are the only way in and out of the castle. There are new metal stair cases with handrails, and original stone ones, including a small flight in a stairwell in the keep leading up to a viewing platform at the top. None of the stone staircases have handrails.

Parking is straight forward for both castle and park. If you only want to see the castle there is a lay-by on the side of the B5125 that looks as though it will take about 8 cars, maybe a couple more. I didn’t try the route from there to the castle so have no idea what the footpath is like underfoot, but the What3Words address for the lay-by parking is ///follow.beauty.mistaking. The official car park is a large one near the visitor centre on Wepre Drive. Ewloe Castle is about a mile away from this car park along a very easy and attractive trail. The What3Words address is for the main car park is ///contrived.writing.mailers

A circular walk taking in the boardwalk and returning to the car park via the Main Trail would be suitable for unwilling legs, as would a walk along the boardwalk to the bridge and then back along the main route. The castle is not suitable for those who cannot manage steps and stairs, as this is the only way of getting into the castle, from whatever direction you approach.

The visitor centre is closed at this time of year (November) but its cafe was open on my visit. The public toilets are also open nearby. There’s a substantial play area on the edge of the car park. There are a small number of good information boards throughout the park, including one at the castle, but the Cadw official guide to Flint Castle also has a section on Ewloe Castle. Other sources are listed below, including castle information and an excellent guide to the park, together with a footpath map.

Sources:

Wepre Park

Flintshire County Council
Parks and Countryside
https://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/LeisureAndTourism/Countryside-and-Coast/Parks-and-countryside.aspx
Discover Wepre Park Booklet
https://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/PDFFiles/Countryside–Coast/Discover-Wepre-EnglishWEB.pdf

A different map that may be slightly easier to follow is on the following link:
Potty Adventures
Wepre Park
https://pottyadventures.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/wepre-park-our-local-8th-wonder-of-world/

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Ewloe Castle

Books and papers

Davis, Paul R. 2021. Towers of Defiance. The Castles and Fortifications of the Princes of Wales. Y Lolfa

Lloyd, J.E. 1928. Ewloe. Y Cymmrodor, vol.39 (unnumbered)

Renn, D.F. and Avent, R. 2001 (2nd edition). Flint Castle – Ewloe Castle. Cadw

Websites

BBC News
13th century castle to be sold (18th November 2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/8364611.stm

Cadw
Castell Ewloe
https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/castell-ewloe

Coflein
Ewloe Castle
https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/94447/
Wepre Hall
https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/36307/

Wales Online
Ewloe Castle has sold to farmer at auction (9th December 2009)
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/ewloe-castle-sold-farmer-auction-2770922
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An autumnal stroll from Churton to Aldford, pausing for lunch at The Grosvenor

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Autumn sun and brightly coloured leaves are always a joy at this time of year, right up until the point that they drop in huge numbers and need clearing off the garden lawn 🙂

Because it was so warm, my destination was The Grosvenor pub, a self-indulgent extension to my terrific short break in the Ironbridge area of Shropshire last week. It is always such a treat to be able to sit outdoors at this time of year.

The map of this walk is at the end of the post, and is a very simple one. It takes around 40 – 45 minutes to walk through the fields to Aldford from Churton, so it is a short walk, and always a good fall-back when I don’t want to be bothered with the car. The harvested fields, mainly used for growing corn, can be very soggy at this time of year with nothing but wet earth under foot, but it is always an easy and attractive option on a sunny day when the leaves are changing colour. It was fine on the field edges, although distinctly squelchy underfoot crossing diagonally from footpath FP7 to FP6. Half of the route is the metalled B-road Lower Lane, which gave the hiking boots a bit of a break from the sludge.

Irritatingly, I did not have my camera with me, so these were taken on my iPhone and many don’t bear close scrutiny.
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After a very enjoyable lunch in the sun at the Grosvenor Arms, I had a wander around the village and returned back to Churton using the same route. Normally I go back via the well-signposted FP8 footpath, but having investigated on my way to Aldford, deemed it far too muddy and waterlogged to make the attempt in anything other than wellies. In the dry, this is a nice return route and takes in a chunk of the Roman road that once ran east of Churton (about which I posted here).

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Cheshire West and Chester Public Map Viewer, annotated

A walk from Waverton along the Shropshire Union Canal

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I have driven over the canal bridge on Eggbridge Lane in Waverton so many times thinking that I really must take advantage of the little car park just before the bridge to go and take a stroll down the towpath. Having woken up early on a sunny morning I decided to investigate. Waverton is just off the A41, so very easy to reach. The car park is quite small, but it was not full even on a bright and warm morning. The What3Words address for the car park is ///fingertip.snored.deals

Victoria Mill, Waverton

Immediately opposite the car park, as you walk to the towpath, is a very attractive canal building, the Grade 2 listed, a mid-19th century Victoria Mill, a former steam-powered canal-side corn mill, with bays for loading and unloading narrowboats, and now converted for modern use. The Historic England description is here. This is part of the heritage of the Shropshire Union Canal, which if you keep walking north eventually ends up at Ellesmere Port. To the south, it eventually connects up with the rest of the main canal network at Hurleston Junction. The Shropshire Union has quite a complicated history, as does Chester’s canal heritage as a whole, and was not completed until 1835.

As with most canal walks, there’s always a choice to turn right or left, and as I had no idea what to expect from either direction I decided to head north, leaving the walk south for another occasion. Out of the car park I turned left under the unprepossessing bridge no.119 and headed up the towpath. This section is metalled, so it avoided the mud and sludge that I had been half expecting.

If you take this route you find yourself walking along a short row of houses with canal gardens along a metalled pathway. Canal-side gardens are always fascinating. I used to live on a narrow boat many years ago, and it is always a lot of fun to see how different minds have dealt with a garden that opens directly on to a canal. These are always hugely individualistic and personal. There is always much to see in the way of garden furniture, garden ornaments (someone will always have gnomes, and there is usually at least one example of traditional canal painting), sheds in various states of repair, a wide range of summer houses, varieties of approaches to terracing, often some very interesting specimen trees and shrubs, and different attitudes to garden seclusion, along a spectrum from solid barriers of hedging or fencing to a complete lack of interest in any form of privacy. A real cultural treat.

After just a minute or so the towpath enters a more rural section, and in the late season sun it was a real pleasure to take in all the autumnal colours on trees and shrubs that flank the canal. I’ve posted some of the photos below. It’s a well-used section of towpath, with joggers, cyclists and plenty of dog walkers, but everyone is very civilized about moving over to make passing easy. There was not much in the way of canal traffic, with just two narrowboats on the move, but I expect that it is much busier in summer.

Keep an eye out on your left as you leave the housing on your right and reach the more rural section. Partly concealed by the grass next to the towpath, there is a short inscribed red sandstone Parish Boundary Marker. This section of the canal passes through the parish of Rowton, famous for the Civil War Battle of Rowton Heath (see the Wikipedia entry on the subject and a more detailed analysis by Historic England). King Charles I is said to have watched his army lose that battle from the Phoenix Tower that still stands on Chester’s city walls. The stone marks the boundary between the parishes of Christleton (CP on the stone) and Rowton (RT). The date commemorates the date of the battle in 1645 and, below the level of the grass, 1995, the 250th anniversary of the battle.
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After this more countrified section there are more houses, all interesting, with some lovely weeping willows and other water-loving species, and a very attractive hump-backed bridge, that I have since discovered carries Rowton Bridge Road into Christleton. I walked up as far as The Cheshire Cat, which sensibly has a gate onto the towpath, and carried on just a short way beyond it, but at that point the canal converges closely with the A41 (Whitchurch Road) and it becomes quite a noisy experience with the unremitting traffic, especially during the week.

Checking the map later (for example see the plotaroute.com website), I note that by coming off the towpath at Rowton Bridge it is possible to walk into the attractive village of Christleton, with its marvellous pond, and I would have done this had I realized. Another time. had to be somewhere else in the afternoon, so it was a short walk, probably an hour and a bit there and back at strolling pace, with pauses to let bicycles pass, and to take photographs.

For those with unwilling legs (see the blog’s Introduction for details about what this refers to), the towpath heading north from Waverton is metalled, but quite uneven. No problem for most people, I would have thought but do keep an eye on it. There are places where the edges of the surface are particularly uneven, but this just means that if you are with someone else you need to go in single file for short sections. Otherwise, it’s on the flat and very enjoyable.

On the way back I followed the towpath beyond the car park for a few minutes to see how far the housing that backs onto the canal extended. This part of the towpath is not metalled, was muddy and is single-track. These houses and gardens are another interesting mixture – each of the sections of housing and gardens has its own personality, presumably reflecting both when it was built and the pricing. These look as though the garden-canal margins were all designed with narrowboats or other canal vessels in mind. There was indeed one narrowboat moored up at a garden. The housing stops after a couple of minutes and the towpath reverts to a far more rural appearance. I’ll investigate further on another day.

A very autumnal walk taking in Churton fields, Townfield Lane, the speedy Dee – and a cormorant.

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After all the rain last night, which was truly torrential, I was somewhat surprised to wake up to bright sunshine and a topaz sky this morning. A treat for mid November. Planning to walk through the fields behind Churton towards Farndon, before turning right down Townfield Lane to the Dee, I decided that it was a moment for seriously waterproof footwear. Not walking boots but welly boots. It was a good instinct. The fields were sodden and marshy, the tracks muddy and mired due to tractors, and the picturesque but unadopted Townfield Lane was a series of lane-wide pools. The short section of footpath leading north from the lane along the river bank to the field next to the river was only just clear of the flood waters, which were moving fast and forming fascinating eddies.

I always like the Churton-to-Farndon fields following harvest, because of the linear stubble that draws the eye into the distance and focuses attention on individual trees that, at this time of year, are full of bright warm colours. The deep chestnut brown of the fields provides a beautiful foil for the silvery stubble, the blue skies and the autumnal leaves. The mirror-like reflections in the standing water were a pleasure in their own right. Today really was a water walk.

The biggest surprise was spotting a cormorant (or is it a shag?) at the very top of a tall tree by the side of the river (see photo at end of post). Cormorants and shags are right at home on the coastal estuaries of mid-Wales, and are frequent visitors to the Thames and its former docks in London, both places where I used to live, but I never did learn to tell the difference between them, and I have never seen one this far inland. It seemed right at home.
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View from the Dee at the end of Townfield Lane across the fields to the Barnston Memorial.

It would have been good to turn this into a circular walk by continuing north along the side of the Dee and taking the footpath from the Dee straight through the plantation onto the track extending directly from Hob Lane in Churton, but the footpath back to Hob Lane through the plantation of trees is usually bad news in even averagely showery weather, with seriously thick, sometimes impassable mud, so I simply retraced my steps on this occasion. The circular walk is very much a summer activity after a period of very dry weather.

If you don’t like squelching through wet mud and soggy grass, or paddling through big areas of standing water, this is not a good walk following heavy rainfall, even on a beautiful day. On the other hand, it cast a very familiar local walk in an entirely new light. After heavy rainfall I would advise that this is not a walk for those with unwilling legs, although my father (he of a notably unwilling leg) had no problems with it in dry periods in the spring and summer. Today it was far too slippery and sludgy.

Terrific scenery and views from Waun y Llyn Country Park, near Caergwrle

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I had been visiting Caergwrle Castle on a bright, sunny, perfect autumnal day, and was actually heading elsewhere for a much longer walk when I noticed on my O/S map that there was a country park a short drive away, and went there on a whim. I’ll write up Caergwrle Castle later but here is some visiting information accompanied by some photos of the country park walk for those of you who are, like me, addicted to lovely views. It is certainly worth making the most of these occasional very beautiful days while we have them. Waun y Llyn Country Park sits on a hilltop with views over the local hillsides and and over the Dee floodplain into Merseyside.

Waun y Llyn is about half an hour’s drive from Churton, probably (I’m guessing) a bit less from Wrexham and a bit more from Chester. It is reached from all directions by single-track roads. Do note that if you or your driver is not keen on reversing, this is not the place to go. Access is via single track roads with passing places, and it is a popular destination with hikers and dog-walkers and is frequented by farm vehicles, so you will need to be prepared to reverse around very bendy bits as well as straight bits.

Location of Waun y Llyn, above Caergwrle (near Llay).

There is a warning on one of the information boards in the car park that there is livestock within the country park, and that you should keep dogs under control. I had assumed that it would be sheep, but the very fresh cow-pats made it clear that there was cattle up there. I didn’t see any, and much to their irritation neither did the two farmers who were looking for them! As one of them said, when he asked me if I had seen them, there are 70 acres for them to hide in.

I believe that Waun y Llyn means moorland by the lake (but do feel free to correct me). It is indeed a type of moorland, with copper-coloured bracken at this time of year, and bright yellow gorse in flower. There are only few trees, but there are young silver birch,some young oaks and small holly bushes, some of which are currently festooned with bright red berries.

There is also, as the name implies, small lake surrounded by boggy margins, with permanent water-loving plant species underfoot if you follow the watery marshland tracks. You can skirt the marsh and head towards the higher green ground, which provides a good viewpoint, but be aware that the whole area around the lake, linking one footpath to another is fairly damp.
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If you go when there has been rainfall, do wear water-resistant footwear. In spite of the glorious sunshine today, it rained all day yesterday, and although there are grassy footpaths, most of the the footpaths furthest from the car park were very muddy underfoot with large pools of water, and there are also places where small streams cross paths that require either jumping over or skirting around. Water loves an easy route, and some of the smaller footpaths had become tiny streams in their own right. All absolutely fine with suitably water-resistant footwear.

I would advise those of you with unwilling legs to avoid it at this time of year. There are no steep slopes or steps, but there are seasonally related challenges. I’ll give it another go in the summer and report back, but at this time of year the mud is very slippery, there is a lot of wet bedrock showing through on some of the narrower footpaths. One lady who had a bad leg was managing fine with two sticks along the grassy footpath, but had to turn back when the going became too muddy and rocky underfoot.

There is no archaeological site recorded at the country park, which seems almost counter-intuitive given the views. Both silica sandstone and millstone grit were quarried from the hill in the late 19th century, the latter for housing in the Alyn valley below, and the walk to the hilltop was a favourite destination of visitors to a spa in Caergwrle, contemporary with the quarry.

This walk took me about 45 minutes, so it was a short one but a good one. You can make it shorter or longer by following the different footpaths on the noticeboard by the car park, and you can turn it into a serious hike by including other local footpaths as well. There’s no hyperlink to the Country Park’s official website, because there does not appear to be one. Let me know if you find one. If you give Waun y Llyn Country Park a go, do enjoy!

The metalled approach from the car park to the entrance to the country park. The metalled surface goes onwards for a short way to the viewing point.

Entrance to the car park

A winter walk through the fields from Churton to Farndon

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The walk through the fields from Churton to Farndon and back again is always enjoyable, taking about an hour for the full circuit, or less if you don’t pause for photos. It always varies enormously by season, but was quite spectacularly distinctive yesterday, glazed in frost under a bright blue sunny sky. Where the tractors had been out, during wet weather the deep tracks along some of the footpaths had filled with rainwater and frozen solid, but the ridges between were ice-free. Literally freezing in the shade, it was actually quite warm in the sun. A splendid walk, all colour and light.

The route taken from Churton to Farndon along official footpaths (in bright pink). The return route takes the pink footpath that starts in Brewery Lane. The red blobs are the approximate locations of two possible prehistoric sites, now ploughed out. Source of map: The Public Map Viewer.

Cold!

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December frost in Churton

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A beautiful day all day yesterday, and it was lovely today too, right up until the skies opened. Fortunately, by that time the chilli con carne was in the slow cooker and the log fire was doing its stuff most effectively.

Just a few snaps from the garden, capturing some of that crisp contrast between the white lace of the frost, with all its snowflake complexity, and the autumnal shades and shapes, framed, captured and transformed.

As soon as the sun crept around the corner of the house, the frost started to melt, its drips capturing a myriad of colours. For the first time since I put them out a couple of weeks ago, the bird feeders were a hub of activity, a reflection of just how hard the ground is.