All three pictures Husband took of me here, I have my eyes closed, haha. If you have ever seen My Name is Earl, he would feel my pain! As with the Abergele Circular, I gave the husband a choice of three walks today. Moel Arthur South, North or Clwyd Forest Circular. He picked the South, as it appeared to take in more woodland. So that is how we decided, very technical. Weather was ok, not sunny, not meant to rain, bit of wind- except it did rain a couple of times, and the wind was more than a bit when you turned certain corners, especially at the end!
I am going to start by saying, Moel Arthur, is one steep mothertrucker, although not a mountain, the steepness floored me. I have said before about struggling with hills straight off the bat, and this was straight off the bat, wander out of the car park, onto the road, meander a short distance and boom, hill. If you are relatively fit, and aren't bothered by this section, then whoopido for you! One day, I will be at that level of fitness too!
Neither of us took any pictures of the steep bit, husband did get this one a bit higher up! As always, I am heading up the back, but that is fine by me. I was pleased to manage the steepness, and be able to carry on. Some lovely views of the surrounding hills.
Yes, my eyes are closed again at the top of Moel Arthur, no idea why. It was windy and a little wet at this point, so we didn't hang around for long. I do have my eyes open on the picture of just me. Bit disappointed that there is no cairn, trig or other to mark the top, we have been spoilt recently.
We didn't follow the alltrails path up, but followed the main walked path. Came across this lovely slate sign, and wandered up to the top of the hillfort. Deciding to follow a little path down from the top, we wandered down a steep section, hence the picture about on the right with my arms out to the side for balance. I am not a steady person, and I did nearly fall off the side at one point, which scared the poop out of me. We continued down the other side of Moel Arthur, which leads to a car park on that side, this is on the Offa's Dyke path and there is a section you can see opposite, which show a ridiculously steep climb with some rough steps- husband said they looked fun, maybe in a few more fitness levels climbed I will agree?
Anyways, we followed a small lane around and down, it was relatively quiet, bumped into a few others but not many, mind this was afternoon and the weather was iffy. We chose to walk the opposite way on the trail, as I knew Moel Arthur would be the hardest bit, so wanted to get it done first. Flora wore her equifleece to keep her warm and dry, seemed to do the trick.
The images above are from the back end of Moel Arthur. An impressive hill for sure. As we wandered down the road, after not much time we wandered off to the left and went into fields. The path was obvious and well walked, some sheep but not close to us. Flora stayed on lead as she is a wild woman who cannot be contained if let loose!
Came across a little pond, stone shelter, slightly decrepit cabin and a fun slate space in the side of the hillside. It wasn't tall, so I reckon it could be a great little shelter for sheep. I do love how intricate these walls look with the stone, just so well built.
This was the start of a nice long route along and around, as I said, some sheep in spots but none that close to us- they are in the same field though so can get close if they wish to. Lots of felled trees, I am assuming these are from all the storms we seem to be having, luckily none were blocking the route- some as they fell that way and others because someone has chopped them back. I did shout 'TROLL' several times, because, you know from my other blog post!
The sky remained dramatic and moody throughout this walk, but did refrain from raining as much as it could have done, for that, I was grateful. Very happy to have my woolly hat for sure as the wind was quite biting. This section was pleasant, sloping uphill and downhill, a pleasant manageable gradient. We swopped around the side and met the road we had driven up to get to the car park. Crossing this, briefly walking on the road, we then turned right up another woodland section. There didn't appear to be many sheep at this part, so we did let Flora off lead for a short amount of time to have some fun. She was very good to be honest, possibly from the few miles before taking some of the wild energy away.
This section was more of a consistent upward climb and I did feel quite drained at times, we had a fruit snack pot to keep the energy up- I am still struggling with eating on these walks, but something simple helps and I did feel that my body appreciated it even if I didn't feel hungry.
This section of walk must be part of the shorter Clwyd Forest Walk, which you can walk straight from the car park, would be a decent walk after work with the lighter nights. The path scoots around the edge of the hillsides, and ends up leading to the opposite side of Penycloddiau, where we parked the first time we went. Bit muddy in sections, especially as it hasn't rained for days- you can easily avoid most of the mud sections though to be fair.
I find this section to be steep, and I did feel some dread as I remembered how hard I found it the first time in September last year, I was struggling so much with negativity at that time.
The wind was ridiculous here, it is very exposed so no protection at all, and some steep bits- but I was feeling proud, as I managed to pretty much keep up with husband and Flora at some steeper section, I could tell I had warmed the old lungs up pretty well as it wasn't as asthma inducing! Basically, this heads up the other side of Penycloddiau- my new favourite place- which even when the weather sucks, is still very beautiful and atmospheric. To the left is Flora having some water towards the top, and you can just make out the cairn in the background.
Not many photos taken here as the weather made it less fun, and we have cairn photos from two previous walks now. Once you hit the top, its all downhill back to the car park, husband caught me jogging downhill to catch up with him! This walk felt like a good ego boost, my legs and lungs were tired, but not too bad given some good height reached and a good amount of distance covered. Alzheimer's trek is double this height and over triple this distance though- eek!
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