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An account of the trail in Wales and England, starting in Chepstow on the Severn Estuary and ending in Prestatyn on the Irish Sea, as walked in July 1997.
Click on any of the photos to see an enlargement and cutline.
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MProbably the hightlight of the trip in terms of scenery and sheer variety of landscape. The day starts with a long climb through a pine forest and up to the scenic road built overlooking Llangollen. This leads past the sinister-looking Castel Dinas Bran, perched atop a higher hill and overlooking Llangollen. These 13th century ruins are the remains of a Welsh castle built over an earlier Iron Age fortification. From here, the trail leads around the mountains on narrow paths with preciptious drops, culminating in a scramble over scree below a cliff that's a nesting place for kestrels. Then a descent and long climb past World's End to a hilltop moor of boggy peat that leads into a planted forest of conifers. A descent into Llangdela, a residential village where there are a number of B&Bs, then a long stretch of hilly farmland that leads to the start of the Clwydian Range of mountains and its famous moels. The first two of these high, heather-covered hills must be negotiated before the crossroads, and it's steep going. |
