Froncysyllte to Llandegla via World's End
Friday 14th July 2006
Walked 14 miles including 13 miles of Offa's Dyke Path
Click here for all our photos of this walk.
We had a pleasant breakfast at Glencoed, served by Rosemary's husband Derek. We left at about 9am, going through the subway under the canal and up to the towpath on the northern side. We followed this along past the moorings at Froncysyllte and then over the Pont Cysyllte aquaduct (over the River Dee), built by Telford in 1805. Crossing the aqueduct (which is not the official Offa's Dyke Path route) was a memorable experience and we were rewarded by three boats coming towards us.
We reached the Trevor Basin on the far side of the aquaduct and diverted into Trevor itself to buy sandwiches at 'Trevor Wines' (we bought the last two packages of sandwiches and a cheese and onion pasty). Then we returned to Trevor Basin and walked a short distance along the Llangollen arm of the canal before crossing a bridge and climbing up across a field then through the woodland grounds of Trevor Hall and onto moorland beyond. There were some attractive Offa's Dyke path signs in this area, though it is interesting that the county is given as Denbighshire ('Sir Denbigh' in Welsh) rather than Clwyd.
We climbed up to a road and followed it for about 3 miles, with very little traffic and superb views down to Llangollen, ahead to Castell Dinas Bran (a castle on top of a hill) and above us to limestone crags. Apparently this route was designated as a 'panorama walk for visitors to the resort town of Llangollen'.
The book says that this stretch of the Offa's Dyke Path was named the 'Precipice Walk' because of the road stretch, but to my mind this would more appropriately be in recognition of the next bit - we left the road and climbed up a gully then took a path under the crags with quite a spectacular drop beneath us, and in places the path went straight across scree. I'm a bit scared of heights so surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying this section of the path.
We stopped for lunch as the path reached the trees, in a lovely spot above Ty Canol. Then we descended through trees to World's End. The name looks good on signposts, but the reality was somewhat disappointing; the 'waterfall' was no more than a trickle passing over the road and we couldn't understand why the spot 'attracts many picnickers and artists'. We climbed up the road for a (long) mile, meeting a shepherd with three lovely dogs, two people on a scooter/motor bike and a car going too fast. We forked off to the left across the moor (part of the Wynnstay Estate), on a rather boring boardwalk towards Llandegla Forest, which seemed to be moving away from us! Eventually we reached the trees and descended through them then crossed open land and a main road to the pretty village of Llandegla.
It was only just after 4pm when we reached Llandegla, so we stopped for an ice-cream at the post office before going on Hand House. We initially thought that the owner was out, because there was a note to us on the door, but then she (Elinor Rogers) appeared to greet us. We were made very welcome with scones, cake and tea, and we ordered an early breakfast and packed lunches for tomorrow. We were shown to very pretty bedrooms; Helen is on the first floor and we're on the top floor with good views back to the village. The house is very old and full of character, though Elinor and her husband John have only been here for about 7 years. According to the guidebook it is the fomer Hand Inn; according to Elinor it has a ghost, though only Americans see it! Two Dutch walkers appeared shortly after us, with nowhere to stay; Elinor kindly checked that we didn't mind, then put them in the bedroom next to us, but sharing Helen's bathroom. We had a lovely meal at "The Willows" and the Dutch couple joined us there.
