Llandegla to Bodfari and Sodom

We left Hand House at 8.15am and it was lovely walking at this time, before it got too hot. The walking was easy to start with, then we climbed, gently at first, past the entrance to a camping site and a fishery, then more steeply towards the summit of Moel y Plas. There was heather everywhere, just coming into flower and very pretty, and bilberries - delicious!

We passed the summits of Moel Llanfair and Moel Gyw, making rapid progress. We passed the motel on the A494 where a minibus was waiting for some schoolchildren (DoE?) we had passed en route. We skirted Moel Eithinen and then climbed more steeply to the hill fort at Foel Fenlli, then descended rapidly to the car park at Bwich Penbarra. We stopped for lunch (Elinor Rogers' lovely picnic) just before the car park and watched all the activity, presumably to be expected around a car park in such a beautiful spot on a hot and dry Saturday in July.

The climb from the car park to Jubilee Tower on Moel Famau was horribly busy, but the views from the top - to the sea, Snowdonia, Liverpool and back along the route we had come - were superb. The Jubilee Tower was erected in 1810 to mark the jubilee of George III and a sign by the tower indicated that we only had another 20 miles to go to Prestatyn.

Thankfully the route became less busy after the Jubilee Tower but there were a fair number of ascents, including Moel Dywyll and Moel Llys-y-coed. As we were descending to the car park before the Moel Arthur Hill Fort, I began to panic - it was very hot and I wasn't sure I'd make it all the way to Sodom.

We managed the ascent to the east of Moel Arthur OK, and Richard assured me that the smoke we could see ahead of us was from heather-burning (which we'd encountered when we walked the Herriot Way). Then we saw the fire engines...We reached another car park and spoke first to a fireman in one of the two fire engines parked here, then to a Forestry Commission warden; both confirmed that the Path was closed because of a forest fire and the warden suggested that we should follow a lower forest track then climb up a track used for mountain biking. The forest track was very pleasant, the uphill climb was a struggle, and all the while we could see the firemen from 6 fire engines fighting the forest fire.

We emerged above the forest to a barbed wire fence. With a lot of help from Richard I got over it and then we used Helen's GPS to find out exactly where we were and to work out a sensible route; thank goodness for GPS! After climbing up across a field (very 'Sound of Music, with added thistles and a second barbed wire fence) we reached a gate. We met a local walker going in the opposite direction, who confirmed that we were heading in the right direction; he was making for a 'drovers' road' further down the hillside. We had one further steep climb, then walked around the edge of Penycleddiau Hill Fort to rejoin the Offa's Dyke Path - yippee! [Note that the map shows the official Offa's Dyke route, not the one we took, as when Richard added the track in 2019 we couldn't work out where we actually went.]

We decended to Bodfari very slowly, passing a number of local walkers, including one who was heading up the hill with his dog and a bottle of wine - to 'sit and survey all that he doesn't own'. I don't think I have ever been so pleased to see a pub as I was to see the Downing Arms in Bodfari. Richard rang Mrs Edwards at Fron Haul from a payphone in the Downing Arms (there was no mobile reception) and she agreed to meet us at 8pm (about an hour after we arrived). We were too hot and exhausted to walk any further. We were also too hot and exhausted to eat, which was a pity as the food looked good, but we sat drinking cider and J2O and gradually recovering.