Offa’s Dyke Path – Day 11 – Llangollen to Clwyd Gate
The day started out in the town of Llangollen. We crossed the canal and then headed uphill soon to regain the Offa’s Dyke Path for a very interesting section of the path. We were heading for the end of the world as we know it, watching our footing on scree as we traverse avalanche paths and open rock slides.
Just as I was getting into a nice rhythm, they wanted me to reduce my hiking speed again :-).
Heeding landslide warnings and speed limits :-), we began our mile or so walk up and along the edge of the rubble from previous landslides. A bit of rain and wind added to the excitement of the day.
To my left the hills were still green below but steeper drop off of the trail. This scene was a definite contrast to the rock slide and boulder strewn view to my right as I picked myself along the narrow slippery path over the remains from previous landslides.
Heading toward “World’s End”. It wasn’t long before we had changed into moderate rain gear. Just after I took these photos, a group of mountain bikers came up the trail toward us. Although narrow and wet from the drizzle, at least the path wasn’t muddy. Not a lot of room for hikers and bikers to pass though!
With the World’s End landslide zone behind us we were again out in the open in heath and highland meadows and a narrow road becomes our path for awhile.
As we traveled along the Offa’s Dyke Path we often came to information kiosks or maps like this. Great to have digital technology and be able to photograph the map and then zoom in on the small details.
The mileages on this marker in Llandegla added up to the official distance of 177 miles but we did find another marker in Prestatyn that indicated that the distance was 182 miles.
Sorry. Can’t help with the pronunciation of the Welsh!
I photographed a lot of green pasture and green valley along the path and every so often sheeep would get into the picture. I definitely did not photograph all of the sheep that I encountered 🙂
More styles of stiles – Offa’s Dyke Path
Having a long in-seam made this type of stile a bit easier for me than it might have been for others.
This was actually a gate with no moving parts. A small post filled a space leaving just enough space to wiggle past.
Probably my least favourite style of stile especially on rainy days when the rungs were wet and slippery.
Our end of day point was Clwyd’s Gate. Unfortunately when we got to the road by this lantern our written directions told us to turn right when the correct direction was left. The two British brothers-in-law could offer us some consoling while waiting to be picked up by their host but no great directional guidance. We eventually found a house with an occupant and reached our host who was kind enought to come and give us a lift back to the B&B. Our Australian hikers were staying at the same location for the evening and we passed them by on the highway. At that point we weren’t sure if we were supposed to cheer, wave or slik down in the seats so they wouldn’t see us as we enjoyed the last few hundred yards of our journey by car!
