Llangollen revisited.

Sue & I went to Llangollen at the end of November to celebrate her birthday. It didn't all work out as planned, for two reasons. I'd got a gammy leg (damaged on Arran), and there was a LOT of snow about, but we still had a good time. Over the last weekend, we went to visit Sue's sister, who lives in Wrexham, and went to Llangollen to walk up to Dinas bran (we wanted to do it in November, but I wasn't fit). We parked at the Pontcysyllte viaduct basin, and set off up into Trevor woods. Here's some info' on the amazing structure Telford built. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

We crossed the bride over the basin, this is the view towards the Aqueduct.

Here too in Wales, spring was sprung, and the snowdrops were well into flower.

We were treading a route I'd trodden many, many years ago when I walked my first long distance path, Offas Dyke. You can read my diary of the walk (and see a picture of the stupidly large rucksack I carried) here; http://walkdiaries.blogspot.com/2006/07/offas-diary.html No-one told me it wasn't the done thing to carry 13 tee shirts, 13 pairs of pants, 13 pairs of socks, jeans & shoes to go out in at night, a bottle of Champagne AND two glasses, ect etc. Boy, did I learn QUICKLY!

If I remember, I took a very similar picture to this when I did the walk in 1986.

The tunnel through Trevor woods.

Yours truly, getting ready to take another shot.

Not too good for pictures today though. A lot of mist and drizzle about, but it was better than forecast. We were supposed to be in for heavy rain, the weather men said. Luckily, this was as bad as it got.

Our first sighting of Dinas bran, just topping that hill in the mist.

Castel Dinas bran (left) and Eglwyseg rocks (right). The walk below the rocks is called 'The Panorama Walk', and in good weather (which I had when I did the Dyke), it really lives up to it's name.

We huffed and puffed our way up the steep path to reach Dinas Bran. These are some of the views from up there. Looking down the Panorama walk.

A section of the ruins.

The archway.

Llangollen, in the murk.

On a clear day, the views from here really are breathtaking. We enjoyed it today, but it was a bitter wind up there, and we had to take shelter from it to eat our lunch.

After lunch, we made our way down towards the town, admiring the beautiful brown hues, created by the bracken, on the hillside.

Sue and Malc', making their way down.

A sea of snowdrops in a garden just above the town.

Of course, with all the rain, the river Dee was an exciting torrent!

The little white cafe on the left is where we ended the walk with a nice cup of coffee.

I have a friend who lives in Llangollen. We've known each other for about ten years, but never met! We both used to write for the same internet site (now defunct), so we thought it was time we met, and she joined us for a drink.