Tuesday 12th May 2026. Llanferres Circular walk.
10.12 km, 298m ascent.
4hrs including much map reading and a lunch break of about 25/30 minutes.
Weather mixed, mainly rain with sunshine later.
From our accommodation we watched the rain sweep east to west across the Clwydian hills and I thought of those people doing the Offa's Dyke trail getting up out of warm sleeping bags, looking out of the tent at the mist and horizontal drizzle right now. The weather forecast for today was a mixture of everything and considering that we were not going onto any ridges or tops today I thought I would chose a lightweight set of gear. It was a big mistake.
Driving to Llanferres was in sunshine and we parked up on the main road, the A494 just adjacent from Plymog village in a large lay-by which was packed end to end with the vehicles of a walking group. Luckily there was enough room at one end for us and they went off in a different direction to our plan.
Our luck with the weather ran out before we got out of the car, it started raining, that light stuff that wets you through and the views of the surrounding hills disappeared in minutes. The walking group were fully clad in head to toe wet gear and set off up the lane across the main road, presumably to do Moel Famau, just a guess on my part.
My gear was very light weight, I took my RAB 2.5 layer jacket which has to be the worst waterproof I have ever owned. It cannot cope with prolonged rain and I knew this was a bad decision, it was obviously going to be a soggy hike. Still, it didn't matter too much as we were only doing a day walk. If we had been backpacking I wouldn't have taken that jacket. I took and old pair of RAB over trousers made from eVent and I expected them to succumb to the weather which they did. My boots were perfect, a pair of Decathlon Quencha MH500 which have been absolutely superb unlike Sheilas Adidas Anylander Rain dri which kept her feet constantly swimming.
Anyway enough gear talk. Through the first gate and we met a small herd of young bullock, most took no notice of us but one scaredy cat/cow didn't like us walking passed. Not sure who was more scared, him or Sheila waving her walking pole like a conductor in an orchestra. But we made it across the field to the bridge over the river Alyn. Here we met the only people we saw on the walk, two runners of the very fit type, who didn't like the rain.
There is a kissing gate but we didn't go through it, instead we followed the Bryn-yr-ardd woodland boundary fence north through above ankle deep grass and low hedgerows, getting even wetter. We entered the woodland a couple of times, the pungent smell of wild garlic as well as carpets of bluebells was wonderful. After crossing a couple of fields we came to a good path in the grounds of Mount Pleasant Farm. This led us through pedestrian gate next to a smart set of wrought iron estate type gates. We were now on a good path which leads to the old mining village of Maps-y-safn or Maeshafn as the sign post reads today.
Reaching the village and the minor road we were not persuaded to try the pub even though it may have got us into a dry space for a while. Maeshafn village grew up because of the mining in the area. I presume the Mostyn's and Grosvenor families held the mineral rights and issued the leases around here.
We headed west along the road until we came to a small hamlet called Pont-y-Mwynwr, with a low bridge over the river and a ford which is still used today. It is a quaint spot, ever so peaceful. The path follows the river downstream where there are a few small falls and signs of leats.The rain was still with us but it didn't detract from the beauty of this area, but we did have to take care on the slippery rocks.
Not far along the narrow banking the path opened out into much wider ground. There are two arched bridges which used to carry water along an aqueduct to the lead wash house. The ruins of the wash house still partially exist but nature is taken hold. There are many signs of lead mining here and I am a little surprised that more is not made of the area as it is part of the industrial heritage.
The path on the newest OS map shows reaching the A494 road via a field gate. Getting there we found the gate locked and completely covered in barbed wire. No way over it. I don't see any reason why this has been done unless people have been leaving the gate open. Anyway looking round for a way to exit the field another gate was spotted in the boundary fence to the right. This led through a small wooded area and onto the road. This will become the main exit point as what looked like a diversion notice must have been readable at one time.
A short stretch on the A494 brought us to the village of Tafarn-y-Gelyn and a footpath through 6 fields which contoured the nameless hillside. Many of the stiles on this walk leave a lot to be desired and across this area was no better. Missing or rotten steps, wobbly ladder stiles, high top rails with missing lower rails epitomise the issues. In a couple of places small badges say stile by Clwyd ramblers, so some effort has been made to improve the mess but really Clwyd Council environmental dept have responsibility for maintaining public rights of way. They are not doing very well.
In the last field before climbing another stile onto a good farm track many cows spotted us and they had that curiosity to find out who we were. They came over and once the brave one had a good sniff of us the rest came down. A bit scary at first but they were no problem I think its just the size of them and the horns of course and the vision of Spanish bull fighting comes to mind. At least the rain had eased off to just a spit.
We stayed chatting meaninglessly to the cows before setting off again passed the isolated farm of Cwm Bach. In the garden was an old tilling machine. The sign posts were all for Moel Famau but we were not going up there. We headed into the forest up a very steep and slippery banking where we got another soaking from the trees. This was by far the steepest section of the walk.
At the top of the banking we alighted onto a decent forest track where after a bit of map reading and pondering we found our route. We had to walk a little right before the track turned on itself to go left. That's what we wanted, a left path. The path contoured the Clwyd forest boundary and then joined a wide new lumber road. Lots of tree felling was taking place and Health and Safety notices were everywhere.
We kept looking for a place to have a coffee but couldn't find anything suitable and so we carried on. The rain had now stopped and blue skies appeared. The views unfolded down Bwlch Penbarras across Loggerheads to Mold and further towards the sea.
This area is signposted to watch out for mountain bikes and horses as well as logging trucks and machinery but the road is wide and today we saw nothing. Nothing except a beautiful valley with a number of properties that had the wow factor. We made our way down hill until we came to a large picnic area, car park with toilets too. At the minor road we headed east and took the first exit passed the lovely house of Pen-y-waun. At the next house there is a choice of taking a bridleway or a footpath. We chose the footpath and climbed over a good stile into a field where there is no sign of a path. Checking the map once again and finding that the path rises diagonally and then skirts the boundary of Fron Hen farm buildings. We commented about how untidy this place looked but did notice a small MF tractor parked next to the sheds.
Once through the farm we found some large concrete blocks which served ideal for a late lunch stop.
Contouring the hillside, crossing a small stream with very little water, we found the path down to the A494 beside Llwyn Moelyn house with it's lovely garden. We crossed the road to walk on grass rather than road stone and came to the car park in just a couple of minutes.
This circular walk was only 10.12km in length but because we had to check the map so much, stop to take photographs or generally look at the history, the flowers, the animals etc, it took is 4 hrs to complete.
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