The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 4 (of 5), Chester to Parkgate

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As I looked out of the window before setting off, on what was due to be the longest section of the whole route at 15 miles (or 24km), the rain was pouring down (as was forecast for most of the day). So I donned my waterproofs and set off… To my amazement, as I stepped out of the B&B door, it had stopped and it didn’t rain again all day! 👍👍

The initial part of the route left Chester via a section of the city walls and along the Shropshire Union Canal. It then meandered through Saughall before crossing the A494 and A550 and reaching the parish of Shotwick, where I had lunch on the ‘2000’ bench and took a small detour to see the church. (See pics 7 to 20). From there it went through the delightfully named village of Puddington and past some beautiful houses in Burton. (Check out the bus stop shelter in pic 22, which not only had a bench with cushions, but also books to read while you waited for the bus!) From then on the path hugged the east side of Dee estuary, where I noticed hundreds of sheep grazing on the marshland. (See pic 27).

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 3 (of 5), Farndon to Chester

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Day 3 of my walk had the best weather forecast and the route pretty much hugged the river Dee, on one side then the other, all the way to Chester. For the most part the going was very easy, apart from one particular section, where the usual nettles and brambles made life difficult. (See pic 15).

After donning my waterproofs to get through, worse immediately followed, as there was absolutely no path to be found alongside the field, planted with 7ft high maize. (See pic 16). There was only one thing to do and that was walk between the first two rows. (Pic 17).

As I approached Chester, I was pleased to see that people were taking advantage of the, now much wider, smooth flowing river, some in canoes, some on paddleboards and others by boat.

I think I even spotted a Roman centurion in the Amphitheatre… 🤔

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 2 (of 5), Bangor-on-Dee to Farndon

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Not only did I have to contend with quite a few overgrown paths, gates and stiles, (see several pics below) but things got even worse when I came across locked gates. (Pics 5 and 9 are two good examples). Add into that a bit of rain and knee length grass, soaking your boots, and you can maybe forgive me for taking the ‘easy’ option down the road sometimes. I think it made it slightly longer, but much more pleasant!

It’s not all bad news though… My accommodation in Bangor-on-Dee had been, almost literally, between two good pubs, serving real ale and it was much the same in Farndon, where one pub was opposite my B&B (though it was closed on Mondays) and the other about 50 yards down the road. A further 10 minute walk took me across a bridge into the village of Holt, where another 2 pubs awaited (again though one was closed on Mondays). Well, you have to keep hydrated! 🍺👍😊

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 1 (of 5), Chirk to Bangor-on-Dee

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Following on from my rather wintery walk along the Dee Way back in March, last week, Jude dropped me off in Chirk under overcast skies. Thankfully, it barely rained all day. What wasn’t so nice was the condition of the path, which was incredibly and annoyingly overgrown (with nettles and bramble thorns) in many places. As you will see from some of the pictures below (and there’s more in the days to come unfortunately) much of the route could not have been walked very often at all.

The highlight(s) of the day proved to be 10’s of Speckled Woods and possibly even more Gatekeepers, with the occasional Green-veined White thrown in for good measure. Quite surprising on such a dull day.

Butterflies, Ynys, North Wales

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The buddleia and bramble bushes in our garden have been awash with butterflies for the past two weeks – when the sun came out obviously. The gallery below shows ten different species, captured on three separate days.

Tomorrow, I set off on Part 2 of my Dee Way walk to Hoylake. Hopefully the weather will be a lot better than Part 1! 🤞🤞 My apologies in advance if I’m slow to respond to any Comments and/or to Like any of your posts.

Porthdinllaen Peninsular Walk, Morfa Nefyn, North Wales

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One of the beauties of being retired, is that when the weather is fine, you can go out and do ‘stuff’. But that does mean ‘stuff’ gets in the way of blogging… However, when it rains (as forecast for today and the next few days) it means you have a chance to catch up. So, my apologies to Jude’s mum, Angela, who came to visit a couple of weeks ago now. I know she always reads my posts and has probably been wondering whether she missed this series of photos.

We took a trip over to Morfa Nefyn to walk around the peninsular. The coastal path goes around several holes of the Morfa Nefyn 9 hole ‘Point’ or Blue golf course (and as such makes it quite tricky for golfers to play when there are lots of walkers milling around – not that there was anyone on the course while we were there). For any golfers out there, or anyway, check out these flyover videos – particularly the 1st and 4th holes. It’s quite a challenging course.

Anyway, I digress… No sooner had we arrived, I noticed several butterflies fluttering about the bushes at the edge of the car park. After 10 minutes of running up and down, I was particularly pleased to capture a Ringlet, as I don’t recall seeing one since arriving back in the UK. 😊👍

Walk home from Llanbedr, North Wales

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A couple of weeks ago, my wife had a hair appointment in the village of Llanbedr, so I decided to get a lift there and walk back home – via the inland, scenic route. See route map at the end of the gallery, but it was a distance of around 11.5 miles or 18.5km.

After an easy start along the road and quite wide tracks, I soon found myself wading through bracken up to my waist, trying to find my way. Although I was clearly on the correct line of the path according to my GPS, a 4 to 5 feet high drystone wall lay directly across my path. After searching left and right, there was nothing else to do but climb over it. (This is not recommend btw).

After that, the going, across open moor and farmland, got much easier. I dropped down to a small lake, called Llyn y Fedw. I wasn’t expecting to find anything in particular, but it was abuzz with dragonflies and damselflies. While trying to coax a pair of Common Blues out of the grass, in the hope of getting a decent photo, the male dragged his female partner onto my hand. Luckily this time, my camera was in my other hand. 👍😀 (See pic 15).

Quite a few butterflies were out and about too, with a large number of Meadow Browns fluttering in and out of the hedgerows along our single track road. (See pic 22).

Walk to the Gwaith Powdwr Nature Reserve, Gwynedd, N. Wales

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As many of you may already know, the weather in the UK has been uncharacteristically warm and dry for the past 2 or 3 weeks. So, about 10 days ago, I thought it was about time I tried my luck again at the Gwaith Powdwr nature reserve. I posted some details and a few pictures last year, but this time I decided to walk there and back from home, a distance of around 7 miles in total.

I had just a little more luck with the dragonflies and damselflies this time, though ‘the big blue one’ never did come anywhere near me to get a picture. 😌

With my apologies, particularly to Brian (of Butterflies to Dragsters), for probably not getting the ids right.

Isles of Scilly, St Mary’s (Part 4 of 5)

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Unlike the other islands, we were able to get to St Mary’s every day. Jude and I went to explore Hugh Town and search for the grave of former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who regularly holidayed on the islands and is buried in the Old Town church yard. (See pic 2)

On another occasion I went there alone to walk around the coastal path, which measures around 10 miles or 16km. There’s an impressive set of star-shaped Garrison Walls along the west coast. (See pics 14 – 17). And, perhaps surprisingly, given the island’s small size and remoteness, there are several chambered cairns or ancient burial grounds dotted around the coast, which date back to the Bronze Age, between 2500 and 800 BC. (See pics 23 & 24). As if that wasn’t enough for any history buff, there’s also the remains of an ancient, Iron Age, village at Halangy Down. (See pics 28 & 29). Definitely a walk back in time if ever there was one! 😊