Day 06 Llangollen to Chirk

A long day, but pleasant and varied. Climbed out of the valley. Great views back over Llangollen, up onto the ridge, through lovely woodlands and down the other side to Trevor and the canal. It was so nice to be out of the sheep overgrazed bareness of the northern range. Here it is green and lush and full of birdsong. And the history becomes more real: Offa king of Mercia in 8th century; King Henry II and his attempted “Total annihilation of the Welsh race” and the Battle of Crogen 1165; building of the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct on 1805. All there around us. The awesome wrought iron gates of Chirk Castle built over 300 years ago.
And around the corner, the Cadbury factory and caravan park.
We stay tonight in The Hand Hotel in Chirk, built around 1600 - not a modern hotel. You can almost feel what it was like 200 or 400 years ago.
The last section of the path was a bit tricky - flood had damaged the path descending into Chirk from the south; a dislodged bridge successfully negotiated.
Tomorrow I think we will get bus 64 to Chirk Mill to rejoin the Path and avoid retracing our path back up there.
Oh and by the way, we clocked 100 km today! Yay.
Stats: 21.25 km; 7:20 hours; 565 altitude gain; HR 78Read more