Pen y Gwely

Start: The Mulberry Inn, Llwynmawr, Llangollen LL20 7BB tel 01691 718281

(S/E) From the front of The Mulberry Inn, take the turning signposted to Selattyn and Oswestry, passing the end of a house (Bryn-y-Groes) on your left. Walk uphill past Llwynmawr Farm (dated 1845), ignoring the left turn just after the farm.

(1) At the next junction, turn right (signposted Dolywern). Walk down between houses, then, before a house called Plas Pentre, turn left onto a path leading alongside the previous house and up to a kissing gate into fields. Follow the path round to the right, past an animal shelter on the right, and follow a gappy, overgrown hedge along the side of the valley.

(2) In the far right-hand corner, go through a kissing gate into the wood ahead. The path winds through the trees and meets another path coming up from the right. Shortly afterwards, ignore a path off to the left at a waymark post, continuing ahead on a mostly level path. Exit the woodland via another kissing gate and follow the field edge ahead to a footbridge and a further kissing gate. Continue along the valley side below the field boundary to another kissing gate. At the end of the next field, beyond a farm gate, a fenced path leads below a paddock and joins a track at another gate. Follow this track.

(3) Before the farm at Tal-y-Garth Ucha, take a sharp left by the first house. Beyond a gate take the path on the right, above a woodshed, to a second gate, and climb the slope above fields to a house, where a fenced path leads up to the road. Cross over and climb the steps in the garden opposite to a stile. The path climbs steeply up the right-hand side of the meadow beyond. Towards the top of the field the gradient eases; there is a stile in the right-hand corner, but it may be easier to bypass it to the left. Join a stony, tree-lined track that continues uphill.

(4) At the top of the slope, indicated by a waymark post on the right, turn left off the track along a stone wall leading through gorse towards the hilltop. Cross a tumbledown wall and cross open pasture with isolated rocky outcrops and gorse bushes to a waymark post. After a second waymark, bear right, passing to the left of a rock pile topped by gorse. At the far side, against a gorsy backdrop, is a third waymark post.

(5) Beyond it, and a little hard to find among the gorse, an indistinct path leads sharply downhill to the right of a fence. Look out for a stile on the left, which crosses the fence and leads onto a path below an overgrown low crag. Further along, the path drops down to a corner below a disused stile; pass through a gate in the fence on the right and walk down the side of a field towards a barn. A gate leads past the car park and barn out to a track.

(6) Turn right through a gate and follow the track for half a mile until you reach a road.

(7) Turn left and walk uphill for 500 m, ignoring a farm track to the right. At a road junction, disregard the turning to Selattyn and continue along the road to the right. The road climbs gradually then begins to descend past Spring Hill Farm on the left.

(8) Just beyond Springhill Farm, turn right onto a track that crosses the top of a valley and climbs slightly. After about 200 m, cross a stile in the fence on your left into a field. Bear right to another stile that comes into view at the top of the field. Beyond this fence the path becomes indistinct as it crosses the rushy ground ahead of you. Keep slightly left until you can see a green-painted bridleway fingerpost and head towards it.

(9) Don’t follow the descending bridleway, but turn left along a grassy track beside the wire fence, heading towards a conifer plantation, with views to the Shropshire Hills. At the end of the wood, go through a gate and follow the track left of the trees to a metal barn. From here, an obvious track leads down towards the farm at Llechrydau.

(10) At a junction of tracks, bear left to cross a stream and follow the track left of the farm buildings up to a road. Turn left along the road for a short distance.

(11) Turn right through a gate at the end of small conifer plantation. Follow the track along the edge of a sheep pasture, staying on the track as it bends left by a gate. At another gate, the path swings right and heads for Caemor Wood (a conifer plantation). Go through another gate into the trees and continue ahead to a road. Cross straight over and follow the track opposite, which leads alongside more pine trees.

(12) At the end of the wood, pass a communications mast and start to descend. Keep left at a farm entrance with a footpath sign, continuing down the metalled road and following it round to the right at the bottom of
another footpath. The lane eventually emerges onto the B4579 Selattyn road, opposite a house (Bedlwyn) with the date 1856 in brick.

(13) Cross over and follow the narrow lane to the right of the house. This quiet lane leads down to meet the outward route at a road junction by a house called Pentre Garth. 37 Turn right (signposted Llwynmawr) and follow the road back to The Mulberry Inn. (S/E)

Start: The Mulberry Inn, Llwynmawr, Llangollen LL20 7BB tel 01691 718281

Notes: One significant ascent and descent, with rocky ground in places and several stiles. The higher sections are level but there is little shelter from the weather – waterproofs recommended.

Find more information on Walks From the Door.