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This short round is one of my favourite walks. it starts in Llangollen, where I went to school.
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A calmer section of the river, with Castell Dinas Bran atop its hill in the background. The station, a popular place for steam train rides, can be seen on the opposite bank of the river.
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More calm waters - the Llangollen Canal, running parallel to the river and railway but high above them.
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The first part of the walk follows the canal. New spring leaves were all around.
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The canal runs past the "tent" for the Llangollen Eisteddfod, an international folk music and dance festival. When I was at school in the 1970s, the last job of summer term was to help put the Eisteddfod tent up. But now there is this permanent structure, which is actually rather an attractive design.
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On the other side of the canal is Valle Crucis Abbey, a 13th century Cistercian abbey built near Eliseg's Pillar, an 8th century Celtic cross. In the sixteenth century, Abbot Robert Salisbury supplemented the abbey's income by being the boss of a gang of highwaymen.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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A slightly higher view of the abbey, from the path which leaves the canal and starts to climb towards the castle.
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A little higher, the abbey now only just visible.
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A little further along, the path gives a view over Velvet Hill, a fern-clad undulating ridge that divides the deep valley of Eglwyseg from the main Dee valley.
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The path also gives a good view down to below Velvet Hill, where the Dee bends sharply and at this point four bridges cross: the pedestrian suspension bridge ("Chain Bridge"), and three stone bridges at different levels: the railway bridge, the main A5 road bridge and a lower bridge carrying the minor road to Llantysilio.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
A wider view.
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The hill of Dinas Bran changes shape as you approach it.
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The colours of spring.
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The path runs level for a while at the foot of the hill, contouring below steep slopes. From here there are views across to a section of the Eglywseg Crags, which extend for five miles northwards from the castle towards the head of the Eglwyseg valley at "Worlds' End". The section of the crags that can be seen here is too broken for climbing, but there are routes up to E6 on the more northerly parts of the crags.
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The path reaches the foot of a more gentle slope that leads up to the hilltop.
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The upper slopes give great views of the Dee valley.
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Raven gatepost at the gateway to the castle. The original Castell Dinas Bran was Iron Age - it was traditionally the home of the Celtic leader Bran, who is also associated with the ravens of the Tower of London "Geoffrey of Monmouth [1136] refers to an early British King called King Bran Hen of Bryneich (born c.485). The Welsh word for Raven is Bran. This ancient King of the Dark Ages was killed in a battle and requested that his head was buried, as a talisman against invasion, on Gwynfryn (the 'White Mount') where The Tower of London now stands. Legend has it that should the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, it will crumble." (
http://www.ancientfortresses.org/ravens-in-the-tower-of-london.htm)
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One of the defensive ditches below the castle.
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The castle ruins and some of the views from them.
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A view back to the castle from the southern slopes.
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My walk was a test: I wanted to see if the route was suitable for our large group of friends. Two weeks later we did the walk - the spring colours had advanced spectacularly.
We also took a look at the extraordinary Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, now the centre of the Llangollen Canal World Heritage site - UNESCO info at
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1303/
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Walking along the canal near the aqueduct
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Climbing towards the castle
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Bluebells in full flower now
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A tunnel of trees
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The dip between the castle and the crags
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Approaching the castle ramparts
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Picnic time
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More views from the ruins
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Descending the hill
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Looking down to Llangollen in its narrow valley
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Looking ahead along the path to the Pancake, a lower and remarkably flat-topped hill below Dinas Bran, and just above my school. In the Iron Age this was the cattle enclosure for the castle.
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Views from the Pancake
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The last walk past my school down into the town - destination the pub!
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Steam engines in Llangollen
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The river, and a train in the station
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The pub overlooks the river and gave us some grandstand views of the canoeists and rafters, and their mishaps...
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