Dee Valley Way (and the end of the Offa’s Dyke Path)

Friday 2nd September 2022 (and Saturday 3rd September 2022)

Near the end of my holiday on the Offa’s Dyke Path I thought I’d take advantage of being in the area to walk through the Dee Valley using a waymarked trail that goes from the small market town of Corwen to Llangollen, so after parking in Corwen I set off from the statue of Owain Glyndŵr in the town centre along the Dee Valley Way. Initially the trail follows a road out of the town, over the river and, off the road, up towards the ancient hillfort of Caer Drewyn. My Ordnance Survey map shows the Dee Valley Way keeping to the road on the northern side of the valley, but the route has changed and now comes off the road and toward the hillfort. Fortunately, it doesn’t climb all the way up to the top of Caer Drewyn so when I reached the edge of the steep, open ground I turned sharp right to follow a track around the side of the hill with great views across the valley and over the town of Corwen. The trail continued between a wood and grassy fields on the steep slopes of the valley where walking was tricky due to the side gradient and no path. As I slowly climbed the hillside the views developed behind me, though it was still quite overcast and misty, but I was hopeful that the good weather that I had been enjoying on this holiday would continue and the mist would clear.

On reaching a wood, I turned left and then right, through the wood, onto a narrow road, which I followed down to the valley bottom and through the village of Carrog, back on the old route of the Dee Valley Way, where I had great views down the valley past the old bridge as gaps started to appear in the clouds. Eventually I came off the road and steeply up the bank into the lovely, mixed wood of Coed Tir-llanerch with the climb continuing out of the wood, high above the valley and past some old quarry workings. Leaving the map-marked route of the trail again, I continued the climb up onto the heather-clad moorland on top of the ridge. As I slowly traversed the top, the sun broke through, so since I had not packed my wide-brimmed hat I made sure I was well covered in sun cream before proceeding. At Bwlch y Groes I turned right down a road as the views to my left opened out revealing fabulous views of the Dee Valley even though it was very hazy in the distance. I couldn’t resist branching off the road to get a better look and then when I checked where I should have gone I realised the Dee Valley Way also branched off the road at this point so I was able to continue enjoying the fabulous views while crossing the southern slopes of Llantysilio Mountain.

The moorland was a wonderfully diverse range of colours from the yellow of gorse, the purple of heather, the green of bracken and the red of the bilberry leaves. The sunshine and great views amongst colourful vegetation while listening to great music made this a fabulous walk, but inevitably it came to an end as I began to descend along a sunken lane that brought me onto a road and ultimately back down to the valley bottom. After passing through Rhewl I had difficulty finding the path off the road and wandered around for a while until eventually I gave up and headed down the road, but then suddenly I came across the footpath that bypasses a farmyard but is not clearly marked on maps. Navigation continued to be tricky as I crossed several fields to reach Llandynan and beyond there to pass through a wood. By this point in the day I was feeling very tired, possibly because of the heat or maybe the result of two weeks of strenuous walking, so I wearily made my way along the narrow footpath through the wood and down through a field where I had great views up the Eglwyseg Valley towards the rocks that I had walked past two days previously.

At the bottom of the valley, more road walking brought me to the famous Horseshoe Falls of Llangollen, but I struggled to see what the fuss was about, partly because there were so many people there, including in the water. Part of my problem is because the falls are actually man-made, created to feed the Llangollen Canal that starts at this point, and I followed this along the towpath all the way into Llangollen. This was a pleasant walk and at one point I took advantage of a metal ladder that took me down to the river bed where I had stunning views up and down the valley. Returning to the canal I continued along the towpath until eventually I arrived in Llangollen where I dropped down to the railway station whose position right next to the river was simply magical. I have driven through Llangollen and the Dee Valley many times on my way to Snowdonia, so it was great to finally stop and take in the fabulous scenery. The earlier sunshine had now been replaced by muggy, overcast heat so I was happy to just wander around Llangollen and wait until the next bus could take me back to Corwen.

The next day I drove to the village of Dyserth and parked beside a tall waterfall, but it was difficult to find a right-of-way path to the falls with a shop claiming 50p for access through their premises and once I was above the waterfall I still could not work which way to go. The valley above the waterfall was beautiful but short lived and soon I was back on a road. While trying to head upstream I came across a field protected by a large bull, which was tricky avoiding until eventually I managed to escape and finally I reached the Offa’s Dyke Path so I could complete the last four miles of the trail. The first mile was across dull fields that reminded me of why I had missed out sections of the Offa’s Dyke Path before finally I came to the steep terrain of Prestatyn Hillside Nature Reserve that had drawn me to the area. The trail turned many times but was well-signed and took me up to the escarpment edge where I had hazy views over the town of Prestatyn and towards the sea where the trail ends. Eventually I began to descend and finally reached the urban jungle, which I had planned to avoid, heading straight back to Dyserth, but on a whim I decided to walk all the way to the sea and the official end of the Offa’s Dyke Path. After passing through the town, over the railway line and past the crazy golf I reached the metal structure that marks the end of the trail, two weeks after I had left Sedbury Cliffs on the Offa’s Dyke Path and now I was at the end at Prestatyn beach.

Would I have felt more of a sense of achievement if I had walked all 177 miles of the trail? I probably missed out about seventy miles with the largest section lost in the Severn Valley, but I still had some fabulous walking where I visited places that I had never been to before, or previously driven past without stopping so the Offa’s Dyke Path was great in taking me to undiscovered places. I was in a low mental state at the start of the holiday but this holiday revived my spirits with the good weather helping in my recovery. After a stroll across the sands, I returned to the start/end of the Offa’s Dyke Path and followed it as far as the railway station where I diverted onto an old line that slowly climbs back up to Dyserth where I once again tried to negotiate the maze of paths past the waterfall and finally returned to my car.