You can start this walk by Llandegla church. There is a free car park nearby at the crossroads (address: 1 Ffynnon Tegla, Llandegla LL11 3BJ).
Overview
The walk is not particularly steep, but some paths are overgrown and uneven in places. The use of long trousers, gaiters or long socks is advisable. There are many fields along the walk containing sheep or cattle. Some of the stiles are not dog-friendly.
Please read our disclaimer at love-wrexham.com/walk-disclaimer before attempting the walk.
St Tecla Church, Llandegla
Face the church and take the path to the right (1). Walk along the track to the left of the house in front of you. Go through the metal gate and along the path with the brook to your left and the fence to your right. Take the left fork and cross the double-stile bridge. Turn right and follow the path that runs along the fence on your right. Go right and through the wooden kissing gate. Walk down the short slope keeping the fence on your left. Exit the field through the wooden kissing gate. Follow the fence on your right. At the wooden waymarker post, walk along the fence line on your left. Walk across the gated bridge. Carry straight on between the stream on your right and the low fence on your left. Go through the wooden kissing gate next to the metal barred gate.
Walk along the field, keeping the hedgerow on your right (part of Offa’s Dyke). Walk towards the group of metal barred gates. Go through the wooden gate on your left and walk along the path. Go straight over the lane after going through the wooden kissing gate.
Chweleiriog Lwyd
Walk up the drive which leads to Chweleiriog Lwyd and Moel Gelli for half a mile or about eight minutes (2). Walk over a cattle grid and a wooden stile. The track bears round to the right just after a huge oak tree on your left. Take the wooden stile on your right and turn left into the field. Once through the opening in the hedge line in front of you, look slightly diagonally right. You’ll see a small gap between the right of the wood and the adjacent lone tree.
Exit the field over the wooden ladder stile in that gap. Walk across the field for a couple of minutes and then go down the slope towards the wood on the right. Follow the hedge line (due north) and stream until the far corner of the field. Hop over the wooden stile (3). Aim for the left-hand edge of the wood in front of you. The wooden stile is on the verge of collapse so climb over the gate to get into the next field.
Walk in a north-easterly direction or diagonally right. You’ll see a break in the hedge line near the right-hand corner of the field. A brightly-coloured piece of plastic has been rolled around the top strand of the fence where the stile is (4).
Gweryd Lakes
Take care climbing over the stile as the plastic barely covers a strand of barbed wire. There is also an overgrown dip to negotiate before you reach the lane. Turn right and walk along the lane for about a minute or so. Cross the stile on your left and walk across the tarmacked drive. Follow the line of trees on your left and cross the stile into the small wood. Exit the wood over the stile, more or less straight on. Follow the fence line on your left until you reach the farm buildings. Cross the stile in the fence and follow the path around to the right of the farmhouse as you look at it.
Cross the bridge and walk past the white terraced houses on your right. Presently, you’ll see some buildings on your left with a sign for Gweryd Lakes. Turn right, following the metal footpath sign on your right and hop over the stile. Head diagonally left across the field, following the path made by walkers across the field and aiming for the white houses. Exit over the wooden stile into another field. Follow the fence and hedge line on your left and use the stile to leave the field. Turn sharp right and follow the hedgerow on your right. Follow the hedgeline as it bends left and exit the field over the stile by the metal footpath sign.
Thistles and Limestone
Cross over the lane and up the drive opposite. Cross the cattle grid and bridge. Take the stile on your right (look carefully, it is easy to miss!). Walk through the long grass following the stream to your right. After about five minutes, climb over the metal stile in the stone wall. You’ll cross a wooden stile in another stone wall a few yards further on. Turn left before the gap in the line of the small trees ahead of you.
Walk up the slope through the thistles and over the limestone outcroppings, following the stone wall to your left and as it angles right. As you reach the second corner of the field after some outcroppings, exit the field through the metal kissing gate with some stone steps on the other side.
Follow the path in the grass. It’ll skirt left around the base of the wooded hill in front of you. Continue along the path keeping the caravan site on your left and the wooded hill on your right. Walk straight on through the ferns heading in a south-easterly direction. Carry on, keeping the bank of ferns immediately to your left. Walk through the remains of a stone gateway. Keep following the path in the grass and you’ll see some static caravans on your left. Carry on between the two banks of ferns. After a short slope, go through the metal gate at the top of some stone steps with a metal handrail.
ParcFarm Holiday Park
Follow the path through the grass as it bends to the left. There’s another caravan above you and to your left. Walk between the temporary metal fencing and the caravan site. Enter ParcFarm Holiday Park and walk along the road past the sign saying “Dol Awel” (5).
Carry on along the road and go straight on along the gravel path when you see the metal footpath sign. Follow the yellow sign right into the small field. Turn left and follow the hedge and fence line on your left. Go through one metal gate to exit the field and another to enter the next field. Exit this field through another metal gate dead ahead. Pass the pond on your right. Follow the fence and hedge line on your left. Exit the field through the gate in the corner. Carry on straight up the path with the nettles and then through the light woodland. Go through the metal gate (Townsend Supplies Ltd) and cross the field directly in front of you. Turn left up the sloping path. Walk along the narrow footpath with the metal fence on your right.
Allt Gymbyd Farm
The path becomes overgrown with thistles and nettles. You’ll come to Allt Gymbyd Farm on your right. The footpath goes along the left-hand edge of a concrete sheep pen, go through two metal gates to enter and exit it (6).
After exiting the sheep pen, you’ll be in the farmyard with some barns on your left. Walk up the concrete drive and onto the road. Carry on until you see the metal footpath sign on your right. Go through the metal gate. Under no circumstances follow the right-hand fence line to begin with as it is extremely boggy. Instead, go up the slope on your left and through the gap in the trees before dropping back down again to follow the path to the left of the fence line. After about five minutes, go through the metal gate on your right and then climb over the stile on your left. Follow the fence line on your left.
Once past the large copse of trees in the middle of the field, start following the fence line on the right. As the barbed wire fence line bends 45 degrees right, turn right up the slight slope and over the white stony outcroppings. Look left along the fence line in front of you – you’ll see a metal gate. Go through the gate into a wood. Turn left and walk along the path. After a minute or so, exit the wood through a metal gate. You’re now on the raised section of a large field. Walk straight on (south-westerly).
Fallen Waymarker
You’ll see a lower section of the field on your left with a dense wood beyond. Walk past several rocky outcrops on your left and between the two large ash trees. Follow the path made in the grass by walkers. The path rises slightly and you’ll see a wooden waymarker post lying on the ground on your left (7).
Follow the vehicle tracks down the hill on your left after about 50 yards. Walk to the left of the waymarker post with the yellow arrow at the bottom of the slope and head for the metal barred gate. Go through the metal gate in the fence line to your left a little further down. Walk along the vehicle track and to the right of the old stone building. You may see some baby pheasants around this section (8). Follow the path around the Bod Idris Hotel. Turn left and then right when you reach the road. Walk down the drive away from the hotel. Go through the stone gateway with the one lantern and past the pond on your left.
Pen-y-Bryn Buildings
Go over the cattle grid and then through the metal gate to the right of the double metal barred gate at the bottom of the hill. Head for the gates in the hedge and fence line in the general direction of the Pen-y-Bryn farm buildings (heading due south). Go through the metal walkers’ gate and go through another one in the left fence line after a few minutes. Turn right and follow the path in the grass with the fence now on your right. Walk past the right of the waymarker post and follow the fence line as it bends left. Continue to walk along the fence line as it turns 45 degrees right.
You’re now on a narrow, overgrown stretch between two fences. Walk to the end and go through the metal gate on your left. Turn right and head for the right of the farm building in front of you. Turn right when you reach the drive and go up the slope. Leave the drive by the waymarker and go through the metal gate in front of you. Turn left, following the grassy slope downwards with a field down to your right. Take care with the descent as it becomes quite steep. As it levels out, cross the wooden bridge and then a stile. Follow the fence line on your right until you see the path through the grass bend sharply away from the fence and up a slope.
Plants High as an Elephant’s Eye!
Follow this change in direction for a few yards, then turn right again and work your way across the slope in the same direction as before. The fence line should be below you and to your right. You’ll come to a yellow-topped waymarker post with a white arrow. Rejoin the fence line albeit a little higher than you were before. Keep on following the fence line along the rather overgrown, although still visible, path. After about five minutes, you’ll see a yellow-topped post through the very high plants.
Cross the two wooden planks. Walk across the small wooden bridge shortly afterwards. Ignore the stile in front of you and use the metal-barred gate on your right to enter the field. You can either turn right and exit the field through the gate ahead of you or walk diagonally across the field until you reach the stile further along the fence and hedge line on the right. Either way, turn left when you get onto the lane and walk along it until you reach Llandegla Church again.
Congratulations, you have finished the walk! If you’d like to see some more of our walks, click here.
