Home Outdoors Bangor-on-Dee Walk: Dismantled Railway, Open Fields and Bangor Rough Coppice

Bangor-on-Dee Walk: Dismantled Railway, Open Fields and Bangor Rough Coppice

by Adam Howarth, Editor
Bangor-on-Dee Walk: Dismantled Railway, Open Fields and Bangor Rough Coppice

The walk around Bangor-on-Dee is largely flat and is mainly open fields and country lanes. It is about four miles and should take you less than two hours.

Introduction and Overview

The terrain is mostly flat with a few awkward stiles to negotiate, which means taking a dog could be problematic. Please bear in mind a couple of the footpaths take you over cultivated fields that are easy to cross when the crops are not high and the ground is firm underfoot.

However, it could be a different story when the crops are higher or the ground is muddier. You might have to walk around the perimeter of the field rather than straight across it.

Please consult the disclaimer at love-wrexham.com/walk-disclaimer/ before going on one of our walks. We always follow public footpaths indicated on OS maps.

Bangor-on-Dee Walk: OS Map
OS Map

Lay-By on the B5069

Park in the lay-by on the right about half a mile out of Bangor-on-Dee along the B5069 (the road that takes you to Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse). Face the fields on the other side of the lay-by, turn right and walk along the grass verge for a minute or so until you reach the metal footpath sign on your left opposite the terraced cottages (one of which is called “Afon Cottage”).

Go through the metal walker’s gate into the field. Follow the hedge line to your right. Walk through the next metal kissing gate and follow the same hedge line until you reach the wooden duckboards (1). Turn right and leave the field through the metal kissing gate beyond.

In the next field, follow the barbed wire, ditch and hedge on your left. Exit the field through another metal kissing gate. Carry straight on and exit the field through the kissing gate to the left of the more central of the two oak trees.

1. Wooden duckboards and metal gate
(1) Wooden duckboards and metal gate

Millbrook

Carry straight on across the small field, through the open gateway and over the small brook. Follow the barbed wire fence/ hedge line on your right. Walk past the telegraph pole and the pair of metal gates. Continue along the right-hand hedge line until you reach the road.

Go through the metal kissing gate, turn left and walk along the grass verge. Turn left onto the lane with the derestricted signs (2), following the sign for Millbrook (Nant-y-Felin). Walk up the lane and go through the metal kissing gate on your left by the metal footpath sign after about five minutes.

2. Lane to Millbrook
(2) Lane to Millbrook

Once in the field, head northeast towards the telegraph pole. Skirt around the right of the pond. Go through the gateway in the hedge/fence beyond, turn left, pass the large oak tree and go through the gateway ahead of you in the next field.

Three Chicken Coops

Aim for the right of the green barn ahead and exit the field over the stile (3). Once on the lane, turn left towards the farm building and then right over the stile after about a minute. Walk along the fence on your left, over the branches and apples. You’ll come to a stile by three chicken coops and some noisy dogs in kennels!

3. Stile by Green Barn
(3) Stile by Green Barn

There’s barbed wire along the top of the stile so be careful climbing over it (4). Walk towards the telegraph pole (due south). As you pass it, you’ll see a gap in the fence ahead of you to the right of the two oak trees. Again, take care climbing the stile. Walk to the left of the circle of trees in front of you. This feature is called Bangor Rough Coppice.

4. Stile by the chicken coops
(4) Stile by the chicken coops

Once past the trees, walk towards the corrugated iron barn. At the bottom of the slope, you’ll see a double gate with a boarded bridge over a brook.

Pretty Wooden Gate

Once through the gates, walk up the slope and to the right of the farm buildings. Pass between the hedge and the wooden power line pole. Go through the pretty wooden gate and turn left. Walk down the lane and turn left through the metal walker’s gate just after Millbrook bridge (5).

5. Bangor Rough Coppice
(5) Bangor Rough Coppice

Follow the hedge, fence and tree line on your left up the slope. Ignore the metal walker’s gate on your left after about a minute. Walk past the broken tree trunk on your left and carry on until the field levels out and you reach the dismantled railway line. Turn right and walk along the electric fence.

The railway is below you and to your left. Walk across it when you reach the break in the fence. You’ll see a metal walker’s gate on the other side, but there’s another electric fence blocking the way. You have to walk through the gap a little to the right of the metal gate.

Line of Four Oak Trees

Follow the electric fence line on your right for about 10 minutes until you reach the far hedge line. Turn left and walk a short way with the hedge and lane on your right. Go through the metal gate onto the lane and turn left. Turn left almost straight away and walk along the grassy track due north (6). Go through the metal gate into the field and follow the right-hand hedgeline.

6. Fancy Gate
(6) Fancy Gate

After about 10 minutes, exit the field by climbing the wooden steps and going through the metal walker’s gate. Walk around the left perimeter of the field, which contains four oak trees in a line. Exit the field through the metal walker’s gate in the far corner. Be careful of the electric fence wire lying on the ground.

Go down the wooden steps and you’ll find yourself back on the dismantled railway. Cross the railway and walk down the narrow grassy track between the wooden poles (7).

7. Walker's gate after Millbrook bridge
(7) Walker’s gate after Millbrook bridge

Cloy Farm/Cloy House

The track opens out into a small field after a couple of minutes. Walk straight across and through the metal gate in front of you. Cross the bridge and go through another metal gate. Follow the right-hand hedge and fence line ignoring the stile on the right. Break left from the fence and cross the field when you reach the farm buildings on the other side of the hedge (Cloy Farm).

Walk towards the furthest telegraph pole. Exit the stile onto the lane beyond. Turn left and head towards the large farm property (Cloy House) you will have seen when you started the walk. Hop over the stile on the right just before you reach the green corrugated iron barn.

Walk down the slope in the direction of the church at Bangor-on-Dee. Go through the metal kissing gate at the bottom and over the boarded bridge. Cross the small field and exit using the green metal walker’s gate in the wooden fence. Walk up the drive, past the houses and turn left when you reach the B5069. Take care as you walk along the road. You’ll reach the lay-by where you started the walk after a few minutes.

If you’d like to see some more of our walks, click here.

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