Simon Jones takes you on a circular walk just north of Ruthin
This month’s walk takes you north along the River Clywedog with a halfway break at St Saeran’s Church Llanynys. It then heads east and then south along the River Clwyd before crossing some fields and heading back into Rhewl.
Overview
This very calming walk is mostly along flat farmland. There are a few bumpy sections and one or two unsteady stiles, but there is no climbing and it is overall fairly easy walking. The walk is 7.2km/4.5 miles and should take about two hours.
Depending on the time of year, some of the fields can be dug unevenly. You will have to lift your dog over some stiles and keep it on a lead as some fields contain cows or sheep. Please read our disclaimer at love-wrexham.com/walk-disclaimer before undertaking any of our walks.
Directions
We started the walk by the children’s playground and tennis courts in Rhewl (1). You can park for free just opposite the playground in five parking spaces over the road. Stand with your back to the white gates outside the children’s playground, take a right and follow the small lane up with the playing fields on your right. You’ll come to an old Methodist Chapel on your right where the Welsh Bard Emyrys ap Iwan was the minister.
Take the first left just before the Chapel (2) that leads to the main A525 Road. The Drovers Arms is on your left. Take a right and walk along the main road. Walk past the houses and go through the metal kissing gate in the hedge on your right. It’s next to a wooden footpath sign, just before the road reaches the bridge. Once through the gate, cut across the field to the opposite corner and go through another gate. You arrive at the River Clywedog, which you will follow for over a mile.
Blankets of Snowdrops
Take a fenced path along the way with a house and a lawn on your right. Go through two more gates and walk past more gardens and a green shepherd’s hut (3), always keeping the river to your left. If you undertake the walk in March, you should see blankets of snowdrops everywhere you look. Go through another gate, walk past a pond, and then into a field via a metal gate (ignore the stile). Walk to the left of the field and through a gate into a wooded area. Continue along the path next to the river as you walk through the wood. Carefully negotiate the two fallen trees.
Go through a gate into another large field and then through two smaller fields. Take a very sharp right turning by the stone bridge (4) after coming through the next gate (you may have to go out and round a makeshift metal sheep pen to turn right here). Follow the track along the right-hand edge of the three fields, each a little bigger than the last.
St Saeran’s Churchyard
Follow the right-hand hedge line to the end of the third field and walk through the gap over a stream into the next field. Head for the gap in the far hedge line. Walk up this narrow field and take the gate on the left to exit. Turn right and walk past the picnic area with a pond on your left. Take a left onto the lane and follow it past farms and farmland to arrive at the St Saeran‘s churchyard on your right (5).
Turn right onto the narrow, tree-canopied lane (6) after the row of cottages under redevelopment next to the church. Walk past the cottages until you reach the gate. Cross the field and exit through another gate. Go through another field and exit through another gate.
Cross a larger field and take the gate half hidden in the hedge beyond. Take care with the drop as you approach the gate. Walk diagonally right across the next field and follow the far hedge line (7), keeping it on your left as it reaches the far corner.
Go through a gate into a back garden with a bench and pond. Cross a stile into another field and keep the hedge on your left until you reach a gate. Once through the gate, walk along a track and over a stone bridge by the River Clywd. Hop over the stile on your right after the bridge (8) and walk along the river with it to your right.
Oakleigh
Walk through three large fields until you get to a lane. Turn right onto the lane (9) and cross the bridge. Follow the lane for about three-quarters of a mile – it takes a sharp left after about 0.4 miles (10) and take the footpath through the metal kissing gate on the right just the house with the “Oakleigh” sign. Cross this field towards a metal stile in the fence opposite and then go directly across the large field in the same westerly direction where you should find another metal stile into another long field.
Head along this field following the right hedge line. As it bends to the right, move over to the left-hand hedge line and follow that until you reach the gate by the red-brick houses. This gate takes you down an alleyway by the old Methodist chapel mentioned at the beginning of this walk and then right along the road back to where you have parked by the children’s playground.
About Simon Jones
Simon Jones is a trained walking guide and runs Walks in the Vale of Clwyd. He will take you on this or any of the eight other walks of varied lengths offered on his website, walksinthevaleofclwyd.com. Scheduled walks are Fridays and Saturdays between April and November. Privately arranged walks can be booked for any day of the week and at any time of year, subject to availability.
If you’d like to see some more of our walks, click here.
