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A Dismantled Railway and a Hidden Country Park

by Adam Howarth, Editor
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Love Wrexham Walking Gear

We’re back in Flintshire again this month. Not as far away as Llanferres last month as the starting point is just over the border at the Waun Y Llyn Country Park. The park is situated west of Caergwrle and east of Treuddyn. You’ll walk along a dismantled railway after discovering this hidden country park.

“Pre-Amble”

The walk is 5.8 miles long and of moderate difficulty. There are a couple of steepish climbs and it should take you 2½-3 hours. The stiles and gates are free of undergrowth for the most part.

The total ascent is about 906 feet or about 275 metres, with the highest point being 920 feet or just over 280 metres.

The landscape is nice and varied. You’ll walk along quiet country lanes, meadows and across attractive heathland. As usual, you will encounter some breathtaking views along the way.

You’ll need ankle-high boots, as a couple of stretches take you up sloping fields that may not be suitable for trainers or sandals if it has been raining.

The route is reasonably dog-friendly, although you do pass through several fields that contain sheep. Some stiles had dog-friendly slip-throughs, but you might have to lift your pet over others. There are stretches along country lanes where you need to keep your dog on the lead.

Starting Point

I started off in the car park of the Waun y Llyn Country Park (postcode: LL11 5HP; what3words.com/began.cluttered.majority).

From Wrexham, take the A541 through Gwersyllt, Cefn-y-Bedd and Caergwrle. Just over half a mile after Caergwrle, you’ll come to the junction for Fagl Lane on your right (signposted “Hope” and “Sports Centre”). The turning onto Pentre Lane, which takes you up to the country park, is on the left about 250 yards further on, just as the dual-carriageway starts.

The park is about 1.2 miles from leaving the dual-carriageway.

Be careful when driving up the lane as it’s very narrow in parts and twists and turns. It’s also quite steep as you approach the top where the park is. Pass the junction for Mountain Road on your left and the car park is the next turning on the right.

Disclaimer

Important: Your safety is our top priority. Before attempting any of our walks, you must read and understand the disclaimer at love-wrexham.com/walk-disclaimer.

Walk Directions

Waun Y Llyn Car Park

Have a look round at the magnificent views after you’ve parked up, then walk along the twisting access road back down to Pentre Lane and turn right. Follow the lane downhill for a minute or so and you’ll come to a green metal bridle path sign either side of the road. Turn left and go through the metal gate. Walk along the grassy path following the line of the dry stone wall on the left (1). You’ll go through another gate (or stile) after a couple of minutes. Keep following the path and dry stone wall as it starts to go downhill.

1. Follow the dry-stone wall

After a short distance, you’ll come to a junction with a metal gate either side of you and a stile in front of you. The metal gate on the right leads down to a farmhouse. Two yellow waymarker arrows on a leaning wooden post show you that you are on the right track.

Hop over the stile and follow the path to the right of a dense clump of brambles and nettles. The trees form a canopy overhead as you continue down the path. Duck under the fallen tree just before you come to a stile with a yellow arrow waymarker.

Climb over the stile and continue following the path down the slope. Take another stile soon after as the path starts to resemble an old drovers’ trail, ie a slightly sunken track with steep banks.

Fron Farm

You’ll reach another stile next to a cream-coloured house. Walk down as far as a lane. Fron Farm is on your right and a stream runs into the field ahead of you. Turn left onto the track and walk downhill. When you reach the tarmacked lane, turn left again by the sign warning you to look out for disabled riders.

Carry on along the gently sloping downhill lane until you reach the hamlet of Tyn-y-Cyffion on the B5101, Ffordd Llanfynydd. Turn right by the bench with the gnomes (2). Take care on the road as you’re on a blind hill with no pavement or verge to begin with.

2. Turn right here

Walk past the Clwyd Special Riding Centre on your right and over the brow of the blind hill. Carry on for about for a few minutes and you’ll see a small car park on your right. That’s your cue to leave the road and walk along the dismantled railway on the same side as the car park (3). This junction is called Pant-y-Stain and is the start of the Pwll y Coed Wood Pit Nature Reserve.

3. Entrance to the dismantled railway

Walk along the old railway for just over a mile or about 20-25 minutes. You’ll come to the hamlet of Coed-Talon. You’ll see a wooden gate with a smaller gate either side and a playground to your left.

The Railway Inn

Once through the gate, you can hop up the bank on your right and go through the narrow opening in the vegetation, or you can go straight on towards the Railway Inn and turn right as you leave the car park and work your way back along the lane, passing a house called The Old Chapel on your left. Follow the road as it bends round to the left after the following two houses (4).

A Dismantled Railway And A Hidden Country Park
4. Follow the road round to the left.

Walk along the lane for another half-mile, leaving the houses behind. You’ll see a turning on your right next to a house with a sign saying “Create Nostalgia” and another saying “Parc Gwledig Country Park” (5). Hop over the stile on the left with the yellow arrow waymarker.

5. Take the stile on the left

Follow the left-hand hedge and tree line and go through the gap in the hedge in front of you. Walk through the gateway with the pond on the right.

You’ll come out into an open field. Aim for the gap in the hedge in the left-hand corner. The villages of Pontybodkin and Leeswood/Coed-Llai are ahead of you and slightly to the left.

Take the stile and be careful stepping down the bank to the lane on the other side as the two stones are quite rounded and smooth.

Turn right and follow the lane for about half a mile. You’ll come to a stile on the right just after Pen-y-Parc Farm and Pen-y-Parc Cottage.

You’ll see the overgrown public footpath ahead of you runs up between two hedgerows. I decided to walk up the outside of the left hedgeline to avoid the nettles (6).

A Dismantled Railway And A Hidden Country Park
6. Walk up the outside of the left hedgeline

Walk up the hill, keeping the hedgeline to your right for a few minutes. You’ll come to a metal gate on your right (7). Climb over that and turn left up the slope. You’re now back on the footpath.

7. Turn left once over this gate

Three Metal Stiles

Walk up the broad grassy slope flanked by holly and oak trees until it opens out into a field on your right with a dry stone wall on your left. Head diagonally right, aiming for the top right-hand corner. It’s a steep slope and will take you about 10 minutes to reach the metal stile, which you use to exit the field.

Follow the left-hand barbed fence, leaning oak tree and gorse as the next field continues to rise until you reach another metal stile. Hop over it and you’ll find yourself on a lane.

Turn left and walk down the steep lane for about three minutes. Turn right at the bridle path sign. There’s a metal gate with a sign in red saying “Hillside” on the left-hand side.

Walk up the drive to Top-y-Rhos Farm. Pass the farmhouse to your right and turn left. Walk through the left-hand metal gate and along the track past the abandoned farm machinery on your right and the bales of hay in black polythene on your left (if they’re still there!).

Hop over the makeshift metal stile on the left by the small, yellow prefabricated structure. Follow the yellow arrow waymarker up the slope to the right along the two concrete strips with the grassy swathe up the middle.

Stay on the strips for about a quarter of a mile. You’ll pass some pigs on your right (8), cross a cattle grid and then turn right up the grass slope at the house called Bryn-Hyfryd.

A Dismantled Railway And A Hidden Country Park
8. Walk past the pigs to the right

Blue Plastic Lid

Pass the short yellow-topped post with the waymarker arrow. As you walk up out of the small dip, you should see a blue plastic lid on the ground. Take the right fork here and continue along the grass and clover path.

Walk between the stands of silver birch and what looks like a rowan to your right. Take the right-hand fork which slides to the left of the right-hand group of silver birch trees and then through a clump of gorse.

Turn left after a few yards and head towards the small lake. Walk past the lake, keeping it to your right (9). You’re now re-entering the Waun-y-Llyn Country Park. Walk straight on past the stone stile on the right and follow the path for a few minutes until you see a house with a high stone wall ahead of you.

9. Walk along the left bank of the lake

Turn right as you approach the wall. Hop over the wooden stile (10) and then go left through the wooden gate immediately afterwards. Walk past the house you’ve just seen called Ty Horeb. Walk down the drive to the lane and turn right. You’re back on Pentre Lane so follow that up to the car park where you started.

(10) Exit the field through the gap in the hedge - A Dismantled Railway And A Hidden Country Park
(10) Exit the field through the gap in the hedge

Congratulations! You have finished the walk!

Thank you for reading “A Dismantled Railway And A Hidden Country Park, If you’d like to see some more of our walks, click here.

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