You may remember an epic walk we featured almost exactly a year ago, which took you around the five reservoirs above Pen-y-Cae. I realised back then that the area was large enough for me to return and explore the south. That part doesn’t disappoint either and offers some of the best views I think I’ve seen on a walk in the county.
I deliberately chose a shorter route this time, following feedback from a few readers, so this one is 3.5 miles. It has a total ascent of 326 feet (100 metres), with the highest point being 660 feet (200 metres).
“Pre-Amble”
Finding a suitable route proved to be a challenge. A few of the footpaths didn’t have exits out of fields, and others were gated off. One path was so overgrown, it took me quite a while to clear it. It was well worth it, though, if only for the stretch next to The Delph! There were no fields with cattle in them when I did the walk. There are a few stiles to cross, some of which you might have to lift a dog over. You will walk along country lanes for about a total of a mile.
Starting Point
I started off in front of Penycae Salem Baptist Church at 35 Chapel Street (postcode LL14 2RG; what3words.com/recent. baroness.register).
There are several ways to reach the church, but the most straightforward is to take the B5097 opposite the Wynnstay Arms in Ruabon and go straight on for a mile and a quarter. Turn right at the T-junction onto Plas Bennion Road. Follow the road for 0.8 of a mile. The road name changes four times – Copperas Hill, Bryn-Y-Coed, Hall Street, and Chapel Street! I parked on the left in the extended vehicle bays just before the chapel. They were empty when I did the walk but that was a Monday. I’m not sure how full they get at the weekend.
Disclaimer
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Always remember to read ahead of your current position in the walk directions in case we mention an upcoming potential hazard.
Walk Directions
Penycae Salem Baptist Church
Stand with your back to the church facing the graveyard across the road and turn left. Walk up the lane for a few yards and follow the footpath sign left through the old rusty iron kissing gate. Walk down the dockleaf-filled path with the graveyard adjacent to the chapel on your left. The path is only about 50 yards long, and you’ll come out into an open field that slopes away ahead of you. I was able to walk straight across, but you might have to skirt around the perimeter if the crops prevent you from taking the direct route. You’ll see a fence and hedge line ahead of you and to your left as you enter the field (1).
Follow that up the hill, past the concrete water trough and over the brow of the hill. Walk down the far side in the same direction and you’ll come to a stile at the end of the field in the right-hand hedgeline. Hop over and walk along the narrow, grassy path. You’ll pass dog exercise areas to your left and right. Step over a stream just before a wooden stile. Cross the stile, then the bridge and another stile immediately after.
Walk straight up the sloping field after crossing the stile and aim for the left-hand corner. The stile to leave the field is curious in that it has a metal gate a foot or so beyond it, so you almost have to lean forward and open it as you’re negotiating the stile (2).
Astounding Views
Follow the path ahead of you once over the stile and through the gate. After a few minutes, the path bends to the right, and you get some astounding views – easily on a par with anything I’ve ever seen walking around here. Ignore the stile in the fence on the left and continue following the path across the top of the field.
You’ll come to a gateway after a few minutes (3). You’ll notice a metal gate to your left that seems rather pointless, although I suppose it might be attached to a fence one day!
Head diagonally left through the following field through the long grass. As you reach the far corner, you’ll see there’s a stile you can use to enter the woodland beyond. Walk along the path for a few minutes. Hop over the stile after the small depression and walk out onto Bowers Road.
Turn left and pass the iron gates of Tan y Bedw. Walk down the steep lane for about five minutes. Just beyond the twin cottages of Ivy Cottage and Pen y Bryn Cottage, you’ll see a footpath sign on your right just after a cream house. Turn right over the stile and walk to the right of a corrugated iron shed. Turn left after the shed and unhook the insulated electric fence handles. Step over the wire at ground level and turn right. Head for the left corner of the corral ahead between the letters H and C (4).
Foals And Their Mothers
Climb over the corral fence and follow the tree-covered path. Cross the stile into the field. Walk downhill. You’ll see a house on your left and a gap in the hedge ahead of you and slightly to your right. Walk through the gap and over a wooden stile/bridge along the covered path (5).
The next stretch (*) is a little overgrown, but it is only short. You’ll come out into an area of grassland with several small hills. I spotted a couple of foals with their mothers running free around this area. Follow the path straight on for a few yards. As the path bends to the right around a dense patch of bushes and trees, look at the ground and you should see how the path forks, taking you almost back on yourself, but to the left (6). You’ll have to look carefully as the path is not hugely well-defined.
Before you turn, note the solitary oak tree with some dead branches ahead of you. If you miss the left fork, walk towards the oak tree for a few yards. Turn round and retrace your steps. You should now be able to see the path you need to take, forking off to the right.
Bowers Road
Walk up the path so that the track you took out of the covered stretch, referenced with the * a few lines above, is on your left. You’ll cross a bridge missing one of its wooden boards. Shortly afterwards, you’ll go through a green metal kissing gate and onto Bowers Road. Turn left and take the footpath on the right after about a minute. You’ll see the footpath sign just after the shiny metal ladder and platform on the right (7).
Work your way up the path through the woodland. After a few minutes, hop over the stile and turn right. You’ll walk over a few yards of churned-up, muddy path and between two gorse bushes. Take the stile in the fence to the right of you and walk past the metal cattle feeding frame out into the field (8).
Follow the right-hand fence and tree line, which slowly bends round to the left. After a few minutes, you’ll notice the lake to your left. This is The Delph. You’ll probably see horses and geese around the water. Ignore the first metal kissing gate in the right hedgeline as you reach the lake, but carry on almost to the fence running across you. Go through the metal kissing gate in the hedge to your right.
Two Donkeys
Turn left and walk a few yards before turning left again and going through another metal kissing gate. Turn right and walk along the lakeside for a few yards before turning right again and exiting the field you’re in onto Delph Road through another metal kissing gate (9).
Turn left and walk for about half a mile – look out for the two donkeys in the field on the right. You’ll see a green metal footpath sign just after the entrance to Tyn y Pistyll on the right. Go down the wooden steps, cut into the bank and turn left. Hop over the slightly rotten stile and walk a somewhat overgrown path. It’s only long grass, though, and it’s not for long! Hop over the stile and into the field.
Huge Oak Trees
Aim for the left of the raised bank ahead of you. You’ll see a house ahead of you and see a telegraph pole to the left of the house and a stile to the left of that. Cross the stile and turn left. Follow the barbed-wire-topped fence that’s to your left along an old grassy vehicle track. The track bends round to the right and then left. Follow the vehicle marks on the grass as you pass some huge oak trees to your left (10).
You’ll see a black metal gate up ahead. The stile or gate is completely engulfed by bushes, so you’ll have to use the gate to exit the field.Turn right once back on Cristionydd Lane (formerly Delph Road) and almost immediately left over the stile into a field. Follow the path made in the grass by walkers along the field, aiming roughly for the far right-hand corner and in the general direction of the church ahead.
Exit the field over the stile and into the first field you crossed at the beginning of the walk. Walk on for a couple of minutes before turning right back along the ‘dockleaf path’ and onto Chapel Road.
Congratulations! You’ve completed the walk!
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