December | 2022 | Ruth's Walking Blog

29 December 2022 – 8.2 miles

We had intended to some of this route in the summer, but got busy with a new allotment, but the post-Christmas break seemed like a good time to do a short-ish walk and get back before dark. There are no photographs to go with this post – I took some, downloaded them to the computer and formatted the memory card … then found they hadn’t properly downloaded! Lesson learned, I hope!

We parked at Grindley Brook, where the Shropshire Union Canal crosses the Cheshire/Shropshire border. Crossing the canal and under a railway bridge, we crossed a large field – slightly damp and soft underfoot.

There were quite a few green lanes on the route, passing some nice old houses (Hinton Old Hall, Wicksted Old Hall – not terribly grand, but country manor houses), and heading down to Big Mere overlooked by the church at Marbury. We didn’t go into the village itself, and left the South Cheshire Way here, but crossed a couple of fields (a bit tricky here – the 1:50 000 map shows a track, whereas it isn’t on the 1:25 000 or on the ground!) down to the Shropshire Union Canal.

We followed the towpath back. A man on a narrowboat told us the path was flooded further on – we assumed he meant deep puddles, but we then met a ‘proper’ walker and asked him (we had only seen one other walker, and two birdwatchers all day). He said that the towpath was impassable, but that we could leave at the pub. We did this and headed back to Grindley Brook on a lane running parallel with the canal.

10 October 2022 – 12 miles

We stayed a couple of nights at Conway Youth Hostel to give us a range of options to do the final section of the walk around Anglesey. As it was, we chose a beautiful day, warm, clear and sunny. On the map, this section looks rather disappointing, having to detour inland around the Plas Newydd estate., but it had its compensations. After a walk up from the coast on quiet lanes, we were very near to the burial cairn of Bryn Celli Ddu. There were only a few people there, who soon left, so we were able to have a good visit and take in the atmosphere.

We then met a walker who asked about the path, saying it was a bit tricky to follow. It didn’t seem too bad in the direction we were heading, although it wasn’t that clear across fields of long grass with old fence posts and wire lying hidden there! The next section ran in a separate path alongside the A road. Not that bad as you were separated from it by a hedge.

It wasn’t too long though before we were thankfully back on the coast once more. A path through the woods led down to the hamlet of Pwll Fanogl, with what looked like a restored mill.

A raised path led alongside the sea wall for a short way passing a pier with Ministry of Defence warnings on it. This seemed unlikely, but we were passing the grounds of the Joint Services Training Centre.

There were good views of the Menai Bridge, and of the statue of Nelson, standing slightly out into the water.

We then had to head slightly inland again, through an old churchyard and under the Menai Bridge. There were some boats out in the straits under the bridge, which we assumed were on exercises from the training centre. The current was running very fast, swelling up against the piers of the bridge.

Shortly before reaching the town of Menai Bridge, we came across Church Island, linked to the mainland by a short causeway, so we made a detour to explore.