Coed Cimwch Flintshire

Images are sourced within 2km of 53.210952/-3.3049595 or Grid Reference SJ1269. Thanks to Geograph Open Source API. All images are credited.

Looking down on the Afon Disgynfa

Descending northeast below the impressive ramparts of the iron-age hill fort Penycloddiau, one is soon away from the network of paths, though there is a track shown on the OS map some way to the east, dropping down to a public footpath which crosses the valley a considerable distance below. From this point (just inside the square) it is almost a hundred metres vertical back up to the fort, perhaps explaining why it seems to have been so little visited by geograph aficionados!

Andy Waddington

Windbreak NE of Penycloddiau

With a southwesterly wind, this side of Penycloddiau, well below the ramparts of the iron-age hill fort, is fairly sheltered already, but this cruciform windbreak will provide additional protection in virtually any wind direction. Being well off the beaten paths along the tops and round the fort, it's likely to be far more used by livestock than by walkers having lunch, so I'm sure sheep find themselves grateful for having a farmer with enough benevolence to provide such a well-built and maintained structure.

Andy Waddington

Inner rampart, Penycloddiau

The inner of three concentric ramparts surrounding the iron-age hill fort of Penycloddiau is the highest, and would no doubt form a convenient place to fire arrows at attackers struggling to climb the lower, outer ramparts just below. The peak seen in the distance to the south is Moel Arthur, another hill fort, though a smaller and rounder one. Four and a half, and six kilometres further south again are two more large hill forts. All overlook the rich agricultural lands of the Clwyd valley to the west and the more northerly pair also overlook lands to the northeast.

Andy Waddington

High point of Penycloddiau

Just inside of the northernmost ramparts of Penycloddiau, and a few metres off the main Offa's Dyke path, this cairn marks a local high spot, possibly the highest point within the iron-age hill fort, and commanding a fine view to Moel y Parc to the north as well as over surrounding lands to both east and west. The thin vertical line showing just to the right of the cairn in this view is the Moel y Parc TV transmitter mast, a very twentieth-century intrusion into the scene.

Andy Waddington

Penycloddiau summit cairn

Moel Famau on the left horizon.

John H Darch

Descending northwards from Penycloddiau

On the Offa's Dyke Path. Moel y Parc in the distance.

John H Darch

Unsurfaced road near Nant Coed-y-mynydd

John H Darch

Ascending Penycloddiau hill fort

The last stile before the summit.

John H Darch

Cairn on Moel y Parc

Row17

Wild and windy

Row17

Footpath to Afon Wen

On Access Land northeast of Moel y Parc, there are a plethora of footpaths, some far better-defined than others. This is the main one heading from the summit, across the moor and eventually down to Afon Wen. Not far beyond the limit of vision in this photo, the path meets the access land boundary on the right, where a part of it turns right and becomes not just a footpath but a public footpath, ie. a right of way under the 1949 Countryside Act, rather than the more recent CROW act which established the right to roam across the summit area.

Andy Waddington

Moel y Parc cairn

Shunned by walkers on the Offa's Dyke Long Distance Footpath, Moel y Parc is the northernmost summit of this long section of ridge. The cairn seen here is on the spot marked as a tumulus on the map, so I presume that the green grassy mound is ancient, though the cairn itself looks modern. The path seen on the left heads down to the southwest to cross a well-defined bridleway at a minor col, and either direction at this junction will take one back to the Offa's Dyle and Clwydian Way routes as they head down into the Wheeler valley.

Andy Waddington

Heather on Penycloddiau in September

The Clwydian Hills are coated in beautiful heather in August and September, here clothing the side of the restored Bronze Age burial cairn in a royal purple.

Jeremy Bolwell

View northwards to the sea from Penycloddiau

The summits of the Clwydians here carry far reaching views, in this case to the sea off Rhyl and the windfarms beyond, as well as over the wide Vale of Clwyd to the west.

Jeremy Bolwell