Daytripping: Walking in the Clwydian Hills. . .

We're trying to make the most of every good hiking day this fall and yesterday was perfect - crisp, fresh air, lots of sunshine and no rain in the forecast.  So armed with bacon butties, a flask of tea and chocolate, we headed out to one of our favourite places for a day hike. About an hour's drive from Liverpool is the lovely Clywdian Range in North Wales.  We parked at Loggerheads, walked about three miles through a forest path and a bit of steep road to the little village of Cilcain where a plaque on the local pub proudly points out that scenes from the 1998 film Hilary and Jackie were shot here.

On we went along tracks such as this, gradually climbing.

Our ultimate destination (and where most paths in this region lead) was up to Moel Famau, the highest hill in the Clwdyian Range.  On the top are the ruins of the Jubilee Tower, first built in 1810 to commemorate the fiftieth year of George III's reign.  You can just see it on the crest of the hill.

The tower seems to have been doomed from the start with bad construction and it's been crumbling ever since, despite many attempts to reconstruct it.  Still, you can't beat the views and on a clear day you can see all the way to Liverpool (impossible to capture with my tiny camera).

We took a long leisurely route back to Loggerheads that gently descended through another quiet forest path with tall majestic trees around us and the smell of pine needles everywhere.  A five hour, ten mile hike in beautiful scenery is just the perfect way to relax on a sunny Saturday.