The Dee Estuary

We only had a few days so we started our trip by heading out to the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley area of outstanding natural beauty, the first real set of hills on the Welsh side of the boarder. We parked up on a local council paid car park (£2 for 4 hour or £5 all day) where we knew we could stop for the night as long as you paid the parking fee, but we only paid for 4 hours (N53.1358, W3.25424). We headed out along the path that takes you literally straight up to the top of the main hill, Moel Famau with a climb from the parking area to the summit of around 900ft. This initial climb is quite steep but does give you some glorious views of the surrounding countryside and leads you straight to the ruin of the 200 year old Jubilee Tower, a large structure built for the golden jubilee of King George the third. Although effectively a ruin you are still allowed to access the top where you can enjoy 360 degree views of the local countryside and on a clear day views of Mt Snowdon and Tryfan to the west.

From the summit we continued north down the other side of Moel Famau, but then took a path east down through the woodland. This path snaked its way back around the side of the hill switching back on itself continually to take in the shape of the hill and making it quite a bit longer a walk back to the van. Its a lovely walk, around 9 miles, but we could imagine it getting really busy on a sunny day. getting back to the van we decided not to stay the night, but move on to West Kirby on the Wirral ready for our next walk in the morning.

We had parked up for the night on the roadside on the South Parade in West Kirby as there are no restrictions whatsoever (N53.3691, W3.1862), this is a great spot right by the marine lake and becomes really quiet in the evenings. We were up early as our walk for the day was time dependant and had to be done around low tide as this opens up the walk out across the beach to the Hilbre Islands which are cut off at high tide. The walk is pretty straight forward first reaching the first island Little Eye, then Little Hilbre Island and finally the main Hilbre Island itself, just making sure you are paying attention to the tide as you will be stranded for around five hours if you let the incoming tide cut off your return. There is nothing on the first two Islands, but the main island has a few houses mainly owned by the local council, there is the ruin of the old lifeboat station, a slipway and a couple of composting public toilets that may, or may not be unlocked when you get there. keep your eyes open toward the sea as you often see grey seals bobbing about keeping an eye on you. We like to walk along the sand right out past the Islands so that you get to see the buildings from the beach and then return along the Islands climbing up at the old lifeboat station slipway. The whole walk is only around 5 and a half miles if you include a circuit of the marine lake and obviously really flat as the majority of the walk is across the beach. Channel 4 has just made a six part series, the Gathering based on the events of an illegal rave on the Hilbre Islands, worth a watch if you have a spare few hours!

We decided to stay another night on the seafront as it was quiet and free then the following morning had a nosey around the town, its a nice little town with plenty of shops or places to eat, but then continued on up the beach and walked around to the next couple of seafront areas at Hoylake and Meols, again another lovely walk of around 8 miles despite a brisk wind on the beach and a sudden downpour in Meols (where we sheltered in a bus stop through the worst). Following our return to the camper we headed back home. Another great short break!