On Friday the 29th of May, after the heatwave experienced by the UK over the last week, we embarked on one of our signature trips to Llangollen, North Wales.
We had decided to split the whole thing up into sections, Friday being a walk to the castle, Saturday we were paddling and Sunday would be another walk to stretch the leg muscles before the drive home.
Dave and Jai have refined this trip from its conception from 45 miles with camping along the way, to an 11-mile paddle with a shuttle taking in all the sights of the aqua ducts and tunnels then returning to our base campsite, thus no need for carrying lots of equipment.
Brendan and Anthony were 1st to arrive after traveling in tandem, Anthony with his caravan in tow and Brendan with his motorhome.
Zoe and I were about 20 miles behind and after a short break we arrived and was directed to our camping spot, a way away from Anthony and Brendan that were parked next to each other, and a bit further down the hill, there was a bump in the field that ensured we did not obscure the view of the scenic valley from the pitches above.
Zoe, Brendan, Anthony and I were soon on our way up the lane to the remains of Dinas Bran, a medieval hillfort with stunning 360 degree views of the welsh valleys.
Temperature was in the mid to low 20’s and we had plenty of welcome shade on the walk up, with the breaks we took to admire the views, that only got better as we ascended, it took us about an hour to reach the summit.
with full panoramic views in all directions we spent about an hour there before taking a gentle stroll back to our campsite some 20 mins walk away.
details of castell Dinas Bran are on Wikipedia and linked in below, as are our photos of the day.
Samantha and Chris arrived and soon had the wigwam erected,
We set about cooking our dinners then decided to make use of Anthonys set up with gazebo to discuss the next day’s trip and generally relax and socialise.
Trip planning in place we then noticed the stars and planets that were visible in the clear sky a short while after the sun set and the moon made an appearance.
Retiring to bed, all set for a 9am start to paddle in the morning.
More here about Castell Dinas Bran
Write up by Dave H