An 8km walk on a sunny Easter Saturday.Route: leaving the car parked on the Main Street of Bothel and crossing the A595 and then a footbridge across a stream and tuning left to follow muddy field edges to a C-road to Torpenhow. At the far end of the village taking a path across fields uphill and across dodgy stiles to reach the indistinct summit area of Torpenhow Hill (Hill-hill-hill Hill). Then right along a track to cross a C-road and doglegging right-left to pick up a farm track, eventually joining a right of way. Ignoring to the path right to continue on the track left (no right of way) to turn right (just before the track joins the road and now, again, on a right of way) but following this to the end to trespass to the ‘battery’ (a circular earthwork) on a subsidiary summit. Spurning the final summit (at Caer Mote) out of caution for T’s ongoing fatigue and backtracking, climbing a tricky wooden fence (much barbed wire) and then striding through two open gates to find a right of way descending the hill back to Bothel.
Conditions: almost completely still, almost constantly sunny with the scent of gorse in the air
Pub: The Mason’s Arms (for the first time), Gilcrux, for the pleasant surprise of re-encountering Hal as its landlord and also Farm Yard Hoof (‘sout’ (sic)) and Conwy Clogwyn Gold.
