A rural Ruabon walk

Hello again people and pooches. Joe the Cocker here. Me and my human decided to extend one of our local walks. Sometimes we walk along Park Street, continuing up Twining Hill until we reach the path along Wat’s Dyke. We walk along the path to Pentre Clawdd then turn down the drive and return to the village along New Hall Road. This time we thought that we would carry on along the dyke to Bangor Road. All that will mean nothing to non-locals so we will explain as we walk.

So, on a late summer early evening, we set off past the Wynnstay Inn and along Park Street. We have left a link to a couple of our Ruabon walks below, so we won’t describe in detail where we passed this time. Please click on one of the links below if you are interested.

https://joethecockershikes.com/2024/03/25/ruabon-ruabon-village-walk/

https://joethecockershikes.com/2024/03/07/ruabon-rhiwabon-conservation-area/

The ‘nick’ in the wall outside of St. Mary’s School always fascinates my human so, if anyone can tell us what it is for or what it is called, the big feller would be chuffed! He thinks that it may be to allow cycles through.

We crossed the A483 over the bridge to Vicarage Fields on the left. The white house is the birthplace of Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, the founder of lawn tennis.

Continuing up Twining Hill alongside the tall stone boundary wall of the Wynnstay Estate, we crossed at the crest of the hill.

A relatively new aluminium gate took us into farmland with a footpath adjacent to Wat’s Dyke.

Firstly, we had to navigate the sluice that the path crossed. We decided to walk around the dip in the field as the stream was a bit wide for me to jump without getting muddy and wet. We know this from past experience when I emerged coated in a smelly black muddy substance.

The fields had just been sprayed with a disgusting concoction of what smelled like human waste. And you humans say that us pooches poop smells! My human made sure that I didn’t stand in any as he tip-toed like a fat ballerina past the worst sections.

Thankfully, the farmer hadn’t oversprayed the footpath, so I was allowed to walk off-lead. It didn’t half whiff, though!

Wat’s Dyke is approximately 40 miles long and runs from Holywell, in the north to Maesbury in Shropshire. It runs almost parallel to Offa’s Dyke and was constructed by the Mercians to keep the Welsh out. The date of the dykes construction is disputed but thought to be in the 8th or 9th century. Sadly, along much of its length, the ditch side has been filled in, and the dyke flattened.

The length of the dyke from Wynnstay Park behind us to Pentre Clawdd is designated a Scheduled Monument and of special historical importance.

The views across the fields to our right were as clear as we had ever seen them in the early evening sunshine. We could see across the Cheshire Plain to the Sandstone Ridge.

I found a vole as we walked and gave chase, but it quickly disappeared down a hole. One day! ‘Leave it!’ was the piercing yell from my human. He does overreact at times! I’ve never caught anything yet and probably never will.

Where we could actually walk along the dyke we could see over the rooftops of Ruabon. The sun was dazzling, and my human was taking photographs on his smartphone, so his snaps were rubbish. His words, not mine!

The pong from the fertiliser changed into the smell of rotting veg as we continued along the path. The crops had been harvested, leaving  the remainder to rot. This was one smelly hike, with more to come!

Looking back along the edge of the dyke we had uninterrupted views across the fields to the Wynnstay Estate.

The path led us to another new gate into Fron Goch Woods at the top of Stoney Lane. We sometimes turn left at this point and walk down the muddy lane and back to the village. This time we continued along the dyke through the woodland. I was thinking to myself that squirrels need to be aware that I have peed here a few times, so this is my territory. There were none to be seen, so I assume that word had gotten around the tree rat community.

We followed the line of the dyke as we left the tree cover before we passed through a farm gate into the maize field.

The path followed the line of the dyke with the tall densely growing maize on our left. Mr. Clumsy turned his ankle a few times as we walked this path. The sky was blue as was the air!

We reached Pentre Clawdd as the footpath turned right. This is where we usually turn left to return to the village but on this occasion we decided to explore further along the dyke. Pentre Clawdd farm is built on a particularly important section of the dyke. It is on a hilltop where the dyke ‘bends’ that allowed views in 360⁰ over the area.

Most of Pentre Clawdd farm is in a state of disrepair and dereliction, with many windows smashed. The relatively recent renovation is being vandalised.

The farm buildings are decaying also. The new aluminium gate into the next field had so much vegetation pushed up to it on the opposite side that we had to find a way through the farmyard to continue on our way.

We returned to the path where we discovered a world of maize. It looks like someone doesn’t want us to use the footpath. It was easy for a pooch to navigate the way, but an oversized lump of a human found it a bit of a battle without a machete. We passed through a couple of really overgrown gates where my human whinged and moaned about nettles and thorn bushes. What was worse was the stiles that I had to be manhandled over. But, on we went!

At one open spot, I carried out a bit of branch management!

We passed very quickly through one field that we shared with a herd of cows. Luckily, they were in the opposite corner, but they had left plenty of ‘cow paté’ on the footpath. Ych a fi!!

We finally came across a double stile that didn’t look overgrown. The big feller was relieved as it looked like this obstacle would be easier to negotiate.

As we closed in on the obstacle, my human realised that we were in for some fun. The approach was very muddy, the stiles were tall and incredibly rickety, and the ‘bridge’ in-between was rotten. I was unceremoniously lifted and dropped over each stile and then waited for the dodgy structure to collapse under my humans’ considerable weight. Fortunately, we made it in one piece.

After our struggle we found ourselves on a relatively short section of the dyke that we could actually walk on. It was covered in cow pats, but there were none of the culprits in the area.

The easiest of all the stiles lay in pieces in the middle of the footpath.

To the right of Oak Cottage West was our last obstacle. It was a rigid stile in the corner of the field. I still had to be lifted over it, but it was sturdy and not too far to drop me. We turned left to walk along Bangor Road for about 750 yards. There was no pavement, and the sun was very low straight ahead of us. It wasn’t the easiest of walks, so we were glad to cross over the bridge over the A483. A few yards later, and we were at the junction with New Hall Road.

As the sun was setting, we headed along New Hall Road with the landfill site on our right. We were surprised because the usual foul stench was absent. After a few hundred , however, our nostrils were attacked by the previously missing pong. Disgusting as ever!

On the opposite side of the road, the red brick building in New Hall Farm fields was highlighted by the last of the evenings sun.

On our right, we passed Neuadd Newydd or New Hall Care Home. The hospital is built on the site of a 17th-century three storey house.

After a few hundred yards, we came to the pavement at the roadside, just before we entered the village. I was finally allowed to be off-lead and not have to walk to heal.

As we entered the village, we turned left into Wynnville. The estate was built in 1928, with Albert Grove being the wide main through road.

The walk led us to Ysgol Maes y Llan, the primary school built in 1911.

We passed Ruabon Bowling Club and the MUGA, multi use game area as we neared the end of our walk.

After a short walk along the footpath, we passed Ruabon Rovers football pitch. It was eerily quiet as the last of the daylight left us. This was the end of our varied and eventful evenings walk. My human was complaining that he had nettle rash. He’s a baby. Baby!

Till next time!