HOLYWELL CIRCULAR

A pleasant short walk from Holywell crossing Wat’s Dyke then continuing with stunning views over the Dee Estuary, before returning along quiet country lanes to Holywell.

Distance: 6.0 km (3.7 miles); Time: allow 1.5-2 hrs

Parking: Car park opposite Lidl or Bank Place car park, Holywell.

Grid ref: SJ 188759. Map: OS Explorer 265.

The Walk

1. From the small car park opposite Lidl walk towards Lidl supermarket. Cross over Pen-y-maes Road, turn left then almost immediately right into Rose Hill. Walk down Rose Hill to the end and cross over the A5026 Bagillt Road to some steps, which lead down to a minor road. Bear right downhill to cross over a stream. Continue briefly uphill then turn right at the footpath sign and kissing gate into

Llwybr-y-bi woods.

2. Follow the waymarked path initially towards the stream then to the steps on your left. Climb these and turn right along the path, which runs parallel to the stream, Nant-y-Fflint. The path then gradually descends back towards the stream before joining another steep, but graded path, on the left uphill. This part of the route crosses the line of Wat’s Dyke, visible as a steep bank, before going over a stile into

a large field.

3. Go ahead along the left-hand field edge and over a stile in the far corner. Continue along the left-hand edge of the next field to cross a stile in the corner. There are stunning views over the Dee Estuary to the Wirral, Hilbre Island and, on a clear day, to Liverpool, with its distinctive cathedral, and on up the Lancashire coast.

Continue ahead past derelict, red-brick, farm buildings, past a waymarked stile on the left and on along the left-hand field edge to cross two stiles at the bottom of the garden of Coetia-Llwyd. After the second stile, at a waymarked path junction, turn right over a stile then

immediately left to follow the left hand field edge. Cross over a stile in the far corner, and on across the middle of the next field to cross a

stile in the boundary ahead by a large tree. Now go half-right to join and follow a hedge. Then cross a stile onto a track/lane, signed National Cycle Trail No. 5.

4. Continue ahead up the tarmac lane towards the green barn. Take the footpath over the stile on the left, opposite the entrance to Cefn Smallholdings. Go down the right-hand field edge, through a gateway in the field corner, then go down the left-hand partial boundary of the next field to a footpath post then cross a narrow stream and stile beyond. Go ahead along the left-hand hedge boundary - now enjoying new views east to the Dee Bridge at Flint, and, in the distance, Beeston Castle and the Peckforton Hills in Cheshire.

When it bends left, continue down the field aiming half-right for a hedge corner to the left of large farm outbuildings. Cross a stile by a gate in a kink in the boundary ahead. Follow the boundary on the left, over two stiles on the left of the barn, then drop down through a gap in the boundary ahead onto a lane. Follow it left. At a junction by a house, turn left onto Old Bagillt Road and follow this quiet country lane that was once the main route between Holywell, Bagillt and Flint.

5. Pass Ffordd y Dre Farm (Town Road Farm) on your left and then a small lane on the right to Tyn Twll Farm. The lane then bends left then right. Pass the drive to Panton Hall on the right. Continue past a cottage (Pen yr Allt) on your left to go down hill to the kissing gate that you went through on your way out. Retrace your steps back to the car park crossing the A5026, and then along the road opposite (Rose Hill) back into Holywell Centre.

This walk is taken from the book, Wat’s Dyke Way Heritage Trail, by Pete Lewis and published by Moldbased Alyn Books (ISBN 978-0-9559625-0-9price £5.99). The book includes a route guide for the whole trail as well as four circular walks and is available from most local bookshops or websales from www.moldbookshop.co.uk. Wat’s Dyke Way is a 61-mile walk through the border country based on the line of Wat's Dyke, a Dark Age earthwork built for the Saxon rulers of Mercia. It crosses three counties, running from the Shropshire village of Llanymynech, through Wrexham ending near the Dee Estuary at Holywell in Flintshire.