The Berwyn Range & the Ceiriog Valley is a beautiful unspoilt and relatively unknown area of North East Wales, offering great walking opportunities, free from the crowds. The Berwyn Range is a large wild remote upland landscape of mountain, hills and extensive heather moorland, much of it now Open Access land. Part of it is a National Nature Reserve, providing an important habitat for Black Grouse and birds of prey. The highest peak is Cadair Berwyn (2722 feet) and nearby is Pistyll Rhaeadr, at 240 feet, the highest waterfall in England and Wales. From its heart flows the Ceiriog river, which meanders eastwards from Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog beneath part wooded slopes and rolling hills through Glyn Ceiriog to the border town of Chirk. The area has a network of ancient highways used by monks from Valle Crucis Abbey and later drovers. The valley once bustled with activity from fulling mills, mines, large dolerite and slate quarries. It even had its own narrow gauge railway, the Glyn Valley Tramway (1873-1935), linking the Glyn Ceiriog area to Chirk. In 1923 plans to build two reservoirs in the upper valley to supply water to Warrington were stopped, with the intervention of the Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who described the Ceiriog Valley as 'a little bit of heaven on earth'! Today it retains its beauty, tranquility and Welsh cultural heritage. Yet despite its closeness to the busy A5 and the border, it remains little visited, unlike the Dee Valley just to the north. The 32 walks in this book range from an easy 1¾ mile stroll around Chirk Castle estate to a challenging 13 mile Berwyn Mountain ridge walk. They follow public rights of way and permissive paths, or cross Open Access land. They incorporate sections of several waymarked local routes: the Ceiriog Valley Walk, the multi-user Ceiriog Trail and Upper Ceiriog Trail, the new North Berwyn Way from Corwen to Llangollen, and the Offa’s Dyke Path. Many individual routes, as well as containing shorter walk options, can easily be linked with others, to provide longer day walks, if required.
