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The Clwydian Range

This walk in the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty begins at Bwlch Penbarras, a car-park with cracking views over the Vale of Clwyd.

In fact they're so good that many people never leave their cars, and that's one of the things that Erin Robinson, Derek's guide on this ramble is trying hard to change.

Erin works for Denbighshire Countryside Services on their 'Heather and Hill Forts' project, and part of her job involves encouraging visitors to enjoy the full range of what this beautiful and interesting landscape has to offer.

There's a chain of Iron Age hill forts in this part of Wales, and this figure-of-eight route takes you to a fine example at Moel Fenlli before heading north to Moel Famau and looping back through the woods to the car-park.

Moel Fenlli

From the Bwlch Penbarras car park, most walkers head directly up the path to Moel Famau. But this route first takes you in the opposite direction to climb Moel Fenlli.

The hill-fort on the top is the highest in the Clwydian range (511m) and its banks and ditches are still clearly visible.

The area enclosed by the fort is extensive, and at the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, two thousand years ago, there would have been a large settlement up here.

It's a bleak place, but any enemies would have thought long and hard before launching an attack on Moel Fenlli. It's walls and defences would have been seen for miles around.

Audio Guide

Looping back down to the car-park, the route now follows the main path to Moel Famau.

Erin's 'Heather & Hill Forts' project has been busy creating an audio guide that walkers can access via their mobile phones.

They simply dial the number indicated on the markers that are placed at regular intervals along the way, and they get a description of of what to look out for at that particular point, plus background information from wild-life experts, historians and local people.

Luckily there don't seem to be any problems with receiving a signal up here.

Bronze age burial site

A recent special study of the soil in this area shows that human activity on the mountain stretches back over many thousands of years, from forest clearances made in the stone age through intensive cultivation in the iron age, to environmental management of the moorland in modern times.

Down below the path to the east there's a good view of another iron age hill fort - Moel y Gaer, which has recently been excavated by a team of archaeologists.

And a short diversion off the main route brings you to the remains of a bronze age burial site.

Although it now looks like a random pile of boulders, 4,000 years ago the inhabitants of the mountain used the stones to form a turf-covered chamber facing out over the Vale of Clwyd.

The people who built Moel y Gaer were as far removed in time from the bronze age as we are from the iron age, and the remains of this burial chamber would probably have been as strange and mysterious to them as they are to us.

Heather moorland

The moorland may seem like a completely natural environment, but in fact it has to be heavily managed. The heather is controlled by cutting and burning strips of land.