Ellwhi one

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Connecting the rural market towns of Ellesmere and Whitchurch, this route weaves pleasantly following footpaths through agricultural fields and the rolling post-glacial landscape of the Meres and Mosses, passing through the villages of Welshampton, Hanmer and Bronington. Following this walk and the associated EllWhi2 route, I completed a series of 30+ paintings and silkscreen monoprints featuring observations I made during the two walks, a selection of which are uploaded to the Slow Ways website.

I started at the centre of Ellesmere and followed signs through streets and pathways to the scenic Mere. There is a well-marked path around the lake coinciding with a sculpture trail. From the eastern edge of the Mere, a path leads upwards through fields to a high point, before descending again into Welshampton, a village developed along the busy A495. A short way down the B5063, take a footpath to the left which rises to a low hill before descending across fields towards Corner Farm/Willenhall caravan site. Crossing the A495, turn left down a quiet lane which coincides with the border between Wales and England. The route indicates a path to the right but this is not clearly visible, so I continued further down the lane and turned right to rejoin the route into Wales.

The route across fields, initially north westwards and then to the north east, is not so easy to follow as stiles are sometimes difficult to spot but were at least clear. Once the woodland around the western edge of the Bettisfield Park estate is found, it becomes easier to follow paths down towards Hanmer Mere.

Hanmer is a small village dominated by St Chads Church. The route turns immediately right away from the village along Striga Land, and after a short distance, cross a stile to the left across fields. On reaching Lyn Bedydd Lane, walk south alongside the woods surrounding the pool of Lyn Bedydd. The next section of paths cross arable fields which were planted right up to the hedgerows, and it was necessary to battle through brambles and vegetation in order to progress. After crossing though a wetland area rich with wildlife, I reached Grange Road. Continue through Bronington village to a footpath on Mill Road off to the right. This path crosses fields turning ninety degrees right and crosses directly over New Hall Lane. I followed the route to rejoin the A495 as marked; however, about halfway between New Hall Lane and A495, a path is indicated heading north east which might be a more direct route to the A525, which seemed less trafficked than the A495 and had a footpath.

Walking along the A495 was not so pleasant as I had to walk in the overgrown verge to avoid busy traffic. At Bowker’s Lane, turn left and go through a gate a cut diagonally across a field. Beware! During my walk this field was full of bullocks which gravitated towards me with rising curiosity, eventually causing me to run and hastily leap over the gate into the next field.

Descending again around the edge of a wooded pool, and through a marshy field, I reached the A525. Another fairly long stretch of walking along this busy road until I turned right down a track heading for the Llangollen canal where the path crosses over a bridge and rises up across fields to the dairy processing buildings at Belton Farm Ltd. Follow footpath signs to a track heading towards the Wrexham Road and on in to the centre of Whitchurch, which has plenty of historic buildings and parkland to explore.

In summary, this is a scenic route which is mostly off road, although the sections along the A495 and A525 were not so enjoyable. The villages and towns along the route offer plenty of historic interest. The route is reasonably accurate. There are some access difficulties where paths have been obscured by arable planting and please beware of energetic cattle in some fields.

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