Along Offa's Dyke: Moel Famau and Foel Fenlli

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Our view

"Along the Offa's Dyke ridge between Moel Famau and Foel Fenlli"

Walk directions

Locate an information board near the car park entrance. Follow the dark blue/purple waymarkers up the hill to the right of a stream. Fork left to continue along a gravel track, then keep straight ahead at a crossroads of tracks by a large black grouse sculpture. Keep straight ahead up the hill to the top edge of the forest.

After emerging from the trees, take the waymarked ‘blue trail’ signed to the left. This follows a winding route up the hill, avoiding sections of steep loose scree on the main track. A final right turn onto a wide gravel path leads up to the tower on the top of Moel Famau.

From the summit, retrace your steps down the wide gravel path (‘Offa’s Dyke Path’). At the turn-off to the ‘blue trail’, continue ahead along an undulating ridge. The wide track eventually descends to a high roadside car park at Bwlch Pen Barras, where there is a handy refreshment hut (open weekends and daily in the summer).

Cross the road to continue along Offa’s Dyke Path (now a grassy trail), which passes around the right-hand side of Foel Fenlli, the next hill ahead. After climbing onto the hill’s high western shoulder, follow the outer ring of an Iron Age fortification round to the far side of the hill.

Climb some new steps to where a level grassy path crosses your route. Keep ahead up more steps to visit the hill’s summit, otherwise turn right, following an Offa’s Dyke waymark. At the next fork in the path, bear right and descend steeply to a small plantation. Climb the right edge of the plantation to a field.

Cross the field to a fence and bear left. The waymarked path continues alongside the fence, then traces the edge of another plantation. About 200yds (183m) after the end of the trees, you will come to a gate and a crossroads of paths to the south of Fron-heulog farm (visible on the pastured hillside to the left).

Turn left through the gate and follow the grass track to the top gate just to the left of the farm. Beyond this, swing right on a track that skirts above the farm and soon offers superb views across the Alun Valley.

The track follows a fence and wall on the right, arcing round the hillside of Fron Hen and eventually emerging on a country lane by a house (Tyn-y-Groesffordd). Turn left along the lane and continue to a T-junction. Cross to a path in the hedgerow opposite and turn left. Follow a safe, parallel route to the road back to the car park.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Well-defined paths and forestry tracks

Landscape - Heather moor, forest and farmland

Dog friendliness - Dogs can run free in the forest and on heather ridges

Parking - Natural Resources Wales pay car park at Coed Moel Famau

Toilets en route - In car park

Walks in Denbighshire Dog-friendly walks in Denbighshire

About the walk

The Clwydian Range is a chain of hills in northeast Wales stretching from Llandegla in the south to Prestatyn on the North Wales coast. Almost the entire upland area has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – one of only five areas in Wales to be granted this level of...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

The north-east Wales county of Denbighshire shares a name – though not the same borders – with one of Wales’s thirteen historic counties. It includes the seaside holiday towns of Rhyl and Prestatyn; the medieval county town of Denbigh; and the tiny cathedral town of St Asaph.