From Prestatyn to the Heather and the Hillforts - Penycloddiau and Moel Arthur

We were met in Prestatyn by a minibus that was to take us into the heart of the Clwydian Range to start our walk - 7 miles across the Hillforts of Penycloddiau and Moel Arthur lead by Fiona Gale and me. 
 
As we left the town the sun was still straining to reach us though the grey sky - but by the time we got to the hills above Llandyrnog the rain had set in behind an icy wind.  
 
We were met at Llangwyfan car park on the path up to the hillfort at Penycloddiau by Sam Williams - the Hillforts Conservation Officer with the Heather and Hillforts Project.  She has organised an excavation of what could be a burial site from the Bronze Age over 4000 years ago.  She led us up to the top where we would be able to talk to the archaeologists who were digging the site.  
 
By the time we got there we were soaked through but Ian Grant the archaeologist supervising the excavation was amazingly able to divert our attention from the awful weather with story of the burial Cairn - or at least what they had managed to glean so far! 
 
Further over - taking shelter in the steep ramparts of the Hillfort, Fiona was able give an idea of what the Hillfort might have looked like 2500 years ago when it would have been occupied and possibly contained over 40 round houses.  As the biggest hillfort in the Clwydian Range it must have been a hive of activity during the Iron Age and Fiona explained how the project was slowly building a picture of what might have been going on here all those years ago. 
 
By the time we had dropped down to the lower slopes looking for shelter to have a lunch stop - the sun eventually cracked through the cloud and as if someone had ordered it to, the skies cleared to blue giving fantastically clear views across to Snowdonia and the coast.
 
Our second hillfort of the day was Moel Arthur - much smaller but no less impressive and as we approached through what would have been the main entrance we got a real sense of what it might have been like to be enter the fort 2500 years ago - again helped by Fiona's description and interpretation of the remaining ditches and banks. 
 
By the time we headed down from Moel Arthur back to the bus, the wintery weather was back with us - just enough to ensure that everyone was soaked through for the bus journey home!!
 
I think everyone enjoyed themselves though and if nothing else, the weather on the hills convinced us that they must have been a tough lot in the Iron Age!