Start The Ruthin Castle Hotel, Castle Street, Ruthin, North Wales LL15 2NU (Tel: 01824 702664)
(S/E) Walk down the drive from The Ruthin Castle Hotel, and out through the gateway. Cross the road and turn right along the pavement, away from town, passing the entrance to a lane on the left. Follow the larger road for 450 m, disregarding a footpath on the left after 300m.
(1) Cross the road opposite Scott House, and go through the kissing gate to the left of the driveway. Follow the footpath along the field edge below the house, a former nursing home built in 1933 in the Arts & Crafts style.
At the bottom of the field, turn right through another kissing gate, through a short tunnel and then through another kissing gate into the field. The bridge over the River Clwyd is 19th-century, but the near section with the low arch over the former mill race is earlier.
(2) Follow the field edge away from the bridge, parallel to the river on your left. At the end of the field, go through a kissing gate into a park. Stay on the right-hand side of the river; at the end of the park, cross the car park out to the main road.
(3) Turn right, away from the bridge over the river, then immediately right into Stryd y Felin/Mill Street. Pass the old mill building then turn right along a narrow lane between houses. After 85 m, turn left onto a tarmac path.
Follow this path along the castle wall, bearing right by a grassy triangle after a stone arch onto the narrow, walled continuation that emerges by the castle gatehouse. Turn right under the gateway and walk up the drive through the grounds back to the castle and hotel. (S/E)
