A National Park?

Whenever I need some perspective on life, there's only one place to go: into the heather-clad Bryniau Clwyd/Clwydian Range. Looking down upon Rhuthun/Ruthin, you see things literally from a different standpoint. Even invoking the view in my mind's eye, as on a clear, sunny day seems to have a calming effect.

The beauty of Moel Famau itself is that it acts like a magnet for walkers, to leave the other hills relatively untouched and open to stride over in splendid privacy. So, on one level, the calls for the Clwydian Range to become a future national park fill me with dread. Suddenly, the hills become open to allcomers, tripping over each other—and worse, tripping over their confounded mountain bikes—in their quest to explore what to date remained hidden, secretive hills, known only to the few. Herds of visitors destroying paths and peace seem very alien to those who love the Clwydians.

True, the distinction between the current area of outstanding natural beauty, in its 25th year, and national park status is now blurred. But there is one benefit of redesignating the AONB as a national park: it would raise the area's profile nationally and throughout the UK.

Until the council recently installed large brown marker signs, who among us realised that the area was an AONB? Even locals struggled to understand the Range's worth. For visitors, it's just an obstruction on drive west, even an irritation.

While those who travel towards the range from the east have a splendid view of it, there is none that equals that from Rhuthun/Ruthin. The creation of a national park would (or should) rightly focus on Rhuthun. The town might benefit in a similar way perhaps as Betws y Coed, a place teeming with Snowdonia visitors even on sunny winter weekends. Such help would be invaluable to Rhuthun, a town that, let's face it, has always struggled to be a major tourist destination.

And while the Heather & Hillforts programme sees current investment in the Range itself, this initiative has a sell by date, something that national park status could easily extend or eclipse.

The main downfall as far as Rhuthun would be concerned is the direct access to the Meolydd Famau a Fenlli car parks via Bwlch Penbarras. A splendid road along which the motorist gets to feel as if they are driving in the high Alps but one totally unsuited to significant flows of traffic.

Even so, it's the 200th anniversary of the jubilee tower and the 25th anniversary of the AONB declaration. What better time to go further? With the proposed AONB extension into the Dee valley, why not include the spectacular, windswept and open country that is Hiraethog, to Rhuthun's west?