Halkyn climbs and more

An interesting trip to the post-industrial landscape of Halkyn mountain yesterday. We've had a few family sledging trips up here, and I ran around the mountain recently - but had noticed a few limestone outcrops dotted around, so explored them yesterday. There are three small crags, seemingly natural rather than quarried (good rough limestone), to the north of the road near an old lead mine. They are in what seems to be a natural sinkhole, but are sadly nowhere more than 20ft high. The left hand buttress seemed most promising, but all routes were simple - although fun given how little climbing I now do: I climbed the arete (Windmill arete, M - all tiny microroutes named without too much imagination!), crack to the right (Cloddiau crack, HD), and easy wall right again (Halkyn Steps, D). There is a harder arete on the crag to the right, and an excellent bouldering wall to the south of the road - about 50 metres long, 15 foot high - with a splendid VS/HVS traverse at mid height which I enjoyed immensely, especially as the landing is grassy and friendly. It's a fascinating area: there seem to be few natural caves dotted around which might be worth exploring. After my bouldering, I went for a fell run around the mountain, short and easy as I'd done a hard intervals session with Buckley the day before. My time for the Wrexham half was confirmed as 1:25:33, 82nd in the race, and 25th in the North Wales championships.