The 25th October 2010, marks the 200th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Jubilee Tower situated on the summit of Moel Famau. In 1810, 200 years ago, 5000 people hiked to the top of Moel Famau, to watch Lord Kenyon of Flintshire  as he laid the tower’s foundation stone on behalf of the Prince of Wales.

Rightly so, the event is being celebrated and you’re invited to the party! The organising team behind Jubilee Tower 200 have put together a website detailing the event details along with some great information relating to the history of Moel Famau. Please do ask them any questions that you have about the forthcoming celebrations.

Wrexham-based artist Chris Oakley has been commissioned by Flintshire and Denbighshire councils to install a light beam in the tower. The installation will involve a vertical beam of light, visible during the hours of darkness. The four sides of the tower will be lit with video projection illustrating the historical and contemporary meanings of the tower, using images and text created through a number of community workshops. Hopefully there’ll be clear night skies and the light beam might be viewable from far and wide.

The BBC North East Wales team have also published an item about the event on this page – I’m not sure if there is a problem with the short video but it won’t currently load for me.

Don’t forget to visit the Jubilee Tower 2oo website.

Mrs Miller, a recent visitor to Moel Famau writes in to warn dog owners about the dangers of blue algae.

This is a warning for all dog walkers. On Thursday 2nd September I walked my 7 year old healthy springer spaniel dog. I walked in the area of the summit during which time he drank from a stagnant black pool, 40 mins later he was unconscious and fitting.I called upon the Ranger who came and helped me down to my vehicle. I immediately went to the Vet where he continued fitting. They put him on a drip but said he would not last the night. Miraculously he has survived but his coordination is affected. The vet said it was most likely caused by THE HIGHLY TOXIC BLUE ALGAE. We have been so lucky that our much loved dog has made it.I believe warnings should be put out and a lot of water ways have alreay put alerts out eg Bala, The Lakes.

Just spotted an interesting article in the Denbighshire Free Press debating whether Moel Famau is an old volcano!

Apparently not, but this article makes for an interesting quick read!

Silly me!

Some time ago whilst messing around in facebook (I tend not to use it) I created a fan page for Moel Famau as an exercise in seeing what fan pages were all about. I then forgot all about it until today.

It seems that facebook now send out a weekly email for fan pages and I received one today. As it transpires I’ve been neglecting over 40 fans of the page. Sorry about that!

I’ve done a little bit of tinkering and you can now view the updated Moel Famau fan page.

Any tips/corrections always welcome.

I’ve just caught sight of this money saving offer from Blacks so I though I’d share it with you.

You can get £10 off when you spend over £50 by entering the code Over50 at the checkout page. Offer expires on Wednesday 31st March 2010.

They’ve also got a promotion on North Face fleeces with up to 25% off.

Click here to take a look.

Many thanks to Chris Attwood for letting me know about his Moel Famau webcam.

You’ll be able to enjoy the view by visiting this page – I suspect we’ve missed a view of a snow covered summit now, but I suppose you never know!

Many thanks to Nick at BBC northeast Wales for alerting me to a short video of the Clwydian Range. You can view the video and read more about the Heather and Hillforts project right here.

If you like seeing photos of the area then you’ll find lots of great images at the popular photo sharing site flickr.com – new images are added every week by walkers, locals, etc.

Also, thanks to you all for offering your thoughts on the proposed Moel Famau zipwire proposals.

Thanks to Paula Hughes for alerting me to the news that outdoor activity company Go Ape is aiming to build something called Zip Wild at Moel Famau.

You can read more about Zip Wild on this page and you can offer your comments here. As Moel Famau is a beautiful place within an area of outstanding natural beauty (ANOB) there are concerns that such a development is not appropriate for the area. So, do voice your comments (for or against) on that website.

A local action group opposed to the Zip Wild plans can be contacted by emailing paulahughes [at] freenetname.co.uk should you wish to offer your support.

And you can always add a comment here.

A long shot but you never know….

A reader of the site has been in touch to say that she is trying to find a camera that she recently lost on Moel Famau. The lost camera is a Nikon D40, black, and will have photos of a ginger dog.

As the owner was helping someone to push their stuck van out of the snow, I think you’d agree that one good turn deserves another! Please get in touch if you know anything about the camera and I’ll forward your details on.

Thanks.

Over here where I live on Wirral we’re privileged to have Ness Botanical Gardens that are managed by Liverpool University. The Liverpool Daily Post recently reported that an archeologist named John Hill has recreated the world famous Stonehenge in the park grounds and used two visible landmarks. Mr Hill says:

We have carefully orientated the henge so it incorporates a number of important astronomical alignments.

We have also aligned the henge towards the direction of a special ‘notch’ on the horizon between the two Welsh mountains of Moel Famau and Moel Arthur.

But I did that by observing the midday sun, not through years of studying the stars.

The north Wales coastline and inland is easily viewed from West Wirral of course, although Ness is much closer to sea level and not as good as the better viewing points such as Caldy Hill.

If are visiting anywhere Ness then do pay a visit to Ness Gardens (no dogs allowed) as they really are well maintained and well stocked.