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Fieldnotes
| I've been to Bryn Cader Faner three times and I always approach from the south west. But this time we tried to come at it via the Y Gyrn cairns, from the west. At this time of year this turned out to be somewhat problematical, snowy and icy roads curtailed progress and I had to park right over by the main road, the A496, adding a couple of miles of tedious road walking. We tried to avoid the road walking on the way there by taking a footpath over a hill and then back down again, then a bridge over a river. All very pretty, but, it's still not what we came to see. Then the footpaths become a tad indistinct, small streams have to be jumped, even the boggy pooy holes didn't have the decency to freeze, and the snow drifts were really something else, in places at least four feet deep. Later rather than sooner we get to a place where the way ahead is more obvious, not any easier but more obvious. The big rocky summit of Y Gyrn towers above us, we decide not to venture over to Maes Y Caerau but carry on under the steep cliffs, fortunately some intrepid explorer had been out here before us so we just followed in his footsteps. At one time my legs sunk in a drift up to the hilt but still never touched the floor. It was hard going to say the least. At last we reach the spot where we've deduced the trio of cairns reside, but only one is obvious there is a maybe but we'll have a look at that one after we've been to BCF. The third eludes us completely. The obvious one is a little beauty, large boulders define the cairns edge and just off center a ruined cist is to be seen, the two large edges of the cist have fallen in to meet at the middle. The positioning of the cairns is interesting, nestled under the cliffs of Y Gyrn with only a narrow view of Tremadog bay, but a wide open view of the 623 meter high Moel Ysgyfarnogd. After an easier more leisurely walk up to the enigma that is Bryn Cader Faner, we walk back down to these cairns, we still cant see the third but the maybe does indeed turn out to be the one were looking for. It is the ring cairn, the one that i've seen pictured elsewhere, but what with all the snow drifting up on it and the gorse bushes growing on it it's not as easy to make out as the nearby kerb cairn, one for a return visit in better weather and armed with my trusty shears. The daylight is quitting our adventure now so we beat a hasty retreat, passing within sorrowful distance of Maes Caerau. The way back was easier as we elected to stay on the roads, it was a long and tiring walk and it was pitch black by the time we reached the car. A good pair of cairns but so very far to walk to. |
Posted by postman20th January 2013ce Edited 20th January 2013ce
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Comments (2) |
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| Great stuff, good things come to those who wait (or walk a long way). |
Posted by thesweetcheat20th January 2013ce |
| Or both, looking forward to more good stuff. |
Posted by postman 20th January 2013ce |
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