Instead, I squelch southeast, heading towards Black Mixen (OE: Black Dunghill), the second summit of the day. At least this section follows a clearly defined track. On a normal day, the enormous radio mast that tops the summit of the mountain would provide a foolproof landmark, but I can't even see that today. Like the summit of Great Rhos, this a flat, boggy area, characterised by spongy peat and tussocky heather. The radio mast finally emerges, and close by I can just make out the trig pillar. This one stands on a confirmed round barrow, although in truth it looks almost identical to the mound that the Great Rhos trig rests on. The top of the barrow is flattened, presumably by the usual digging and erosion rather than just from the incorporation of the trig pillar. Not a spot to linger on a day like this, with wet feet and a long way to go still. I head off and the barrow vanishes behind, real or imagined I cannot truthfully say.
An eroded round barrow set upon the summit plateau of 2,133ft Black Mixen, Radnor Forest.
According to Coflein the barrow...
'...measures 22m in diameter and 1.5m high, topped by an OS triangulation pillar. The pillar....stands at the centre and the flat top to the mound is uneven, pockmarked with erosion hollows. Most of the barrow is covered in heather but the erosion scars were exposed peat'
There are numerous other burial cairns/barrows upon these unfrequented mountains, including a particularly fine example upon the summit of nearby Bache Hill to the SE and one upon the exquisite cone of Whimble - not to mention a myriad others on the surrounding lower ground. Radnor Forest is well seen from the large 'four poster' at The Four Stones, east of New Radnor.
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