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Searching - unsuccessfully, I might add - for the cairn cited by GAT as existing at SH65141153, I decided to mask my disappointment (and then some!) by carrying on to revisit the great Twll yr Ogof. Rude not to.
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Despite being featured upon current OS mapping I'm pretty confident that a visit to the obscure Bronze Age cairn located upon the south-eastern spur of Moel y Gadfa - the high moor ( at 1,669ft) overlooking the minor road linking the mountain pass Bwlch-y-Groes and Llyn Efyrnwy - will not grace many antiquarian-themed itineraries. Ha! Upon second thoughts, very confident...
To be fair, the terrain to be found here - to the east of the magnificent Arans - is probably an acquired taste and, as such, likely to appeal only to those with a penchant for avoiding the crowds and immersing themselves in the landscape - hopefully not TOO literally, one would hope. It is pretty hard going underfoot... but hey, nothing good comes without a little effort, right?
In the event I struggled to find the monument owing to fence lines on the ground not mirroring what was shown upon my map, this disorientating me more than a little as hill fog swept in to further confuse matters with reduced visibility... and driving rain. However, find it I did. Eventually.
Coflein notes:
"A much disturbed & spread round cairn, in the region of 7.5m in diameter & 1.0m high." [RCAHMW AP94-CS 0027 J.Wiles 26.07.04]
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A very obscure Bronze Age cairn between Bwlch-y-Groes and Llyn Efyrnwy, east of the mighty Arans.
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The elevated ridges of Esgair Gorlan and Esgair Nant-y-Moch stand to the (approx) south of the enigmatic Pumlumon outlier Disgwylfa Fawr (the 'Watching Place') and, as such, are well worth a wander in their own right when events/weather/downright exhaustion conspire against a more challenging outing. Although nothing is indicated upon current OS mapping, prehistoric upland cairns are to be found here. Well, this is Pumlumon, after all. What else did you expect?
I parked up beside the ford overlooked by the cairn namechecking the Nant Geifaes, following the stony byway heading southwest into the hinterland.
Coflein reckons the following:
"Located on a summit on the eastern side of Esgair Gorlan is a robbed round cairn. It is a turf-covered stony mound measuring 9.5m in diameter and 0.5m high but higher on the south-west where spoil from a central hollow has been piled up. The hollow measures 4m long (NW-SE) by 1.5m across and 0.4m deep. It was presumably the site of a cist, or at least thought to be, though its stony base may point to a cist cut into the old land surface." [D.K.Leighton, RCAHMW & R.S. Jones, Cambrian Archaeological Projects, 29 May 2015]
Note that there is - unbeknown to me at the time of my visit - another cairn surmounting the western summit of Esgair Gorlan at SN7241082620. Another time, perhaps?
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Come with me, into the trees.... Yeah, find 'em if you can.
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Hi, I'm Robert ... with a passion for attempting to understand the lives of the pioneering prehistoric inhabitants of these British Isles, seeking out the remains they left behind in order to ask myself "why here ... why did it matter so... why such commitment?".. Needless to say, I'm still pondering such intangibles. Just as an empty house appears to retain echoes of past humanity... so does the stone circle, the chambered cairn, the long barrow and the mountain-top funerary cairn. Visiting them, I think, helps engender a certain 'connection' with this land of ours, with ourselves - our past, our present and our future; a reference point for those of us perhaps struggling to make sense of this so-called 'computer world' Kraftwerk warned us was a'coming in 1981.... danke, mein herren. And thanks also to those who picked up their gauntlet and ran with it.
Should my posts provide inspiration for others to venture into the Great Outdoors, please bear in mind the hills and mountains of these Isles are unpredictable, potentially dangerous places. Ensure you have map/compass/waterproofs... and learn how to use them. It could save your life. Weather conditions can change bewilderingly quickly - even in high summer - so don't get caught out. Please engage with landowners wherever possible... being a cartoon 'class warrior' might be jolly good fun for the narcissistic 'rebel'... but not for those who may choose to follow.
Joni Mitchell - 'Don't it always seem to go; That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?'
George Orwell - 'The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.'
Martin Gore - 'Like a pawn
On the eternal board
Who’s never quite sure
What he’s moved towards
I walk blindly on'...
Truman Capote - 'Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour.'
Oscar Wilde - 'The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.'
John Lydon - 'It is a reward to be chastised by the ignorant.'
Winston Churchill - '“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” [Perhaps one day people may finally grasp the reality that, for all his many faults, Churchill is the reason we are currently able to proffer personal views today that are not dictated by a totalitarian state.]
Charles Bukowski - “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Ultravox - 'Taking shelter by the standing stones
Miles from all that moves....'
Catch site videos from the Citizen Cairn at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFk6mRD0QCGTnUXRBlSJ44w
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