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I opted for the "with son " option for this becairned not too high mountain, not too high, but I brought the bikes to just to sweeten the deal.
I parked up at the Pondorosa cafe near the Horseshoe pass, from there the well made concrete path up to the top is only fifty feet down the road, without much of a do we started our bike ride/push up to the top. After several stops we got near the top from here we could see Cairn topped Moel y Gamelin and in the opposite direction Dinas Bran capably watches over the Vale of Llangolen.
Just one rediculously steep part of the path to go (Eric noted that he was not going to ride down that) and we were at the top, next to the television mast and Cryn y Brain II, the best of the bunch of cairns up here. Sheltering whimsies have rearranged the cairn material, but it does nothing to hide the cairns true size. Eric pointed out all the quartz stones used in the cairn, well spotted mate. Grand views to Moel y Gamelin and off to distant Snowdonia and futher north the Clwyd range , I think I could see the Jubilee tower on Moel Famau.
From Cryn y Brain II we follow the path which is no longer concrete, (as it's used for folk coming up to the masts) to Sir Watkins tower and the trig point cairns. Passing a low heather covered cairn on our left. I don't know who this Sir Watkins was but how dare he park his crappy tower on a bronze age cairn, just how dare he, then to compound the insult the ordnance survey stick a trig point on the other cairn right next to it.
How dare they all.
It's snowing now, snowing in May, how rude, perhaps its nature showing me it's still in control, another century and the trig point will be rubble and part of the cairn, Watkins tower is already a pile of rubble, so all things considered the transient nature of the place consoles me, nothing stays the same.
On the way back, near Cryn y Brain II, I spotted another likely looking heather covered cairn, but the snow was coming down thicker now and we were not dressed for that so we started the exciting ride down. It would have been exciting but for Eric's fall the other week in the Preseli's. It made him far to careful and he was far too reticent to just let go and trust in gravity, but it still got us down in a fraction of the time walking would have done.
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Easy enough to find this stone and barrow, once you've successfully navigated around the tiny, steep, and confusing lanes. Approach the site from the north, OS map has the barrow further south than it really is, it is actually right on the summit of the 371 m high hill. I actually saw the barrow from the stone in the wall but didn't go to it from there instead I drove south around the fields and then climbed the hill again only to find myself back where i'd started more or less.
The standing stone had a Buzzard perched on it when we arrived, but it wasn't going to let me get too close, or even close at all, as soon as I got out of the car it scarpered, scaredy cat.
The stone is about fifty meters from the road, broad on one side and thin on the other,aligned east/west ish, six feet tall, and about fifty meters from the stony tumulus.
Instead of the labour intensive drive and walk round, I should have just walked over to the tumulus jumped over the low wall and been stood on it's crown in less than two minutes, d'ohhh!
The mound of stones stands about two feet tall and is on a low turfed mound about a foot tall. There are long views to the rolling hills and through them to Cheshire. To the west Y foel rises to 522meters and beyond that the hills only get bigger. But right here at the barrow we are in a big bowl surrounded almost completely by these low hills.
A passing tractor has me at a disadvantage, I feel i'm intruding and beat a hasty retreat back to the car, the long way round.
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From Whitchurch take the A525 to Wrexham for about a mile then turn right at the sign for Whitewell. Turn left then right and then turn right once more following sign for St Mary church of Whitewell, park here at the church.
Whitewell barrow is our last port of call for this slight foray across the Welsh border, it's less than a mile from the border, and at the church of St Mary four footpaths converge. Walking around the old white washed church the barrow comes in to view, glimpsed through centuries old Yew trees and decades old wooden fencing, but then we get to the stile over the fence and we can see that this barrow is quite frankly huge. It is unfortunately off the footpath, one path goes north and past it by a eighty meters, the other path east and past it by a hundred meters, but from the eastern side the barrow blocks out the farm buildings that are too close to it.
We approach quietly across the old roughly plowed field, crunchy on top soft underneath. The barrow is really quite big at least twelve feet high and fifty feet across, if I'd known it was this big I'd have been here ages ago, something I say too much regrettably . It's entire surface is pock marked profusely with rabbit holes, and less profusely with little blue flowers that weren't bluebells and pine cones.
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I can't believe I didn't add any field notes from my last visit six years ago, even though that was more than half a lifetime ago for Eric he still said "oh I remember this one" and that was before we even got to it.
Heading south out of Llanglydwen, take your first right turn, then turn right into the track that leads to Penbontbren cottage, they let me park there last time but this time I leave it further up the track in the corner to one side, then walk down to the house and pass it by on it's right hand side, through a red gate. Then take your left hand fork passing a standing stone/old gate post and in one minute the most beautiful of Preseli's chromlechs is revealed.
Looking down over the river but not in site of it, is the greyhounds lair, what is it with greyhounds lairs in Wales? there is at least three that i've been to, is it the ancient name for it or a modern thing?
I walk around and around it, taking pictures from strange angles that I didn't explore last time, but last time the whole family and the dog were here, this time it's just Eric and me, and he's got a new football, so i'm free to go this way and that. Some chalked/burnt stick graffiti is on the inside, including a spiral in black, it's all old stuff that's wearing away, it'll be gone by autumn.
On the edge of the Preseli mountains but not in site of it, this is a must see dolmen, so many pictures of Coaten Arthur and Carreg Samson, this place is well under used, and little visited. A secret little gem, if i'd come a few weeks later there would have been bluebells too, so much beauty and wonder in one place would have made me quiver. Then again at work a bonus is coming my way soon, so I may come back in a few of weeks, and I will be a lucky boy.
Ps.... the walk back was timed to more or less fifteen minutes, so there's no excuses for not coming.This post appears as part of the blog post " The big three" |
       
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Beware ! I will be talking enthusiastically about this place, what we are sometimes privy to is more than just a visit to some stones by someone, sometimes it's a window onto a love affair, for it sometimes feels more like i'm documenting a love story between myself and these ancient wild high places, if I sometimes sound like a giddy child it's because I feel like one, it's just the best feeling in the world.
We parked in the obvious place south east of the small mountain, and rediculously I let Eric talk me into taking the bikes up with us, it wasn't that hard going, it's not too steep. On the way up he would look back down the path and tell me how cool it will be to ride back down, pointing out dips and jumps he would go over, we're not mad, we had no intention to ride down from the top that would be suicide, however his second mountain lesson would be coming soon.
As we neared the top I could see what looked to be the first line of defences for the hill fort, crawling north around the side of the hill and curling west to keep those pesky invaders out.
We pass it by and reach the level ground at the top, lean our bikes against the rocks at the south east, and turn to look at the three ginormous cairns, if a mountain is lucky, no if i'm lucky a mountain will have a cairn on it, if i'm verrry verrry lucky it will have two decent cairns on it, but to get three cairns of such distinction you have to come to the magical playground of the stonehenge builders, the Preseli mountains.
I read with disappointment that Carl wasn't impressed with the hill fort, saying little to be seen, ?? the defences can be followed all around the north of the hill and even the entrance is deep and obvious on the south side where there are no defences because of the precipitous rocks , Iv'e seen worse, much worse and whats worse is iv'e driven miles to see them, here though it is an absolute delight, a cherry on the top, for the main gatteau is the three huge cairns perched on top, keeping watch over the whole of the eastern mountain range.
The cairns have been recently restored by army preparation students, whoever they are? but they have done a grand job. We could tell by the colouration of the stones where had been restored. But they either left a bit out or someones been at it already as there is a a small scoop in the western end of the western cairn, it's a comfy place to sit out of the wind and watch the clouds scudding over distant Carnmenyn. Carnmenyn, from here it hides from view the Carnmenyn burial chamber and the stone river, had I been alone I would go over there and introduce myself to the genius loci there. But not this time, they will have to wait till our next rendezvous. From up on top, on top of the trig point, we can see it all , west past Carnmenyn to Foal Feddau and Craig y cwm, Preseli's highest point. North is the coast, I can see Dinas head, and closer to somewhere before me is Beddyraffanc, east is Frenni Fawr and cairns and south is Carn Ferched and further off is the megalithic complex at Glandy cross.
But the best thing is just sitting up on the central cairn watching the clouds shadows moving across the ground below, the occupants of these cairns must have been important indeed.
But the worse thing is on our way back down, on the bikes, Eric went from lower than me, but no sooner had we got fifty yards he went tumbling head first over the handle bars, and I was unable to do a thing but watch it all happen, thankfully he wasn't hurt too much, mostly his pride, and with it comes a valueable mountain lesson, even if your thinking I can do that, it always pays to be conservative, no not them...ptui.This post appears as part of the blog post " The big three" |
Showing 1-50 of 4,512 posts. Most recent first | Next 50
After visiting nearly a thousand ancient places and driving between fifteen to twenty thousand miles every year I can only conclude that I'm obsessed with these places, and finding this website seven years ago only compounded that obsession, at least I'm not alone anymore.
My favourite places are:
Ring of Brodgar
Callanish
Balnauran of Clava
Torhouskie
Swinside
Nine stones close
Bryn Celli Ddu
The Druids circle (penmaenmawr)
HafodyGors Wen
Gwal y Filiast
Grey Wethers
Boscawen Un
La Roche au Fees
Drombeg
Uragh
Talati De Dalt
and these are only the ones that immediatly spring to mind, so many stones and not enough lifetimes.
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