Bwlch-y-Ddau-Faen – the ‘Two Stone Pass’ – is an enigmatic place. Assuming wild, windswept moorland a couple of miles from the nearest road is your thang? Firstly there is a natural spring here amongst the peat hags; secondly, a number of standing stones protrude from said peat to varying degrees forming an irregular ‘ring’, as opposed to ‘circle. So why the colloquial reference to ‘Two Stones’ when there are substantially more than a pair of stones here? As I said, enigmatic place, augmented by a fine, sweeping view toward the Great Escarpment of South Wales dominating the southern horizon. Reassuring to find everything in its right place, so to speak. For what it’s worth, I’m tempted to think what we have here is a typical, if disrupted upland Welsh ring. With numerous diminutive orthostats barely breeching the current surface it just feels ‘right’, you know? It is difficult to hypothesise a satisfactory reason why these tiny stones should otherwise be here. But there you are. All is silent now, almost overwhelmingly so; however the location is significant, the past cacophony of untold drover’s agitated cattle seemingly hanging in the wind just out of human audible frequency.
Refer to notes for nearby Carnau for further context of this intriguing stone setting: