Crossing the route of the Tinners Way, the path becomes increasingly faint in amongst the thickening heather, which in turn gives way to ankle-taxing gorse. I have decided to visit the two barrows on The Beacon, even though this turns out to be a rather foolish idea. Progress becomes very slow, and the scratches on my ankles are now bleeding underneath my thin trouser legs. The things we do.
Eventually I reach the southern barrow, only to find it hidden under deep gorse. No thanks. I press on, painfully, trying to find patches of grass to cut through rather than more gorse. This takes a huge amount of faff, but eventually I reach the northern barrow, a low and very wide mound, covered in bracken. Which would be fine, except that there is a ring of deep gorse encircling the whole thing. I push through this, into the centre and onto the mound. This is definitely “it”, but it’s not possible to see anything much through the bracken. Humph. I then have to push back through the gorse to get back out. These sites do not repay summer visits at all.