Carneddau Hafod Wnog

Nearest town:
Machynlleth (7km NNW)
OS reference:
SN7643994301
OS sheet:
135
Latitude:
52° 31' 55.72 N
Longitude:
3° 49' 18.44 W
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Images

Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The Pistyll y Llyn – or at least one section of what, in my estimation, is one of the UK’s finest – not to mention highest – waterfalls... far superior to the famous falls at Devil’s Bridge. The cairn crowning the high ground overlooking the river to the east is totally at odds with what the experienced walker would expect from a ‘Pumlumon’ type of monument, capped by pure quartzite. Suggestion is this magnificent waterfall had something to do with this deviation from the norm? If our predecessors did possess ‘special’ landscape features, surely this was one?

PLEASE NOTE: obtaining this image was a pretty dangerous exercise in retrospect...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Dec 29, 2019
comment 1 comment
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Quartzite cherries on top.... well worth Mam Cymru (the metaphysical one, that is) reminding me who’s boss in no uncertain terms.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 24, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking approx north toward Cadair Idris and The Arans.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Some sense of scale...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Bit windy, then? The quartzite is truly an exquisite touch.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking toward the Llechwedd Melyn... Llyn Penrhaeadr, source of the fabulous – utterly fabulous – Pistyll y Llyn, can be seen top left. Whether this was significant to placement is perhaps a moot point?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Apologies for the quality of this image... however increasingly violent weather fronts began to move in rendering photography almost redundant.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

I was unsure how much of the ‘cairn’ was deposited by human agency and how much was natural knoll... needless to say the exquisite little quartzite ‘topping’ speaks volumes... this is no walker’s cairn.. but that erected by people with an inherent desire to appreciate the best this planet has to offer.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The cairn is utterly at odds with what one – well, this traveller anyway – would expect to find upon Pumlumon and its outlying summits... small, with hardly any bare stone. I couldn’t help thinking association with the – quite frankly awe inspiring – waterfall Pistyll y Llyn demanded this be so.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Lens flare marks the spot... the cairn a’top its knoll.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016
Image of Carneddau Hafod Wnog (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The cairn surmounts the high ground (just out of shot behind the trees, far top left) guarded by the cliff line of Llechwedd Melyn (Yellow Hillside); I’ve included this shot because not only does it highlight a potential ascent/descent route (cutting diagonally across the cliff face) .... but also the prime focus (sorry cairn) of any walk here... the fabulous Pistyll y Llyn, for my money the finest cascade in Mid Wales (with the possible exception of that gracing Y Maesglasau north of the Dyfi) and far superior to the feted – but nonetheless excellent – example at not too distant Devil’s Bridge.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 18, 2016

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Miscellaneous

Carneddau Hafod Wnog
Cairn(s)
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 1, 2018

According to Coflein [J.J. Hall, Trysor, 13 July 2005] this diminutive cairn sited near the wondrous Pistyll y Llyn is:

“The northernmost of two possible funerary cairns on Carneddau Hafod Wnog. A small cairn, probably funerary, 6m in diameter at its base and 0.75m high, and built on top of a natural outcrop...The top of the cairn is flattened, with a slight depression in its centre, filled with numerous quartz boulders. The origin of the quartz is debatable – they may have been added in the recent past”.

An excellent approach to both cairn and waterfall – the latter, to my mind, one of Wales’ finest cascades – can be made from Cwm y rhaiadr at the terminus of the road heading south-eastward into the hills from Glaspwll.

Sites within 20km of Carneddau Hafod Wnog

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