Cwm Ystwyth is not exactly 'Piccadilly Circus', to be fair.... those outlanders who are out and about seemingly just a' passing through. As tourists do. One reason for this, perhaps, is that, despite being home to the nascent Afon Ystwyth, the scenery is not all Mid-Walian sublimity, the scars devastating Bryn Copa upon the valley's northern flank evidence of successive copper mining enterprises stretching right back to Bronze Age times. Yeah, this is a 'working valley', always has been. It was here that the magnificent Banc Tynddol 'sun-disc', now within the Museum of Wales, was discovered in 2002. Perhaps upon a day like today?
To the south of the small hamlet of Cwmystwyth, rising to as near as dammit 2,000ft, are a group of green hills forming a secret wilderness rarely trodden nowadays - to gauge by The Citizen Cairn's experiences - with even the local farmers relying upon the ubiquitous quad bike to get around. Lethal in mist, the rewards for the antiquarian-minded are not obvious from OS mapping, with only the prehistoric cairn of Canryrhyrddod (ironically arguably the least upstanding) cited upon the latest 1:50k version. Bryn Dafydd's summit cairn (1,873 ft) is assumed to be modern... suffice to say, in my opinion, it is most certainly NOT.
I approached from the north, limited verge parking available (for the considerate) upon the very minor road accessing Cwm Ffald. Follow said road as it crosses the wondrous Afon Ystwyth to pick up a public footpath accessing the open hillside above. When it is eventually attained, following quite an uphill slog, Bryn Dafydd's summit possesses everything I look for nowadays: fantastic upland vibe, great views, ancient cairn with substantial underlying circular Bronze Age footprint - as usual, ignore the parasitical modern marker - plus that indefinable 'something else'....
Coflein reckon:
"A large Bronze Age cairn, which is now a very low stone spread, about 12 metres in diameter. A large marker cairn, NPRN 522211, has been built on the site, using material from the funerary cairn." [R.P. Sambrook, Trysor, 22/3/2012]
I gaze across to Trawsallt - about a mile distant and clocked a couple of years back - and make a mental note.
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Posted by GLADMAN
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