Looking approx southwest near the summit of Tal-y-Fan towards the northern Carneddau. The great cairns of Carnedd Y Ddelw (right) and Carnedd Pen y Borth Goch (left) allow Llwytmor and Foel-fras to shine... well, glow as these rise above.
Towards ‘the rest’ of Y Carneddau from a rather hostile Tal-y-Fan. Just the way it should be.
Tal-y-Fan from Pen y Castell to the south. From this side, the monuments round Maen-y-Bardd and Cerrig Pryfaid would be visible (with a telescope).
Toward the Afon Conwy from Tal y Fan.... note the wondrous Pen-y-Gaer, top right.
Tal y Fan, the flat topped one at the back from the car park on the Great Orme.
Slightly after sunrise over Tal y Fan on the winter solstice (ish) 2015
Sunset-ish from Tal y Fan
The summit, zoomed at from a mile and a half away walking up to Carnedd Ddelw.
Tal y fan is the flat topped area on the right, the left hand mass is Foel Lwyd, seven meters below Tal Y Fan.
Light fades prematurely over Tal-y-Fan, all trace of the morning’s sunshine long gone.
The weather closes in on the neighbouring Carneddau peaks, the highest Bronze Age cemetery in Wales.
For a mountain so extraordinarily circled by prehistoric monuments, the lack of a summit cairn must be deliberate – surely?
The wonderful landscape of the northern Carneddau, seen from Creigiau Gleision to the south. Tal-y-Fan is the flat-topped mountain (it’s not really flat) just to the right of distant centre.
Ascending from the bwlch to the SW... it may be argued that Tal-y-Fan appears to be crowned by a natural cairn? Perhaps.
Tal Y Fan is a mountain, true, it’s not nearly as big as its neighbours, but from here at Cerrig Y Ddinas it sure looks like a mountain, demanding of respect, reverance and fear.
On a brighter note St Celynnins church is at the bottom, one of Conway’s best kept secrets in fact.
Near the summit...(the OS trig pillar is just over the ladder stile)... looking toward the other significantly higher peaks of Y Carneddau, a number of which are crowned by Bronze Age cairns. Tal-y-Fan is not. Perhaps, for some reason, it didn’t require one?
Looking down upon Cerrig-y-Dinas. Or perhaps more importantly, the Afon Conwy. What a majestic river!
In the picture below the mountain are many sites that are invisible to the naked eye from on Pen y gadair, from left Cae Coch standing stone then many others to Rhiw burial chamber on the right.
Flat topped Tal y Fan from the Great Orme
Tal y Fan, early autumn. The viewpoint is Blaen y Ddalfa to the southwest.
Tal-y-Fan (with flat top, just left of centre) and the northern Carneddau seen from the Great Orme.
The mountain [top left] from Mynydd y Dref hillfort....... Bwlch Sychnant is far right.
Maybe not a burial chamber, but maybe a proto temple, probably not that either but it could be a small part of what makes this particular little mountain so special to the ancients.
It’ll come to me one day.
Tal Y Fan centre picture on a misty morning
Not one site – but an overview of many sites densely packed in on the south side of Tal y Fan, above Rowen. This is a composite of many photos taken from the megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=6018 Pen-y-gaer hillfort to the south.
Key
Red Road Lines – Surfaced Roads
Green Road Lines – Unsurfaced Roads, unsuitable and inaccessible for most vehicles
Yellow Road Line – Particularly Steep road up from Rowen towards Youth Hostel; some vehicles will not make it up the hill!
Purple Lines – showing route of footpaths around the south side of the mountain
Northernmost 2,000ft summit of Y Carneddau... and all round Prehistoric Mother Hill for good measure.
We took an alternate route to the ones suggested in the books. We drove from Rowen to the Rhiw Youth Hostel. From here we walked to the Bwlch-y-Ddeufan stones taking in the other monuments on the way. Walking this way, and the same way back there is never more than 10 minutes between sites. Perfect.
I visited this site for the fist time in Jan 2002 and was completely blown away by it. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much during the drive there but the steep climb up the road to the car park (described in TMA) really sets the scene. There is plenty to see including one of the finest Dolmens you’ll see anywhere (the photo of said dolmen in TMA far from does it justice) which looks incredibly different depending on which side you look at it from. I can’t enthuse about this place enough, it’s got the lot. Menhirs, (several!) a stone circle and a brilliant dolmen plus breathtaking scenery, go if you can!
PS Dont let the pylons put you off!
Yes well powerlines ahoy! Like Roman Roads these things are. Funny that int it. Well this site is without a doubt a must see if you are anywhere near it at all. Don’t expect to get your car up the road though unless it has a big engine or thirty five wheels. The hill is of the lovely steep variety so common in N Clwyd. YHA accom at the top (Rowan) which I gather is mostly used by people visiting these stones (though when I visited it was being refurbished so I could only read about it). Nice floor growth later in the year. Beautiful views when chin is lifted.
