GLADMAN

Looking towards Bryn Rhudd and its extended ‘cemetery’ of monuments. Once again, the cairn was home to pretty ‘volatile’ honey bees who, on this occasion, proved to be more than a match for The Citizen Cairn. I, therefore, elected to hang out upon the grassy periphery for self-preservation’s sake. My stripey friends were cool with that arrangement.

Previous day I was upon the great summit cairn of Bryn Rhudd to the east... Banc-y-Gwyngoed’s companion monument tantalisingly just out of reach. For once, a good decision to hold the nerve and return to give these magnificent places their due.

From the south.....

Looking south upon the great summit cairn.

West to Banc-y-Gwyngoed, crowned by another massive cairn. I’d intended to visit, but was forced to concede the additional distance was too great.

Summit cairn

Battered, bruised and showing the adverse physical effects of many years upon the hills. As for the cairn......... together with its brood of confusing associates, well worth the considerable effort demanded upon a hot Ceredigion day.

Summit cairn from the approx west...

The massive dimensions of the summit cairn are not immediately apparent upon arrival from the south... what with a lot of stone having been commandeered for a bizarre ‘Mohican-stylee’ drystone wall (according to the farmer) before present memory. However, there is a LOT more cairn beyond.

To the north....

Another probable to the north...

Southern ridge... outcropping, or remains of cairn?

Southern flank...

Upon the southern flank...

SN7005656251

SN7005656251. Garn Felen is (apparently) subsumed within the forestry beyond. Couldn’t locate it last year...

Small satellite cairn at SN7005656251 to the east..

Approaching from the approx east (at SN7006156248) it would appear two monuments crown an apparently unnamed minor top. Bryn Rhudd’s massive summit cairn can be seen beyond.

Quite a substantial upland cairn.... although dwarfed by the not-so-distant Carn Wen, it has to be said. These hills are really a cornucopia of such monuments.

No sign of any goats, to be fair. Lot more sense, probably.

The Blaen Bedw mound (SO1402954405) to the immediate north. I must admit the existing shape didn’t suggest a prehistoric providence... however who’s to say it’s not a burial mound later adapted for some other purpose? The ‘gibbet’ hypothesis is intriguing, if somewhat grisly.

I wouldn’t term myself a giant (of anything, to be fair)... but then one can’t credibly deny this is a pretty hefty monument.

Cyclists and pedestrians – or those who enjoy driving 4x4s at 1mph for whatever reason – can follow the byway towards Blaen-bedw and Cwm Shenkin should they so wish. I was happy enough to chill out upon the great barrow.

Looking more-or-less west towards The Carneddau, chock-a-block with hillforts and cairns...

A group of middle-age rambling muppets arriving from the summit of Little Hill were – for some reason – rather vocally perturbed to see me ‘taking the sun’ here... Throwing their questions back at them confused them utterly, which said it all, to be fair.

I wasn’t prepared for the sheer scale of this fine barrow...

Looking south – funnily enough towards South Wales’ Great Escarpment. Surely one can never tire of seeing those upon the horizon?

I couldn’t make out whether the additional small cairns were prehistoric in origin... in the same manner as, for example, those beside Pumlumon’s great Carn Hyddgen cairns? Coflein doesn’t appear to mention anything, however.

The cairn has been ‘hollowed out’ – as, sadly, you would expect – containing an OS trig station within. Nonetheless, it remains a substantial monument with far-reaching viewed towards the wilderness of Cwmdeuddwr.

Despite the hill’s relatively modest height, this took a bit ascending. Worth it, though.

Despite being somewhat ‘re-arranged’ this great cairn was clearly once more than a match for the pair crowning Garreg Las (to the east) and those upon Y Mynydd Du’s western-most flanks.

Conditions such as this upon the UK’s mountains are generally at a great premium... hence – bee attacks or whatever – I wasn’t going down until time gave me no option. Pen-y-fan and Corn Du can even be made out far to the west...