GLADMAN

Eastern cairn looking approx north-east.

Eastern cairn looking west. Quite a footprint. The western monument can be seen beyond.

The great capstone....

Western chamber orthostats beneath the mighty capstone.

If I recall correctly this is one of the images from Cope’s big day-glo tome. The entrance passageway – allowing for slippage etc – certainly does appear aligned upon the natural ‘Gorsedd’ beyond. Note the massive, wondrous capstone upon the western chamber.

The superb setting of the promontory is self-evident (or if not, centre-left) looking from Tal y Fan. Graig Lwyd is to the right...

Sunburst, looking from Tal y Fan....

Toward the Afon Conwy from Tal y Fan.... note the wondrous Pen-y-Gaer, top right.

Looking across Hengwm to Carn Fawr from Carn Gwilym. The left hand shadow is cast by one of the latter hill’s superb cairns. The right is from some muppet who happened, by chance, to be upon Pumlumon that day.

Carn Fawr.... hell, yeah!

Carn Gwilym/Hyddgen and Banc Lluestnewydd are visible to the left of the cairn, both hills featuring monuments of their own... further pieces of the wondrous Pumlumon jigsaw

Looking approx north-west across Hengwm, with the twin beehive cairns of Carn Gwilym visible top left of image.

Looking more-or-less north towards the Bugeilyn..

My rucksack proves this monument lives up to its prosaic name... substantial.

Having dodgy knees, I’m always loathe to lose height when out on the hills in the middle of a walk .... but for a monument of this class – and, more to the point, positioning – the choice really was a ‘no-brainer’. The prominent ridge beyond is Tarren Bwlch-gwyn, well worth a visit if you have time to spare in the area. Cadair Idris and friends (top right) welcome the gaze to Snowdonia. Incidentally, Tarrenhendre, surmounted by a cairn or two of its own, is far left skyline.

From the approx south-west..

Retrospective of the centrepiece of Pumlumon Cwmbiga’s cemetery... the pair of magnificent main cairns.

Cadair Idris is more-or-less dead centre horizon.

Although Carnfachbugeilyn’s cairn is not in the same league as many of Pumlumon’s other monuments... that is more a reflection of the overwhelming quality of the latter.

The Bugeilyn gets a cameo far top right.

Toward Pen Pumlumon-Arwystli from the satellite cairn at SN8297590045. The small matter of the birthplace of the Afon Hafren (the mighty River Severn) lies in between.

Towards the Pumlumon Cwmbiga cemetery’s two main cairns from the site to approx north-west at SN8297590045. According to Coflein, there is an adjacent, clearly much less obvious cairn which I did not clock at the time. Coflein says: “A sub rectangular cairn, with some evidence of structure to it, on a local knoll just off a summit. It measured 5m north-south by 3m and was 0.50m high, with a stone “tail” downslope to the south, curving round to the east. On the northern side of the cairn there appeared to be a kerb. No quartz was observed in the cairn although there is a lot of surface quartz around generally. J.J. Hall, Trysor, 9 September 2006”

Reprising the 1995 image........ The main summits of Pumlumon rise beyond the southern cairn, crowned by multiple massive cairns.... in between, upon the ridge to right, lies the source of the Afon Hafren (Severn). Incidentally, the River Wye rises beyond Pen Pumlumon-Arwystli, the nearest of the high summits to camera, the Rheidol below Pen Pumlumon-Fawr, far right skyline. That’s three major rivers sourced on one mountain massif, with every summit populated by significant Bronze Age cairns. Strange, that.

Looking across the southern cairn to the northern.

A quartzite block surmounting the northern cairn... a nice touch. Hopefully, it is still there?

The northern cairn viewed from the great southern monument..

Looking approx north-west towards Carnfachbugeilyn, just visible upon the left-hand skyline. The stone pile seen centre-left mid-ground would appear to be the cairn cited by Coflein at SN8297590045. I wasn’t aware of its apparent sister site at the time of my visit.

The sight approaching from approx east signifying the end of the brutal struggle through the Hafren Forest... this is a superb pair of upland cairns.

Looking down the ridge toward the cairn at SN95666204, perfectly positioned to be just visible beneath another of Mother Nature’s awesome displays....

SN95666204

Toward distant Rhayader... for a Citizen Cairn’d walking the uplands of Wales these hills of the Elenydd are perhaps second only to Pumlumon herself for vibe.

The cairn at SN95666204.... I didn’t have the stamina to see the third, but this was enough.

The second cairn – at SN95666204 – under a pretty epic sky.