IronMan

Lying in the adjacent field this huge outcrop offered us the perfect peace and solitude to view and contemplate the burial mound without much fear of being disturbed. From the top it is perfectly clear that the mound and the nearby menhir are aligned with this gorsedd.

Bodowyr sits imprisoned within a silly little fence. With nobody around, the fence being low and without a gate, the best bet is to hop over for a closer inspection. The views from here to the mainland and the Snowdonian mountains is quite breathtaking.

The setting of Barclodiad-y-Gawres is awesome. The whole thing is spoilt by the huge grass covered dome which houses the monument. The gates were padlocked on the day we came and we were left frustrated by the fact that whoever had been allowed access last had left candles, foil wrapped chocolate Easter eggs and daffodils! Each to there own, but this kind of thing is pretty meaningless. A walk by the cliffs, down to the nearby cove showed the setting off further, with views out to Holy island. The orange coloured foam, as mentioned in TMA, was found frothing round the cliff edges, which shows this must be a perennial problem.

The broken capstone of Ty Newydd is held up by two wide stone built supports which ruin the site – however from one angle, they are obscured so it is possible to see the site as it would have been. A series of large stones in the wall next to the monument look quite suspicious.

Sitting in a field overlooking the gorsedd and monument of Bryn Celli Ddu. The menhir is shot through with a seam of quartz and is covered in thick lichen giving it a fascinating surface quality.

I only had the opportunity to see the central henge on this my first visit, my companion for the day wasn’t feeling too good, and I didn’t want to drag out his suffering any longer! The henge is in quite a bad state of repair, but is pretty big and good enough to recognise and so is worth seeing.

My first time seeing these three fantastic stones. The largest stone lies behind a locked gate on a busy road which is way too conspicuous to just leap over, so it’s best to be content viewing this one from a short distance. The other two stones are accesible and cannot fail to impress with their immense size.

Round Loaf lies off the beaten track. We were walking in the area (Tockholes), and decided to extend our walk to take in this site. The mound is worth visiting for its isolated position, but is probably best combined with a first time visit to the Pikestones site near Anglezark.

NB: It’s a good idea to take a bag with you for the worrying amount of litter – we spent 10 minutes tidying the site up when we arrived.

The best way to reach the Goggleby stone is to take the road from Shap to the Thunder Stone and turn left on the single track road, parking at the sharp right hand bend, a footpath leads to the stone which lies in the next field. The stone stands huge and proud, spoilt only by the concrete reinforcement at it’s base.

Kemp Howe is a travesty. These stones lie dejected by the side of a railway track, overlooking an industrial site. The stones are themselves beautiful, and despite the circles destruction, should be visited.

Well worth the visit to the Iron HIll cairn circle and it’s companion cairn just a few feet away, intersected by a dry stone wall. The circle is difficult to understand, at first, but does eventually make sense. Taking photographs was very hard!

Mayburgh henge never fails to impress. On this day the busy traffic sped past on the M6, Easter bank holiday being well under way, but the solitude of this site *still* impresses. I came with two friends who’d never been before, and both were overwhelmed by it’s size and the thought of this site being used by the ancients.

Castlerigg on a warm spring afternoon is perfect. Swarming with tourists – I still LOVE it. It never fails to amaze me how people, with no apparent interests in their ancient ancestors, can come to sites like this and feel it. We came and chilled here for an hour or so, and in that time watched numerous people arrive, approach the site, and proceed to wander round with broad smiles across their faces.