From Darren Fach Ring Cairn I continued south and headed for the trig point which can be seen from the ring cairn. The ground leading to the cairns was boggy, despite the fine weather, and in wet weather I imagine it would be very wet.
The weather was getting warmer; the sheep sheltering amongst the rocks and crags, out of the sun, as best they could. The air was clear and I could see for miles in all directions – the high peaks of the Beacons being particularly alluring.
I entered the walkers’ shelter built into the larger of the two cairns and discovered an empty tin of luncheon meat. I decided that this wasn’t an ‘offering’ and put it in my bag to take back to the car. I am sure the sharp edges of the tin could have caused injury.
It was so warm in the shelter, out of the wind, that I went back outside to cool down.
The views are indeed fine. The only blots on the landscape being Merthyr Tydfil and some wind turbines on the distant hills.
After a while I headed back down the steep slope towards the car. I passed a large rock outcrop which some Muppet had sprayed their name in green paint – at least it wasn’t the cairn that had been vandalised.
I ended up on a 4x4 track which led back to the point I had started my ascent. But this time it came to the gate on the right and not the gate on the left I had started from.
All in all my visit to Cilsanws Mountain had been a great success and I was very pleased that I had finally visited these cairns.
Well worth the effort if you are able to do so.
On the A470 going north out of Merthyr Tydfil just before you get to Llwyn on village, there is a parking space for at least ten cars, park here and walk down the road towards a gate across the road from a farm, passing through the left hand gate go up hill keeping towards the left hand side of fields, this should take you straight to the ring cairn, from here you can see the mountain top cairns and the trig point to the south and lower down the hill to the north are a curving line of three cairns known as Coedcae'r Gwarthog.
There are two large cairns on this hilltop, the largest is just a few metres from the trig point(460m) and has had a shelter built out of the loose cairn material, twenty metres away is the other one, mercifully devoid of tamperings.
The view from here is pleasing to the eye, niegh, both eyes, far to the north hiding in the haze one can see Pen y fan and siblings, but just a few hundred metres away the ring cairn can't be made out.