Showing 1-50 of 2,944 posts. Most recent first | Next 50  
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I was on the road by 5.30am in order to catch the morning light (should there be any) on the mountains, there was golden glow a plenty.
I came across this longcairn on coflein (bless 'em)
whilst looking into the hut circle settlement in the valley below, at the time I thought, phwooar that must have a good view of Snowdon, I'd like to go there, so as soon as the weather picks up, and here I am.
I parked at the viewpoint on the A498 just south of the junction with the A4086 (Llamberis pass), perfect for both the longcairn and the hut circles.
There is no path to the cairn other than those created by pointless sheep, and its steep too, and when the ice thaws, wet . but the view from the top is the best in Wales, its not the top, rather a high plattau between the mountain tops proper and the valley floor, the cairn is obvious and easy to find, the longness to it is all but gone but it still makes a good round barrow.
I am inclined to beleive that this is the burial place of someone important who lived at the Cwm Dyli settlement in the valley below, from there the mountains peaks whose shadow they lived in everyday would have been hidden behind false hill crests, so where better to spend eternity than up here amongst the gods, just imagine if Bryn Celli Ddu or Pentre Ifan was up here there would be a road up to it, but i'm already sold, somewhere in this national park will receive my ashen mortal remains one day, and hopefully I can spend forever being blown from mountain top to mountain top.
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I started the morning way up on high with the best view in Wales, it all went downhill from there really, literally. At 110m above sea level this might be the lowest point in the Snowdonia national park. Surrounded by the highest mountains on three sides and an open valley on t'other is where this collection of six hut circles can be found, surrounded as they are by such jaw dropping beauty it's hard to see why the national monument record gives them such a naff name, they were obviously getting so bored naming things that they just stopped bothering altogether, why bother mentioning the power station at all thats Snowdon up there for gods sake the highest mountain in Wales and you name the place after a power station ?
I struggle to apply an iron age date to the settlement, with so many hillforts in North Wales it seems with no defences the inhabitants were either on a death wish or they were so cut off from outside the mountains that they didnt know to defend themselves, perhaps they were a lost mountain tribe, hidden from the minds of men, but not the sands of time. The cairn on the hilltop to the east with such good views of the snowdon horeshoe, might, I feel be connected with the Cwm Dyli settlement, from way down on the valley floor you cant see the mountain tops to the west, but a short half hour scramble up the hillside and there is the "best view in Wales", if I lived here thats where I'd like to spend my for ever.
Out of the six hut circles ( three to the north, 30m south three more)one is much bigger than the others and was easily spotted from on high as I came down the mountain side, maybe the cheif of the hidden people lived here and later got interred way up the hillside. Besides the round houses there are two other structures that are unidentifiable to me but Phil Harding would probably know, it's shame he wasn't with me.
Its easy to get here, you can practically drive right up to the circles, in such splendid surroundings I wonder why hasn't any else been here, but then I already know why, I only learned they were here myself a few months ago, and Ive been round and about here virtually all my life, you just dont know theyre there.
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I tried in vain to find this cairn and a nearby Roman hut circle, I think I went too far up the hill,
but I was rewarded with a brilliant view of llyn Cowlyd reservoir, and a strange looking rock formation called I think Maen Trichwmwd, I hope it translates as the hawk as that is what it most resembled to me.
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Much easier to find than the first time I came here a year or two ago, from Tal y Braich cairn/stone/cist follow the dirty wide scar of a path up to the canal type viaduct thingy, follow the c t v upto the next stile by a bridge and the cairn is fifty metres down hill.
The cairn stands proud of the surrounding heather upto a metre high, and has been half heartedly dug in to on top twice and on the southern side of the cairn is the cist.
Large and flat lies the cist lid/capstone, next to it is a rectangular hole with one wall stone obvious one more out of place and one more being buried by peat, compared to some cairns iv'e seen this is quite a good one, but the view is so awe inspiring that the place becomes a real blinder, everyone interested in the past and mountains must come here at least once.
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The last point of interest on my Snowdonian walkabout was this cairn, coflein describes it thus
Burial cairn, probably Bronze Age, on the lower SW-facing slopes of Cwm Tal-y-braich. Stone built circular cairn, measuring c. 6.5m in diameter and up to 0.5m in height. The cairn has been disturbed in the past, with part of a stone cist exposed in the centre: a long thin orthostat measuring 1.8m in length and 0.6m in height
The cairn has indeed been disturbed in the past as stones stick out oddly at angle to each other, if the long side on stone is whats left of a cist, I'd really like to have seen it complete, as it would have been well impressive, as it is theres not much to keep you here for long, except the mountains, they are absolutley spellbinding, dark and mysterious Tryfan holds you completely captivated.......
untill another low flying Hawk screams past.
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Another cairn/cist that lies in thrawl of mighty Tryfan, coflein says;
Burial cairn, probably Bronze Age, on the lower south-west facing slopes of Cwm Tal-y-braich. Stone built circular cairn, measuring c. 8m in diameter and up to 0.9m in height. The cairn has been disturbed in the past, with several rubble-filled hollows visible in the centre and a large exposed cist (with adjacent capstone) on the south-west side.
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Whilst trawling through coflein I came upon this
interesting sounding cairn, it's now on the list of places to go.
Cairn consisting of two very large slate slabs sitting on top of one another. The top stone is at least 1.8m long and 0.8m wide with possible polished stone axe grooves or incised rock art. The rock art consists of approx. 20 incised lines, 'v' shaped in profile and roughly 5-8mm deep and between 10cm-30cm long. 5 other quartz blocks are placed around the slab. Cairn is situated on a knoll with views to the sea and up the valley. Might be capstone of dolmen?
rock art ? dolmen ? I'm on my way. (almost)
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Eric and myself slept in the car again after another four hour midnight drive, I was so tired when we pulled up in the parking place next to the dolmen that I forgot how uncomfortable cars are for sleeping in and after marvelling at all the stars for a minute fell straight to sleep.
The alarm went off at 7.30am, Eric elected to stay and watch the car which left me and the stones alone waiting for the sun to rise, well one of us was waiting the other didnt really seem to care.
I havent been to Pentre Ifan for ten years, I know its that long because my kids havent been here, infact I think my eldest was concieved whilst on a camping trip down here. ( sorry, too much information?)
It was as awsome as I remember it, how did they get that capstone up there and how does it stay there, it sits on the sharpest point of three stones which look like they might crumble at any minute from the weight.
I wonder what happened to the two facade stone on the west of the chamber, only two stumps remain but presumably they would have been as tall as the two on the other side, theres quite a few big stones lying around perhaps one or two are these missing stones.
The sunrise was a magical moment, I circled the chamber like a predator circling its prey, or maybe a photographer getting the most from his muse. Every now and then a huge flock of noisy starlings went over, heading back to the coast for a days foraging.
Why didnt I put this place in my top three, curse you only top threeeeeee.
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No problem parking, theres room for a whole hoard of megaraks (what do you call a group of megalith hunters?)
A cold and frosty morning, and since the glorious sunrise at Pentre Ifan a half hour ago the sky has really turned quite dark. Gors Fawr couldnt be any easier to find just walk from the car towards the mountains and you cant miss it.
Sixteen stones in all some fallen some still tallish and proud, some stones have that nice thick grass, some have a gorse bush and one or two have frozen pools round them.
Its a perfect place, the very short grass, ease of access, the view, and the perfect little circle, all contribute to making it a very good place to be, with a hint of Cornwallyness to them.
The pair of tall stones to the north east are a bit of a conundrum, are they explicitly connected to the circle?, are they the same age? which came first. Mysteries are good, far better than the simple truth, they say the truth will set you free,
but how free do you feel?
The only truth you need to know is that the Preseli's are a mysterious and beautiful place, best appreciated from places like Gors Fawr.
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You should probably ask for permission from the house thats next door to the cairn, we didnt, we parked infront of the gate that leads to the field next door, hopped over said gate and started making tracks in the light snow cover toward where I hoped the kerb cairn would be, trespassing is bad...ok, do as I say not as I do.
The cairn wasnt where I suppossed it to be, but a quick glance over the wall and bob was me uncle.
Reading Kammers misc note and the description by Figgis reveals two changes to the site, the brambles and hedge have gone, but the eastern arc of the circle has dissapeared under a wall, perhaps the wall and the hedge are one and the same, either way its a sad thing to see, it starts its life as the most important thing in the world ( to its builders atleast) then it lasts a few millenia
with not much at all happening, then someone thought it a good place for a wall, and ending with me, just someone looking for somewhere cool to spend some time with his son and camera, look at the pictures but dont feel sad they're already dead.
Please forgive the melancholy.
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Carn Besi is a truly knackered burial chamber, and amidst all the other treasures on show in and around the Preseli's, there's probably not much reason to come here.
But and however, the site has a good panoramic view of the mountains, the capstone is I think intact, there may even be the last vestiges of passage stones directly infront of and leading to the chamber.
Plus it's so very close to the road and the parking is soooo convenient that I dont see how you wouldnt want to go have a look at Besi, plus it does have something else, something less tangible, something ethereal maybe, if you find out what it is let me know.
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Showing 1-50 of 2,944 posts. Most recent first | Next 50
After visiting more than seven hundred ancient places and driving twenty thousand miles every year I can only conclude that I'm obsessed with these places, and finding this website a few years ago only compounded that obsession, at least I'm not alone .
My favourite places are:
Ring of Brodgar
Callanish
Balnauran of Clava
Torhouskie
Swinside
Nine stones close
Bryn Celli Ddu
The Druids circle (penmaenmawr)
Gwal y Filiast
Grey Wethers
Boscawen Un
La Roche au Fees
Drombeg
Uragh
Talati De Dalt
and these are the ones that immediatly spring to mind, so many stones and not enough lifetimes.
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