Summer Solstice 2025 Bryn Celli Ddu

 

Is there anybody out there . Thank you for your patience .

 

Last month I spent four days busing and hiking on the island  of Anglesey   , I could have hired a car  but the lure of free travel on the bus was too strong . I visited four amazing ancient spots .

 Today being a colossal day in the wheel of the year the only place to start is  with a   chambered tomb named Bryn Celli Ddu . This is the second intact Neolithic burial site  I have seen on my travels . The other one is West Kennet Long Barrow  in Avebury  . Bryn Celli Ddu was opened , dicovered in 1699  . It's miraculous that such a magnificent structure is still here to marvel at the genius of the ancients  . Originally the site consisted of a henge with a stone circle set on the inside measuring 17 metres in diamater . Sometime later no one really knows when ,  a mound with a chambered tomb  inside it replaced the stone circle . Fint arrowheads, a stone bead, sea shells and human remains burnt and unburnt have been excavated . The centrepiece is a an 8 metre passageway leading to a small chamber with a standing stone within . The chamber and passage way are illuminated with the Sunrise on the Summer Solstice . Truly magnificent .

Passage leading to chamber .

 Tomb Guardian . Circular Blueschis stone pillar inside of chamber .

 Pattern Stone was placed outside the chamber .The original carved stone pillar has been removed for safe keeping .

Section of Stone Circle .

Snowdonia looking east from top of the mound .

Is anybody in ...

Summer Solstice 2024 Mynydd y Capel Standing Stone

 

To commemorate this years Solstice   I took  the train to  Merthyr Vale  . Once there I  hiked to the top of Mynydd y Capel which overlooks the town . Where there is a large cainfield and a standing stone .   (ST08499) .

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Cairns are spread over a  plateau .

  Spectacular panoramic  views of hills and valleys dominate my eyeline . I can make out  the Black Mountains that tower over theTawe valley  in the distant  North East . The mighty twin peaks of   Pen y Fan  and Corn Du stand out  due North ..

Imbolc 2024

 

#Imbolc today , marks the beginning of Spring .

Imbolc

Promontory Iron Age Hill Fort , Dunraven Bay , South Wales

 

Dunraven Hill Fort 

 The sun is out it's a beautiful day, a good day to go to the beach and while I'm there visit  Dunraven Iron Age Hill Fort ( SS887728 ) on a cliff overlooking the Bristol Channel at  Southerndown .The fort dates from around 50 BC , the perimeter defensive walls on the North side consisted of two 12 metre banks with ditches . The cliff edge providing natural defensive  barrier on the other side . A large part of the fortifcation has dissapeared due to coastal erosion. A small  section of rampart , bank and ditch are still in sitchu ..  

 Taking a path across a lower earthwork below ramparts . What little remains of the fortifcation is on top of the man made hill .

Lookling NE from the carpark a few people are stood on top of a remaining section of rampart . 

Trwyn y Witch aka The Witches Nose 

Man made bank .

The Roman Invasion of Wales began in 48 AD . Ships went up the Bristol Channel carrying troops and  supplies . Today  the area is invaded by fossil  hunters . 

Section of Rampart .

Iron Age Hill Fort , Southerndown , South Wales

 

MidSummer 2023

 

From last summer when the valley was green and lush . I  made tracks up the mountain behind the house to Tarren Maerdy a place I have visited dozens of times and in all that time I have not seen a single person   . 

Thanks for stopping by .. 

 

Happy New Year To You All ..

Carn Llechart Collapsed Chambered Tomb & Ring Cairn