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) .

 ..

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

 

Carn Llechart

 

To celebrate this years winter Solstice I went to see a ring cairn on Mynydd Baran in the Swansea Valley near  Pontardawe . Knowing the area fairly well was a bonus I didn't spend  too much time getting lost . We parked the car fairly close to the site .The seasonal squall  made an apperance as I set off accross a muddy field like a man on a mission not bothered by muck and rain .

 This  ancient site is on  the west side on the mountain summit   . The  Ring Cairn ((SN69730627 ) has a large burial cyst ringed by 25 remaining stones . Persumably there would have been structure or earth mound covering the burial cyst . 

 The large cyst is thought to be the largest in Wales  . It definitley the largest I have seen on my travels so far  .

The Capstone has been removed , smashed to bits possibly .

Collapsed Chambered Tomb is 50 metres NW below the ring cairn .