Winter Solstice 2018

Carn-Y-Hyrddod (SS91999339)

Put on my boots  headed for the  hills .  Climate  down in the Valley  - overcast- slight breeze - mild  .  

Carn-Y-Hyrddod   is located  at the summit of  Mynydd Llangeinwyr  one km south  from  the Werfa communications masts .  Cairn is 15m diameter  x 1.8 m high  . A smaller cairn has been  built on top of the original  . 

Climate on   Mynydd Llangeinwyr  -  fog - sporadic showers of  freezing rain -   45 miles per hour gusts of  wind  . 

   I love it up here in the hills  ..

Happy Xmas .

Mynydd William Meyrick 

Mynydd Llangeinwyr  . Cairn Position highlighted .

Ogmore Valley 

Mushrooms Toadstools Fungi

Rhondda Fach

22/11/18 part 1 of 3 

  Rhondda Fach  (SN94580230)

   

Hiked  over the top from Treorchy to the source of the River Fach .

Disturbed Bronze age Cairn .   Lluest-wen Reservoir in background .

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The cairn has been opened up leaving a hole in the centre of where the cyst was located . The timber fence which surrounded the site on my last visit three years ago has been taken down . The forestry commision  have wasted no time re- planting trees .

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Lluest-wen Cairn

                             22/11/18 part 2 of 3 

 Nant Swyddau Round Barrow Lluest-wen (SN9605301417) . 

 Bronze age burial cairn 11 metres in diameter x 1 metre high . The top of the cairn has fallen in leaving a 3 metre crater . My last visit to the site was June 2013 before the Mynydd Bwllfa Wind Farm was established . I am keen to what has been done to the place .

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Castell Nos Rhondda Fach

The Rhondda also has the remains of two Medieval castles. The older is Castell Nos which is located at the head of the Rhondda Fach overlooking Maerdy. The only recorded evidence of Castle Nos is a mention by John Leland who stated that "Castelle Nose is but a high stony creg in the top of an hille". The castle comprises a scarp and ditch forming a raised platform and on the north face is a ruined drystone building. Due to its location and form it does not appear to be of Norman design and is therefore thought to have been built by the Welsh as a border defence; and must therefore date before 1247 when Richard de Clare seized Glynrhondda ' (wikipedia )

22/11/18 part 3 of 3 

link -    Castell Nos . Motte and Bailey design .     

Site of Maerdy Colliery . Last pit in the Rhondda

Lost In The Woods

The Birch Polypore grows on rotting Birch . It's a magnificent looking thing .

I didn't what this was at the time  . Once I compared my photo it didn't take me long to find what I was looking at .I  read a very informative  piece about the chance discovery of a frozen mummified  bronze age man in the Italian Alps in 1991 . An autopsy revealed whipworm in his stomach . Further examination revealed the 5,000 year old bronze age corpse now named  'Otzi' had a lump of Birch Polypore tucked away in a leather strap and pouch worn around his neck  . This tree fungus was used in a number of ways by our ancestors . It could be used as a laxative , antiseptic and tonic  .Perhaps it's most important value was to allow people carry fire when moving camp or setting out on a long hunt . Birch Polypore will smoulder for hours  .

Crug yr Afan

Crug yr Afan   Bwlch mountain pass  60 metres from the Rhondda Cynon Taff / Bridgend County line road sign . . (map ref: SS920954) . 

 I hiked over the Bwlch Mountain along  the edge  Craig Fawr before heading  west to Crug Yr Afan  ,  7km hike from my house . The Cairn is a variant of a Bell barrow . This type of cairn has a mound within a circular ditch  is more likely to be found in southern England or on the other side of the Bristol Channel on Exmoor . Not on the hills and mountains of  South Wales  .Crug y Afan may have been constructed by a nomadic race who migrated from central and southern Europen and across Britain during the early Bronze Age known as the beaker people around 4,000 years ago  .

The hike .

 The site was excavated in 1902. Cremated bones were found contained inside a cist (a box-like chamber) together with a grooved ogival dagger dating from the Early Bronze Age period (ca. 2500 to 1450 BC). In the 1960s pollen samples were obtained from the cairn which indicated that heather moorland and oak woodland were widespread in the region during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods.  (source : Prehistoric Wales )

Taking in the rays of the Autumn sun while  looking north at the majestic  twin peaks of Carn Du and Pen y Fan  .

                                          

                                             

Motorcycle tracks .Council , the forestry commision could make more to protect the site ..Moving the gate at the rear of the cairn 50 metres in any direction .

Steel bar attached to large lump of concrete in cyst . Trig point possibly . 

Crug yr Afan Cairn on a Cairn ?

Craig Fawr 

Mynydd-Y-Glog

Making the most of the Indian summer , Is summer gonna last til Xmas ? I visited Mynydd-y-Glog near deryn , yesterday (SN97100908) .This Cairn is constructed from large limestone rock and has a seven metre diameter making it the largest cairn I have seen in the Rhondda . it's original purpose may have been sepulchral . Epic trip !!!

Waun Leuci

                                                                        Waun Leuci (SN854215)

Bronze age stone is a half mile north from Maen Mawr  ,  half mile drive north towards Trecastle . Stone is visible from the car park across the road  500 metres up the slopes . No one is quite sure of what the purpose of this 2.5 metre stone was . One theory is the stone is aligned with Maen Mawr , one would need to carry a step ladder to prove this ..

Waun Leuci

Stony mound on Waun Leuci has all the characteristics of a Cairn to my untrained eye. (SN854215)

Bronze Age Site at Cerrig Doun

A few weeks ago we drove over to the Black Mountains  high up in the Tawe Valley on the western edge of Brecon , to visit a Bronze Age Complex at Cerrig Duon (sn85132066) 7 miles south of the town of  Trecastle .  Weather was grey overcast with  not even a hint of breeze . First thing I had to do was to get across the stream  which was easy enough , up a shallow band  . The standing stone (sn85132066) and  circle are  situated on a plateau at the foot of the Black Mountains . The place has a mystical vibe  a pall of fog/mist hung over the mountains for the duration magnified the buzz .  .Also here is a ceremonial avenue west of the stone circle (sn85142064) with fallen stones . Two small stones are in alignment with Maen Mawr (sn85132066) ..Mid Winter sun dial ? . ...Well worth the trip ...

 

Waen Lleuci

Cwm Cadlan Ring Cairns

Well preserved Bronze Age *ring cairn  on moorland at  Cwm Cadlan near Penderyn  .This  large monument is just over 15 metres in diameter from east to west  . The outer bank of stones is 2-3 metres wide   .

 Two more ring cairns are 200 metres south from here.  

 *'Ring cairns may have had a function that lay somewhere between that of the much older henges and the contemporary stone circles. The fact that in southeast Wales there are so few stone circles could be related to the fact that ring cairns were built there instead '.(wikipedia)

 Cwm Cadlan Ring Cairn 2 (grid ref SN98551095 ) 

 Ring cairn number 2 ,+ feathered friend    

Cwm Cadlan Ring Cairn 1 (grid ref SN98641101 )

Cadair Fawr Round Cairn

Cadair Fawr Round Cairn (grid ref SN97581260 )

Bronze Age Cairn in a spectacular setting on top of Cadair Fawr near Penderyn surrounded by carboniferous* limestone done up like a lunar landscape . The twin peaks of Corn Du and Pen y Fan are southwest in the not so far off distance . The iron age settlement to top of  Mynydd Cefn - y - Gyngon across the other side of the valley above Tower Colliery

  *Rocks formed in warm, shallow tropical seas teeming with life. The rock is made up of the shells and hard parts of millions of sea creatures between 363 and 325 million years ago.

Getting there I cycle over the Rhigos to Penderyn . Then along a country lane towards Cwm Cadlan .

It's a beautiful day . Sun is out  summer breeze whistles through branches shedding leaves . Then from nowhere something smacks into my chest .I look down . Below my left shoulder a large green and yellow dragonfly* with  huge compound eyes . It's mandibles gripping onto my shortsleeve . Seconds later it was gone..

Golden ringed Dragonfly . 

Largest species in the UK ..

Iron Age settlement at Mynydd Cefn-y-Gyngon

Hiking 7 miles to a Iron Age settlement at  Mynydd Cefn-y-Gyngon  (SN958035 ) in the searing June heat wasn't the smartest of moves on my part .

 Spread over a large area are the remains of what were once  Iron age round huts and roundhouse (  large oval structures    )   Long huts on the site are evidence the area was being occupied later on in the  dark ages  .
Taking 5 before I embarked on the return trek . Looking south east  from the top of  Mynydd Cefn-y-Gyngon  the Brecon Beacons rise up in unison dominating  the landscape . Below me on  Hirwaun common plumes of dust are being created by massive 300- tonne hydraulic excavating trucks at Tower Colliery .  

Maen Llia

Making the most of the beautiful May weekend weather I  cycled out to Brecon National Park  to  Maen Llia (grid ref SN924192)  . This massive stone  is set on moorland at the top of the Llia Valley  ,3.8 metres  - 12 ft high ,  2.8 metres - 9 ft wide  and 0.9 metres thick -  2 ft thick . 

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Yew Tree St Cynog’s Church Defynnog

 This Church was established in 1254 .

Ogham Stones were brought to Wales by Irish monks

  Ogham Stone  inscribed in Pictish*  stands in the Church porch . This stone was acquired from a  Roman Tomb .  

*Pictish is ancient Scots/Irish    .

Yew trees are spread across the Church grounds  . Yew groves were sacred to the Druids. . Branches were cut foliage was used in ceremonies ..

  

    (grid ref SN92532793 )

 The tree is growing next to a bronze age mound  .Sepulchral possibly  .The tree may have been  planted by the mound builders . Druids associated yew trees with death and rebirth  . For  them yew trees were  a source of serious Juju

Easter 2018

Weather . ..snow  is good , go outside sun is out  blue sky crunchy frozen snow underfoot..... Rain  not so good   muddy fields , dark clouds waiting to piss down  on you without warning . It's been raining constantly here for weeks . The weather forecast doesn't make pleasant reading either ...

  

.Last time out ..Rear axle on the bike snapped , pushed the bike up and over  hills for  a few miles .Back on the main road rang the the mrs for a lift home...

Sweating and freezing ..

Happy Easter ..

Spring Equinox Tuesday, 20 March

Misty Mountain Tops

Usually I walk up over there . Quads and bikes have made the track almost impassable .

Valley floor .Northeast towards the Rhigos Mountain .