Mountains Hills and Valleys

Pen Y Fan

                                      

Corn Du  

Corn Du Winter Solstice 2019

Corn Du the final push ...breathless  ..

Winter Solstice 2019

Corn Du Cairn (SO00752133)  

Getting to  the top of Corn Du in the Brecon Beacons has been on the to do list for a while .Finally got round to it this week . Took the train to Merthyr  and T4 bus from there to Storey Arms , 

arriving 9.45 .It's a lovely December morning the sun is threatening to make an appearance .  A few people were mulling around  the car park . I walk up to a wooden gate go across the footbridge over the river  . On the other side  Corn Du comes into view the summit is covered in snow . The uphill hike isn't that difficult , adrenaline  ? . I get to the the turning off point on my map Bwlch Duwynt (windy pass)  a lot quicker than I anticipated .  Pausing  for a drink and taking in the spectacular view of the Neuadd Valley ahead  over  snow covered peaks , below me  down in the lush green fields  fog hangs listless over the top's of  trees .

The summit of Corn Du is 500 metres away East to my left  . 

I walk up the a well trodden path that disappears under thick ice . The summit is 50 metres away there's a bit of climbing up and over large slabs of old red sandstone that have been here since the Devonian period 419.2 million years ago . Slippery  than an ice rink . Camera in one hand holding on with  the other  ..

  The Bronze Age Cairn is set on the eastern edge in a spectacular setting .The cairn has a 12 metre diameter . An excavation in 1978 revealed the remains of complex  cyst . Excavated again in 1991 a bronze brooch and spearhead were found inside the chamber  . 

Cairns were used by the living to carry out rituals .Mountains were revered by the ancients  99% of the  cairns I have visited  in the Rhondda uplands are in full view of Corn Du  / Pen Y Fan . 

What a day ..   

...for Rhian