A 10 mile walk through upper part of the Ceiriog valley and its surrounding hills, encountering some very bad-tempered signage and some fascinating stones.
Date walked: 10th May 2017
Distance: around 10 miles
Map used: OS Explorer 255 Llangollen and Berwyn
Guide to walks: Walks around the Berwyn Mountains and the Ceiriog valley by David Berry
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Bob and I were staying at The Hand at Llanarmon – a most agreeable place in all respects. Breakfast was top-notch.
Having managed yesterdays little walk without any problems from my cartilage-torn left knee we gave ourselves a more ambitious hike for the day with plans to take in a series of waterfalls in a gorge above the village. It was a beautiful morning and promised to be a hot day, so having lathered on some sun barrier cream we set off from the pub along a road that just serves the surrounding farms.
Always a good idea to check the map before starting out
I had the unpleasant experience early on of being reminded that this isolated place benefited from Superfast broadband whilst we, just 5 miles from the M4 in South-Wast Wales, are left with copper wires and rubbish speeds (and will remain so until at least the end of the year according to my latest letter from one of the Welsh Governments officials).
We have one of these just 100 yards away from our house but they are not connecting us
It was some comfort that the local sheep were staging a sit down protest at this basic denial of my Human Rights (I reckon Articles 3 and 7 apply).
They might look placid but they are very, very angry
We passed a sign nailed to a tree that was confusing….
Is this an invitation to watch “R” loving “S” ? Or to witness a proposal? Or what?
… and one that was very clear if a bit shouty.
Non public persons driving cars that are not 4×4’s are welcome?
We thought we’d leave the road for a bit and cross the river Ceiriog to take a footpath…
… but just after crossing the bridge a young farmer in his Land Rover stopped to advise us that the footpath had been closed. He was perfectly friendly and we stopped and chatted about the price of organic lambs as you do. He lived in the rather fine property called Dolwen that we could see across the field.
The road climbed gently, reaching an abandoned chapel at Pentre.
Established 1875
On the perimeter wall of the chapel was a sign for nearby self-catering accommodation ….
…..and a post box from the reign of King George V.
Put up between 1910 and 1936
Lurking in the little lane that forks off here was a BT Openreach van, bringing Superfast broadband to these isolated sheep farmers. (Look, if you have had enough winging from me about this why not start a petition to get us decent broadband:’ “Speed up NP16 6PH”)
I should be happy for them, but I’m not.
The road came to an end about half a mile after Pentre, and we turned up a steep track, serving the property called Swch-cae-rhiw, where the owners, in typical Welsh fashion, had loose barking dogs and a field with several wrecks of old cars.
We “hello’d” the owner cheerfully who reciprocated by shouting at the dogs to leave us be.
This stone track was edged, unusually, with some scraggy Scots pines….
Well, I think that they are Scots pines at any road
… which, though providing us with little shade, framed the view nicely of the gorge where the waterfalls lay.
We left the track and continued to climb up the steep hillside.
By the time that the ground was levelling off we realised that we must have missed the path for the waterfalls (to be fair to us it is not shown on the map). We couldn’t face going back so thought we might find a track to them further on.
We were on open moorland, now, a landscape of reedy grasses,…
…heather and occasional isolated trees.
We did make an attempt to find the path that would have joined ours from the waterfall walk, but the lumpy, bumpy and somewhat squelchy terrain defeated us. We retreated to a footbridge over the Ceiriog to have a break and a bite to eat.
Having crossed the Ceiriog we turned sharp right and had a mile or so on a gently rising track before encountering what proved to be an onslaught of rather bad-tempered signs.
We looked around and could see no evidence that we were being watched
This sign seems to be the harbinger for an estate where the landlord not only wishes to intimidate, but also wishes us to know what properties belong to him (this hostility is very likely to be from a man). We passed several houses where all the woodwork was painted a Farrow and Ball blue.
In between these, were more signs that only the near-blind could not fail to notice.
Some of the houses were quite modest….
… others rather substantial….
… but all of them gave off a strong whiff of money being spent on them.
A study of the map suggested that the focus for all this aggression and assertiveness could be Plas Nantyr – a house out of sight to us but where we could hear and see large earth-moving equipment tearing down some walls. It was only in writing this up that I was able to confirm my suspicions. In fact this estate was once owned by the C14th revolutionary Owain Glyndwr and had been offered for sale 5 years ago for £5.75 million. Whoever bought it clearly had money to spare.
From the driveway of the estate our track was upgraded to a proper road that descended gently to a junction with a chapel on the corner.
A be-suited gentleman came out to greet us, believing that we were his late viewers. He took it well that we were not and was quite happy for us to have a butchers. Inside was a perfectly preserved (if somewhat damp) interior of stunning simplicity.
“WATCH” * “PLEASE PRAY”
I wondered when Pastor David G Owens last sermon had been delivered.
I was amazed that the diocese was putting this place on the market without even bothering to obtain outline planning permission for its rehabilitation. With a ball park figure of around £70,000 it seemed like an amazing bargain. But with property, as you know, all is not necessarily what it seems.
From the chapel our path turned right, crossing the little River Teirw and joining the Upper Ceiriog Way (out of interest Offa’s Dyke Path also passes very close to here; I will be back). According to a file I found on the web, we were now travelling on ‘Sarn Sws’ (‘The Kissing Way’) – an ancient road that used to run from Caersws through to Chester.
We were greeted by a resurgence of signing.
They really don’t like off-roaders in this neck of the woods
At first our track climbed steeply on bedrock.
I imagined that this must have been an old cart track, though if so any load would need to have been well tied down.
More likely, perhaps, an ancient Drovers road.
Then a perforated standing stone caught my eye and my imagination was taken up with the role of the holes in the stone.
First thoughts were about a line of fencing – perhaps they might have been used for straining wire?
Then, by a clump of gorse, another similar stone had three holes, not aligned in any way with the first.
Then it all got quite weird, with stones appearing in piles on the tops of fence posts.
Our gorse lined path levelled off somewhat ….
but the mystery of the stones continued.
Another megalith appeared with four holes drilled through…..
…. and then several more.
They clearly had a relationship to this track but I could not figure out what. These were very heavy objects – it seemed inconceivable to me that they were just fence posts. Boundary markers? If anyone knows do tell.
And what was going on with these obviously recently piled up stones on some of the wooden fence posts?
Is this art or just a walkers whim?
Cutting through these speculations, we started to encounter more anti-off -roader signs – this time from the police.
With so many staples, not so easily removed!
Some of these were accompanied by modern concrete megaliths.
At Rhyd Caledwynt we had a fine view over to the left of the eponymous valley.
We checked our map – our path continued south, now passing an occasional property…
… and still accompanied by these mysterious standing stones.
We were descending now into the Ceiriog valley, the track now serving enough properties to warrant a metalled surface. Coming up the hill we were greeted by a pack of well-behaved dogs and their cheerful owner.
The next property boasted a new tennis court which felt somewhat incongruous in the landscape.
Apologies; you’ve seen very little of Bob on this walk
And then, suddenly, we had a wonderful view of Llanarmon. And in time for a pre-dinner snooze. What a stimulating day.
Post scripts
- You haven’t heard anything about my knee cos it didn’t give me any trouble. Which was a little disconcerting as I was about to have an arthroscopy
- We did play some crib but were fairly evenly balanced so its was not worth mentioning.
- Our drinks bill for the two days was around £100. Very modest.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!
A quick look at Rightmove will show there are dozens of chapels for sale all over Wales, sometimes with planning permission for use as a home but often not. Can’t help with the holey stones, I’m afraid. There are similar ones in the Lakes but they are generally rather obvious gateways and the holes once supported wooden, horizontal poles. Dave p.s. You’ll be relieved to hear, and pleased, that I have superfast broadband.
Yes, I regularly come across abandoned chapels on my Welsh walks. John’s link for the holes is interesting. Am giddy with pleasure about your broadband.
Nice photos though I notice that you maintained your penchant for photographing rears with the shot of the dog owner. And ever-ready to assist with your questions, I offer you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_cannon. Easier than typing my own explanation (and superfaster too).
Oddly I used to have BT Infinity 2 which should have delivered around 70Mbps but usually only got a miserly 30-40. So I saved some money with a downgrade to BT Infinity 1 which consistently delivers 50Mbps with a guaranteed minimum of 45. Through the same fibre optic things. So, you see, slower can sometimes be faster.
What an interesting link. Thank you. I had never heard of rock cannons. It does seem possible, but it doesn’t make entire sense that all those I passed were standing up. So pleased for you about your broadband speeds. The advantage of living in an urban environment?
Thanks to the link to the stone cannons article, John… quite fascinating!!!!
Thanks Kevin. I think Charles was wondering whether my “answer” applied to the “standing stones”. There are quite a few references on the interwebs to them; I chose the simplest. There are cannon flat on the ground, cannon on slopes – where the holes may be vertical-ish or near horizontal – and, occasionally, cannon in upright stones, when the holes will be drilled slightly downwards. Even with upright cannons, there were ways to make fuses between the holes if people wanted to. It’s surprising what you can do with goose fat and superfast broadband! 🙂
I wish I had looked more closely at the holes. But why have all these cannon no where near any significant population?
Cannon tended to be near quarries (where there was a supply of “black powder”). I guess there was also a danger element from that “black powder”. I doubt you’d want explosives in the stone at Veddw. Indeed the prevalence of superfast broadband in north Wales meant that video footage of the cannon being set off could be transmitted to habitations very quickly.
There seem to have been several cannon underground in mines where the sound would reverberate before escaping in what appears to have been an amplified manner audible for miles around. I don’t know if all these vertical stones you encountered were rock cannon but there are examples of vertical ones and I cannot think of any alternative reason for those holes. I may be wrong but at least I’m wromantic. (Crafty literary allusion there)
Ta for the your kind wishes.
My intention for my 62nd year is to walk with my head up.more than a metaphor!
Good plan!
My band is neither broad nor fast. I like the protesting sheep.
We don’t have “Offroad Vehicals” in NZ – is this Welsh for Vehicles? I know its pedantry but I hate troll spelling.
Excellent. It’s been a while since someone picked me up on a spelling. It will be corrected!
Yes it was a misspelt angry sign – in NZ it would be splattered with shotgun pellets so at least you are safer in that beautiful countryside!
I quite like the idea of someone blasting the signs with a shotgun. Though I do know off-roaders can be a menace.
Charles, the “Vehicals” misspelling was not your fault… it is on one of the mean old signs!! We have broadband out in our lake area, btw…
Oh, thanks Kevin. I withdraw my offer to go and correct the spelling, then. Thanks for the smug comment about broadband, too.
The landowner who owns the properties with the matching woodwork and leaves intimidating signs is not in fact, a man. It is one of the John Moores decendants who inherited part of the Littlewoods empire. A deeply unpleasant individual who is absolute proof that money does not buy happiness merely an enormous sense of entitlement.
Thnaks for the comment; I shall have to go back to the post to see what I was on about!