It has been a swelteringly hot day today and the beach here is still full of people enjoying this brief summer spell. A perfect day for drying the towels which unfortunately were still in the washing machine when I got home because Peter forgot to hang them out.
The meeting point for today's walk was in a large lay-by next to the main road that comes in over the mountains. There a young chap was carving wooden sculptures with his chainsaw. I was quite taken with the flying owl below but even at the lowered price of £50 it was more than I would spend on a garden ornament.
We left some of the cars in the lay-by and continued on rough tracks up over the hills till we reached the farm on whose lands sits Castell Bwa-Drain (Thorn Arch Castle) an iron age camp overlooking the Rheidol Valley.
After passing through the farm yard and saying hello to assorted free roaming pet goats and sheep we walked through fields past a ruined farmhouse. Or rather not past as some of the group like to go inside and explore these old buildings. The ruin was surrounded by tall trees that once upon a time would have been a beech hedge surrounding the farmhouse garden.
One reason that we take a long time on our walks is that we tend to stop and discuss the plants we see. Today was no exception as we walked through swathes of harebells and the tiny yellow stars of tormentil. A purple flower had us confused with four of us each making a different guess as to its identity. Resorting to technology ie apps on phones we found that common dead nettle, woundwort, betony and a labiate in general are all names for that wild flower. So we were all correct.
The iron age hill fort (800BC - AD 74) sits at 1,000 ft above sea level but luckily for those of the group with dodgy knees or ankles we only had to climb about 100 of those feet to reach the grass covered ramparts.
The far side of the fort would have been easily defended as it is an almost vertical drop down to the Rheidol Valley.
We sat above the drop to eat our lunch and enjoy the far reaching views. On the horizon we could just make out the monument, built in the 1850's to honour the Duke of Wellington, which sits on top of Pen Dinas another iron age hill fort. (Reminiscent of the lighting of the beacons in LOTR?) Only 8 1/2 miles as the crow flies but an awful lot more once you take into account the hills and valleys.
Another view into Cwm Rheidol with the track for the steam railway visible along the lower wooded slopes on the far side of the valley.
We hadn't walked far to get to the hill fort so once we made our way back to the farm we continued eastwards along the ridge and then through more wildflower covered slopes until we reached the ruins of what Suzanne who lives locally calls the granite cottage.
All that was left of the structure were foundations constructed from blocks of white granite and the trees that marked the garden boundary.
Just beyond we could see the top of the gorge with a waterfall plummeting over the side and the hill fort in the distance.
Then back through the farm once more before heading for home.
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