We're heading out into the back of beyond to do a bit of Bronze Age Cairn Bagging at Y Gamriw.
There are plenty of routes up this 604m Cambrian Mountain which, I believe translates roughly as 'The Step hill' (Welsh speakers will correct me) not least from glorious Caban Coch reservoir, Cwm Elan or in the other direction from Llanwrthyl.
But we chose to head up from the south west, cutting out the time it would take to drive all the way around it to the other routes.
We parked near the pretty and remote ‘Little Pudding Cottage’. With a name and location like this, it’s the perfect candidate for a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, or a Hammer horror film.
No doubt it's former Welsh name would have been something like Bwythyn Ger y Gors – Cottage by the Bog. The farm next door is simply called – Gors Wen – white bog.
Rhos Saith Maen - Seven Stone Moor, is the forboding but romantic name of the large wet Molinia dominated expanse to cross that runs to the bottom of Y Gamriw.
We set out across the lunar landscape of the bleached purple moor grass. Molinia is incredibly successful and loves to take over what once were likely moss rich peatbogs and flower rich rhos pastures, particular to Wales. Molinia is not grazed by sheep, they find it unpalatable, so these days it's in the ascendancy on our mountains, smothering much in its path. It's the subject of much discussion about the value to mountain habitats of having cows and horses grazing alongside sheep. For some years on our commons, it has been subject to burning programmes, but burning is no longer set out as a management technique
It was a gorgeous February day. The sky was that particular shade of Cambrian blue - unique to this area, with occasional large fluffy white clouds sauntering through. It's a particular light that if on a colour wheel would demonstrate why it complements the red tones of winter and the green of summer, so perfectly.
Y Gamriw was sticking out in front of us, a lazy old ridge running from Abergwesyn in the west and descending east towards Llanwrthwl and the River Wye. Like other mountains, it has bracken on the lower slopes before reaching that strong linear boundary separating it from the bilberry and moss hummocks that grow above. Stark, but not unattractive.
We followed the sheep path over the wet marshland – it had been dry for a while, but on the OS Map the route skirts all the way around if it's too wet to attempt it.
After the quadriceps work out, we reached the lower slopes and started to head up on a well trodden path. There were increasing numbers of stones about and, as we got higher we could see all the way over to Drygan Fawr in the west. It is the third highest peak in the Cambrian Mountains, and easily identifiable by its modern beehive cairns on top. Read about our walk up Drygarn Fawr here.
As we reached the plateau, we could suddenly see a beautiful wet bog, emerald green with clumps of spaghnum moss and the water lying deep azure over the top of it – just like those pictures of planet earth from space. We turned right, heading east to get to the summit and the cairns that we had come to see.
There really is something about Bronze Age Cairns (I am by no means an officianado but you can read about other Cambrian Mountain Bronze Age Cairns we've visited here ) But the fact that our ancestors built these on inhospitable hill tops, somewhere between 2,500 to 800BC, marking the history of funerals, rights and rituals, is extraordinary. Old habits die hard, we still mimic these rituals today, but now it's scattering ashes, rather than building stone cairns.
Life was pretty good in the Bronze Age. The weather was warmer than now, the population steadily increased and communities lived in wattle and daub villages on what we would describe as marginal land with cracking views.
On Y Gamriw, there are 3 burial cairns and a shelter on the summit and surrounding summits. This stone is grey, weathered, lichen covered. Permanent markers of what has been her for thousands of years, even where the structures are crumbling and strewn on the ground.
Sat down over cheese and chutney sandwiches, we can see right through to Cwm Elan and way beyond in the north. In one of Robert Macfarlane’s books, a Welsh farmer refers to it as MAMBA country: Miles and Miles of Bugger All.
Featureless it may be, but it’s not dead. Here, there are a lot of lichens and good mosses and elsewhere there are rare bits of unique habitat, like Welsh Fridd, although much of it under pressure. You only have to head slightly lower to the SSSIs in the Elan Valley to see some fantastic habitats in decent nick thanks to good husbandry.
Heading back down the hill, the pleasing post hill-walk buzz sets in. I've seen a load of relics from our ancestors, some huge views, but not a single soul.
Then again, they may all be lying murdered in Little Pudding Cottage.
Starting point: SN94849 59225
Terrain: Quite tough at times on the Molinia, good on the mountain.
Distance up to 5 miles, depending on route. Allow 3-4 hours.
Y Gamriw was recommended to me by Insta friend @Johnwilsonclark, who enjoys getting off the beaten track and seeking these landscapes out as much as we do. He also took much better pictures of it than I did, so check out his feed.
