But where is it, this King Arthur’s Stone? Well hidden in the mist on top of Cefn Bryn, the backbone of the Gower Peninsula.
The stone, a well known local landmark, forms the roof of a neolithic burial chamber and was originally brought here by melting ice.Continue reading
Continuing up the hill on my walk this week we found the second Cairnholy chambered tomb site. There are not so many standing stones arranged around this burial chamber but the profile of it against the cloudy sky made for a strong composition.
Cairnholy 2
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Spot the pirate in this final image from my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers. It seems Gower Heritage Centre had a pirate thing going on that day as was apparent from the staff costumes and various other piratical objects around the place once we had been served with our teas and coffees etc. and sat down in the cafe.
It was a great walk – the weather stayed more or less fine for us and I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love Three Cliffs Bay. By this time we will have done the next Taste of Gower walk at Penclawdd on North Gower and I will be posting about that in two three weeks time.
Gower Heritage Centre
Taste of Gower Heritage Centre Walk Soundscape
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My walk this week is another Taste of Gower walk organised by Steve Lancey for the Gower Landscapes Partnership. This time we set off from the Gower Heritage Centre at Parkmill and of course returned there for tea and bite to eat later on. Steve worked hard to get everyone to sign the register and then we set off up the road to Cwm Green and the “Giant’s Grave”. This is a neolithic chambered tomb which Helen and Charlotte, from Gower Unearthed, told us all about – fascinating stuff about which you can find out more here.
The cwm was busy with many scout troops camping but from here some of the group returned to the Heritage Centre while others of us carried on through the woods behind Parc Le Breos House.
Gower Heritage Centre
My walk this week revealed some hidden gems on the Gower Peninsula. This first shot of bramble blossom may be very common and out in the open but that makes it no less of a gem (I love these flowers and their fruit later in the year). Other aspects of this walk were definitely hidden – whether they are gems or not is up to you to decide but I recommend a visit rather than judging by my photos.
bramble blossom
We had to battle through heavy bracken to reach the Pen y Grug ancient burial chamber and Gower Unearthed presented it well along with and another nearby site, that of an old church now well and truly overgrown. The Pen y Grug page linked to above also advertises a good iPhone app for finding ancient sites like these around the world – the Megalithic Portal, Pocket Guide to Megaliths, check it out.
The other hidden gem for today is well know to locals but may be less so to others. Three Cliffs Bay was the turning point for our short walk and we had some great views down to it from above.
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Our stay in Scotland was not all sunshine and sunsets. It was pretty damp the day we went to Cairnholy, but not enough to put us off the visit and, in fact, the weather probably made the experience more enjoyable.
The atmosphere in the misty hills of Galloway in SW Scotland and the fact that we were the only people there made it me feel much closer to those that had originally constructed these neolithic burial monuments.
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A few weeks ago I was asked if I would be interested in writing a regular article about my walks in the Swansea and South Wales area for the online version of the South Wales Evening Post. So, with the interests of StillWalks in mind and what they are all about, I will be posting up my sixth article today – My Walk this Week – from Parc-Le-Breos House.
I have recently been planning StillWalks Sights and Sounds Tag Along Days and this has necessitated exploring possible walk routes in suitable places. This not only serves the intended purpose of setting up these events / workshops, but also provides me with good material for the Evening Post article.
My first exploration was to Parc-Le-Breos House. The reason for selecting this as a starting point is the number of already planned walks that start from the Bed and Breakfast and include some beautiful areas on the Gower Peninsula. Also, there is the option for refreshments and facilities and the use of a room for review of photography and sound clips produced on the Tag Along walk.
Below are a couple of the photos I got on my recce walk. I will talk more about this and post more photos over the next couple of days and a selection of the images are available at the StillWalks Photography website on PhotoShelter.
Giant’s Grave, Green Cwm
Flowers along the wayside
Long Oaks Woodland at Parc-le-Breos