The CAA’s 2022 programme of Walks and Talks begins in March with a moorland walk in the Western Brecon Beacons led by our Hon Secretary Heather James. Details of this and of other walks in April and May are given below; further walks will be added soon.
These walks must be pre-booked with the organiser who will tell you the meeting point and time so that numbers attending will be known in advance, and we can ensure compliance with any Covid regulations. There will be no charge for these basic field events and travel will be by private cars.
Saturday 12th March, pm
Moorland Walk in the Western Brecon Beacons, south of the Usk Reservoir.
Leader Heather James.
We follow the course of the Usk and cross near the confluence with the Nant Tarw heading eastwards to the two small stone circles and outliers. We will then head back westwards noting ruined ‘long-huts’ en route to the ford on the Afon Llechach and find parts of the eastern and southern banks of the very large Roman Marching Camp of Arhosfa’r Garreg-Lwyd and then onto the cross mountain road to walk back to the car park. A good introduction to the area of the walk can be found in D. Leighton 2012, The Western Brecon Beacons: The Archaeology of Mynydd Du and Fforest Fawr, RCAHMW.
Stout footwear for some rough ground and crossing small streams, waterproofs, warm clothing and a hot drink essential.
Map: OS Landranger 160 Brecon Beacons/Bannau Brycheiniog., or OS 1:25000 Outdoor Leisure Map 12.
Duration: a walk of about 3 hours long and some 4 km.
Please book via h.james443@gmail.com, or 01267 231793 or by text on 07933762970.
Saturday 9th April, pm
Explore Halkyn Mountain: Hillforts and Leadworking
Leader Fiona Gale
The walk will include a visit to Moel y Gaer, Rhosesmor, Hillfort, excavated in the 1970s prior to the building of a reservoir and will then include parts of the extensive lead mining areas of Halkyn Mountain, an open common area with remains not only of lead shafts but many of the other features of lead mining in the 18th and 19th centuries.
This will be walking on rough grassland with some hill walking although as hillforts go Moel y Gaer Rhosesmor is very accessible.
Duration: about 2.5 hours
Please book via fionaegale@hotmail.co.uk when joining instructions will be given.
Photograph © Mick Sharp
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Saturday 23rd April, pm
Moorland Walk above Harlech visiting Stone Circles on Moel Goedog
Leader Frances Lynch
Moorland walk above Harlech, following part of the Bronze Age trackway to the Stone Circles on the slopes of Moel Goedog. We will start the walk from where the trackway diverges from the modern road. We will look at the two complementarily sited Stone Circles (one excavated, the other not) which form the climax to the group of Standing Stones alongside the trackway from the coast to the mountains, and then go down the hill to visit the Iron Age and Medieval settlement at Erw Wen, excavated by Richard Kelly in the 1980s. Going up to the hillfort on the summit of Moel Goedog is optional, and on the way back down we can look at a number of other sites and monuments alongside the trackway around the Rhiwgoch crossroads.
Clothing: Stout footwear and warm clothes . It is exposed on these slopes whatever the weather forecast. Bring a drink.
Map: OS Landranger 124 Porthmadog & Dolgellau or OS Explorer 1:25000 OL 18 Harlech, Porthmadog & Y Bala
Duration: about 3 hours
Please book via flynchllewellyn@gmail.com or 01248 364865.
Saturday 21st May, pm
Mynydd Dinas, Pembrokeshire
Leader Rhiannon Comeau
Mynydd Dinas provides an excellent vantage point from which to consider the medieval landscape of North Pembrokeshire, in an area where Welsh social traditions survived the Anglo-Norman invasions – this is not part of ‘Little England beyond Wales’. The walk will take us from the coastal plain, through a medieval hamlet (tref/trefgordd), up to Carn Enoc on the top of Mynydd Dinas and back again. Prehistory will not be forgotten. An overview of the locality’s archaeology and history (R. Comeau: ‘Cytir and Crosses’) can be found in Archaeologia Cambrensis 158 (2009).
Distance, about 3-4 miles, some of it steeply uphill and across rough ground. Take waterproofs, walking boots, and water.
Map: OS Explorer 1:25000 OL35 North Pembrokeshire/ Gogledd Sir Benfro, or OS Landranger 145, Cardigan & Mynydd Preseli/ Aberteifi a Mynydd Preseli.
Duration: about 3 hours.
Please book via rhiannoncomeau@gmail.com