Sunday 25 September 2011

Ents and Circles on a blustery day

Wet and windy in not so sunny Bristol but the forecast for mid Wales actually doesn't look too bad. Wales it is then and in particular the Pen y Beacon ( Blaen Digedi) circle which is just south of Hay on Wye. This is actually a 2 hour drive for us so we were taking a bit of a risk especially as we wanted to climb the Hay Bluff escarpment and on to Lord Hereford's Knob.

The circle is easy to find. Right by the car park in fact. There isn't however a lot of it left and it was only relatively recently classified as a circle. For many years it was considered a burial site.


 Only one stone now stands proud, the others are  much smaller and well hidden in the  ground. 








 The main stone has been carved by the Ordinance Survey ( why???) but just below the trig mark is what are believed to be cup marks which are very rare in this area.









Yes the car park is that close!







 
As you can see the sun is out but the wind was biting and by the time we'd reached the top of the Bluff, I'd had enough. Lord Hereford's Knob could wait for another day. Instead we headed down into the wooded valley. Although the paths were marked on the map, this proved to be somewhat challenging with missing sign posts and stiles festooned with barbed wire ( nice!) Still we persevered and were rewarded by some magnificent scenery, soaring red kites, bubbling brooks, some spectacular fungus growths and of course.....



.....the Ent. Isn't he magnificent?















ps - If anyone is up the Hay Bluff and finds a small black pearl earring - it's mine!
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