Bwlch y Ddeufaen, Conwy Valley

Well, this one is a couple of weeks old. Just after Christmas, while the internet was out and during a time when the snow was low over the mountains, we decided to take the children up the hill to Bwlch y Ddeufaen (the pass of the two stones), in the hope of finding enough snow for them to play with. It's a tricky business getting up there with the wrong car. Too much snow and you can't drive up, not enough, and there's no fun snow to play with. Tractors had no problems and four wheel drives were fine, but our car is neither. Lots of other people had had the same idea, so parking was tough, and we didn't get to walk off to some of the more amazing sights up there - the two standing stones towards the west that the pass is named for, or the burial chambers and standing stones to the east. Instead we just had fun walking on the part-melted and refrozen snow.

In good weather access is no problem, with a small gravel carpark at the west end of the road for those who want to cross the pass and see the two big standing stones, and a wide verge for parking at the east end if you want to go towards the burial chambers, Maen y Bardd and, as I've heard it referred to, the witch's or bitch's kennel, and a few more standing stones. A Roman road crosses the pass too, and I believe there are remains of mediaeval hut platforms. There's a very low stone circle off to the south side of the road, as well, so this place is packed with history. People have been using the pass for thousands of years, from the neolithic inhabitants, through the Romans and the mediaeval era, drovers in more recent times, and nowadays mountain bikers, walkers, and the majestic span of electricity pylons which also use this natural gap in the mountains. There was a brief proposal to run the A55 Expressway through this pass, so complain as people may about the pylons, they can be grateful the place hasn't been devastated by a three lane highway.

Exploring the standing stones and burial chambers (through this blog - I've been many, many times before, because this beautiful place is right in home territory for me) will have to wait for better weather or a time without children, but it was still pretty up there for the short walk that we managed.

First little dodgy bit is driving down the hill to Roman Bridge, but we didn't crash. I'm not sure why it's known as Roman Bridge, because the bridge isn't Roman. (In the wall beneath the hedge on the right down here is a stone shaped just like the sole of a shoe, which tends to be kept clear so you can see it.)

Up near Cae Coch (a house, now a holiday cottage) where the road turns sharp left towards the Bwlch and the track goes sharp right along the Roman road towards the burial chambers. There's a little parking here at the edge of the road. The children who lived here used to walk to school every day. I suppose it's not so far down the Roman road, but still, it's rather extreme.

The remains of a building. So often up here where you see a small stand of trees a house or ruin is associated with them. If I had a house this high up I'd plant some trees round it too.

Looking back towards Pen-y-Gaer (left, site of a hill fort) and Pen-y-Gadair (right), my home mountains.

On up the road, where the snow was very icy, melted a little and refrozen so there was a hard carapace over everything. The wheel tracks were more treacherous than the snow in most places.

Snow, footprints, ruin, wall, mountains.

They like doing this to the footpath signs around here.

Dog vs Snow.

A pretty view of Pen-y-Gaer and the valley beyond.

I'm not sure what this peak is, but it's at the end of Tal-y-Fan.

Sheep footprints, perhaps?

As the light starts to go it's time to head home.

And we found a small traffic jam on the road as everyone else headed home too...