UK 11 Wales Part 2
Sunday, 21 October 2018 4:06 pm
We are now in the north west of Wales at the 19th-century seaside resort town on Llandudno.
It’s a typical seaside town full of locals trying to soak up the last of the Summers warmth.
Just off the coast set into the Irish Sea is a massive wind farm.
This is only a small part of the hundreds of turbines.
It is neither of these that brought us here but something far more interesting......for us
Combining both our love of pre BC archaeological things and mining is the Great Orme Copper Mine that dates back some 4,000years.
Rediscovered only in 1995 when a carpark was proposed and some earthworks were taking place.
A series of tunnels were discovered then explored by mining engineers and archaeologists.
Bone and stone tools were found and with carbon dating put this firmly into the Bronze age 4,000 years ago.
So far over 5 miles of tunnels have been explored with exploration finding more every year.
At the mine the copper was
smelted and cast into axes, spear tips and other implements.
Bronze axe heads such as this have been found in Denmark and France and the copper analysed that it came from this exact mine.
This is the largest and oldest such mine and yet only 30% they believe has been to date re-excavated.
Inside is also the largest cavity dung underground by hand ( ie using bone and rock tools only )...impressive !
A few recent finds of bone and rock tools.
Camp E51: Ring Cairn Camp - a 2000 BC Ceremonial Monument
Cost: Nil - Wild Camp
Altitude: 391 metres
Today : 105 Kms.
UK Total : 7,993 Kms
Sunday 21st October 2018:
Sunday lunch at the Dragon Pub.
A great spread; Roast Pork, Crackling, Roast Spuds and Carrots, then that big pile of veggies.
It was then onto the Safeguard Centre, which is a working observatory, and the main source of information about near Earth objects in the UK.
The most significant natural danger to life on Earth comes from asteroids and comets.
A meteor with a 150metre+ diameter hits the earth about once every 100,000 years and is global threatening. Those between 50 and 100 metes hit about every 50 to 100 years.
Want to read more about the next major impact and how it will effect us
Then read this link....
https://spaceguardcentre.com/what-are-neos/near-earth-objects-impact-effects/
Monday 22nd October 2018:
Into the Brecon Beacons Nat Park in SE Wales.
First a 1.5km climb to the top of one of the summits of the Black Mountains.
This one is Hay Bluff
The truck is one of the small white dots in the middle right !
The roads here are tight.
Easy driving until another vehicle approaches.
Then it is a shuffle
The old Augustinian Llanthony priory built in 1230.
It stood for 300 years until King Henry VIII in 1538 abolished all such establishments.
Remember that 1968 song
“ Taking a trip back to Abergavenny. Hoping the weather is fine.
If you should see a red dog running free.
Well you know he is mine...
........”
Been there done that !
Camp E52: Old Roman Road Camp
Cost: Nil - Wild Camp
Altitude: 363 metres
Today : 126 Kms.
UK Total : 8,270 Kms
Tuesday 23rd October 2018:
From camp a walk ( 1.5kms) up an old roman road to a 10ft headstone , thought to be a burial stone for a Roman legionnaire.
It’s engraved ( in Latin)
“of Dervacus, son of Justrus. he lies here”
Further up the road ‘Maen Llia”, a large red sandstone slab erected some 4,000 years ago.
Its reason lost in time.
Maybe a trade route mark, a boundary, or an important place.
Something a little more modern.
Still in the Brecon Beacons Nat Park, the Red Kite Feeding Station near Llanddeusant .
At 3pm each day hundreds of Kites, Hawkes and Buzzards arrive for their regular feeding.
Impressing sight.
The final castle for the day is Carreg Cennen Castle.
It has been a ruin since 1462 and sits majestically on a cliff edge. Built initially in 1197, and changed hands frequently, until after the War of the Roses when 500 men were paid to destroy it.
Camp E53: Garn Goch Iron Age Fort Carpark
Cost: Nil - Wild Camp
Altitude: 176metres
Today : 61 Kms.
UK Total : 8,331 Kms
Garn Goch Iron Age Fort
2,000 years ago several hundred people lived in this valley and built two forts to protect themselves.
In 70 AD the Roman military arrived and it would have fort hard to retain their valley.
Inevitably the Roman conquest was completed and the inhabitants became part of the new imperial province of Britannia or Roman Britain. This lasted for the most part of the next 300 hundred years.
via a loop south of London to the White Cliffs.
Camp E54: Swineford Picnic Site outside Bath
Cost: Nil - Wild Camp
Altitude: 38metres
Today : 194 Kms.
UK Total : 8,525 Kms