Hopefully the cloud will high when you are at GZ and you will be able to enjoy the great views to the north and south. Tryfan & Snowdon stand out most clearly to the south and Elidir Fawr & The Rivals to the west. Close by to the north is Foel Meirch and around 5 mies further on is Drosgl and the two craggy Bera Mawr & Bera Bach summits. To the east is the lovely ridge walk to Carnedd Llewelyn, less than 70 feet higher, from which stretches the high undulating plateau to the only trig point on the range on Foel Fras.
Carnedd (which is Welsh for ‘cairn’) Dafydd was obviously named after a Welsh ‘David’ but which Dafydd is not certain. Apparently Llewelyn the Great (1194 - 1240) had an observation post on the slightly higher mountain to the east and his son and successor, the first Prince of Wales, was named Dafydd ap Llywelyn (1212 - 46). Both these Princes died peacefully, although the latter’s death was sudden and unexpected.
But the the last two Welsh princes were also David & Llewelyn so one can’t be sure. Llewelyn ap Gruffydd (1223 – 82) and his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd (1238 – 83) were both killed horribly by the English. The latter was captured early in 1283 and dragged by horses through the streets of Shrewsbury, where he was hung, drawn and quartered before parts of his corpse were distributed throughout England.
Even at 3425 feet (1044 metres) above sea level, Carnedd Dafydd's summit can be reached easily by strolling across the wide ridge from its slightly higher partner Carnedd Llewellyn or the high plateau from Pen yr Ole Wen, providing the weather is fine. In winter or in bad weather it is a much more serious undertaking. If you decide to climb it via Foel Meirch then you've got an 800 feet (250m) pull up its north ridge.
Its summit is graced by a small cairn and a wind shelter which seems to have been fashioned from a much larger original cairn.
Just 10 paces from the summit shelter in the direction of Carnedd Llewelyn is a flat rock “seat” which has much crustose green lichen (Rhizocarpon geographicum) on top. The cache is a small red (camo’d green) plastic screw-capped container under this rock and, when set it contained a pencil, small log book and a glass diamond that might help cachers shake the log out of the container. It is unlikely to be findable in winter due to snow cover.
I'm very grateful to the Ymddiriedolaeth Genedlaethol/National Trust for giving permission for this geocache to be placed and listed on the site.
Chuffed that fellow Silhillian Liz - aka Harry the Furry Squid - got the FTF on this cache
Many congratulations and a Happy New Year!
A HUGE THANK YOU TO munroist3935 FOR PUTTING A NEW BOX IN PLACE IN JUNE 2017 AFTER THE OLD ONE SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN TRASHED, SO SAVING ME A LONG TRIP AND BIG CLIMB. HOPE THIS ONE ENJOYS BETTER LUCK.
NO, IT DIDN'T AND I'M HAVING TO WRITE ANOTHER HUGE THANK YOU, THIS TIME TO sam539 WHO KINDLY PUT A NEW BOX INTO THE ONLY HIDE A YEAR LATER (JUNE 2018). MUCH APPRECIATED. IF IT GOES MISSING QUICKLY AGAIN I'LL ARCHIVE THIS ONE OR POSSIBLY TRY AND FIND A NEW HIDE ON MY NEXT VISIT.