Mynydd Llanybydder
Cattle from West Cardiganshire & North Pembrokeshire bound for Llandovery were driven through Newcastle Emlyn before breaking off the main road at Llandysul to make their way across Mynydd Llanybyther.
We started at Blaencwm, the ex-Drovers' Arms (SN 466391), where, the owner told us, the kitchen used to be a cellar (#1). Thereafter the walk into Llanllwni was unremarkable except for one feature: the hedge on the right (#2) which reeked of old age and looked solid enough to walk along the top of.
At the top of the village of Llanllwni the road splits in two: left to High Street, right to the wilderness of the Mynydd. (The pink building at the fork looks like an old tollhouse, but it never was; there was one at “The Triangle”: on the left just before you drop down into the village. That would have caught all travellers except drovers on their way up the mountain. We were amused to see lots of little toll-avoidance paths connecting the village road to the mountain road just to the east of the fork and the toll. One is called “Park Lane” (#3).
Anyway, we fork right and up the gentle slope of Mynydd Llanybyther, moorland country. The route is still known today as "Heol Lloegr", 'the road to England'.
Not much to note, except some fine beech hedging, till we reach Mountain Gate, now a house with stables opposite. (The house appears to have been the other side of the road on old maps.) We thought it could have been another toll, but no evidence of that. There we were told to look down the valley for Pont Lladrones or Robbers' Bridge (invisible in #4). Apparently, the (female!) thieves used to wait under it for the limekiln workers returning home with their pay. Were the kilns on the mountain somewhere? And were the womenfolk determined to get the money before the men spent it in the pub?1
Light was fading so we called it a day at Crug y Biswal, a bronze age burial mound at 520387 (#5). Obviously, we had to continue another day, but we thought we'd tackle it from the other end next time.
1 My thanks to Mike Farnworth for pointing out the errors on this page and explaining the complications of Welsh grammar. Ancient Greek is no match for this fascinating language.
