The Golden Road and Carn Menyn
Ancient ridge route across open moor, passing the rock outcrops from which the Stonehenge bluestones were taken. Empty, exposed and layered with prehistory.
- Distance
- 5.0 mi / 8 km
- Time
- 3 hr
- Ascent
- 250 m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Shape
- There and back
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
Follow the ridge track east from Bwlch Gwynt over Foel Feddau towards Carn Menyn and Carn Goedog, back the same way. No shelter and no navigation aids beyond the ridge line itself.
Worth knowing
- Carn Goedog is now thought to be the main bluestone quarry rather than Carn Menyn itself.
- The Golden Road has been in use for perhaps five thousand years, linking Ireland to the Severn.
- Wet peat between the outcrops. Waterproof boots and a compass.
What you’ll see
Rock outcrops, burial cairns, standing stones, and the whole of Pembrokeshire spread out below.
Background
Around eighty bluestones were moved from these hills to Salisbury Plain some 5,000 years ago, a distance of 140 miles, by means still argued over.