The Carneddau (lit. "the cairns"; Carneddau is a Welsh plural form, and is sometimes anglicised to Carnedds) are a group of mountains in Snowdonia, Wales. They include the largest contiguous areas of high ground (over 2,500 or 3,000 feet (910 m) high) in Wales and England, as well as six or seven of the highest peaks in the country—the Fourteen Peaks. The range also encloses a number of lakes such as Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Eigiau, and the Aber Falls waterfalls. It is delimited by the Irish Sea to the north, the Conwy valley to the east, and by the A5 road from Betws-y-Coed to Bethesda to the south and west. The area covers nearly 200 square kilometres, about 10% of the area of Snowdonia.
An investigation of the prehistoric sites of the northern Carneddau. From Llanfairfechan I visited the stone-axe quarries at Craiglywd and the Penmanmawr stone circles before camping on the slopes of Tal y Fan. An early start took in Caer Bach Hill fort, Maen y Bardd neolithic burial chamber and the sites associated with the prehistoric track (later Roman road) over the Bwlch y Ddeufaen. It was then a climb up to the ancient cairns on Carnedd y Ddelw, and Carnedd Penyborth-Goch (Drum). Foel Fras, Garnedd Uchaff and Bera Bach led me to the bronze age burial cairns on the summit of Drosgl, before descending to the settlements on and around Moel Faban, before continuing via Llandegai (where neolithic henges reside beneath the industrial estate) to Bangor for onward trains.
