Naming stones...

This summer we’ve decided to find as many standing stones on the peninsula as we are able – so, this weekend, armed with an OS map, we went hunting for them. East, along the lane, through the woods, and up and down the winding tracks of Carn Fadryn (the small mountain we can see from our cottage window), past the lodge park that was once Castel Madryn, almost through a field and there we stumbled across our first.

In the middle of a sheep feeding, turnip strewn field overlooking the sea we come across a solid, six feet tall menhir. Look closely and you can see his face, eye slanting towards a profiled nose, beneath that the scar of a slightly withered mouth that seems to be whispering something. What is it? Is it a name? We listen but we can’t make it out - so we name him for him, Loki Bautasten, after the mischievous shape shifter god of Norse mythology and the word for standing stone in Norwegian.

“Bye Loki” we call as we drive away and go in search of another.

Through the trees to a field of dark earth molehills surrounded by crow filled woods, we come across our second stone and, after taking a look, we name him Ehwaz, the rune for horse. The resemblance to a horse is at best passing but there is something of a creature’s head about the monolith, a slight touch of horse - perhaps a hint of dragon? A crow flies down as if to land on the stone as Holly takes her picture perching precariously on the boundary bank, she captures it in burred still motion for ever and I think; ‘this stone will stand when I and all the crows that ever were are dust.’ And with that warming thought we move on.

Along the B435 towards Y Ffor, some stones are map marked close to Moelypenmaen, deep in the tiny grass-grown tracks behind the mountain. We search and search, straining our necks to look over tall stone walls and then, through a gate, along a long lane towards a farm, we catch a glimpse of the pair - one tall and willowy slim and the other short and stunted - but too far away to photograph and no sign of a footpath - private land. So, we stop and get out of the car looking wistfully across the field towards them. Gog and Magog we decide and leave. At least we found them, unlikely pair as they are, feeding in a farmers field.

Through Y Ffor and down towards Pwllheli towards the sea - we are looking for another stone, one we must have passed at least a thousand times before. We’ve been told that there’s a standing stone hidden in the wall at Parc Bodegroes. We stare intently at a long, long, wall as we drive slowly by searching for the stone that we’ve been told about. And then, three feet tall from the ground, surrounded by rough hewn, dark grey, blocks of quite another time, we see her. The road is busy - so we drive slowly past, turn around then back and park by the side of the busy road to risk our lives as we take a picture.

We name her Luned, after the Welsh maiden who once gave Owain a ring of protection and invisibility. Legend tells that poor Luned was imprisoned in a stone vault by an evil witch, perhaps this is her - still imprisoned, turned all to stone. I think I can just make out the swirl of a face etched into its surface.

Luned – our final stone of the day. Five stones in less than two hours, a couple no more than a stone’s throw from our cottage and the others no more than a few miles.

Standing stones - they seem to be everywhere once you start to look…

Thanks to Holly for the fantastic photographs