Maen Llia

[Darren Turner]

Maen Llia by Darren Turner, on Flickr

Nearly 4m high, this impressive standing stone lies at the junction of two valleys, probably marking an ancient trackway

A short distance from the minor road leading from Ystradfellte to Heol Senni, the massive monolith of Maen Llia stands on the moorland in a magnificent and isolated spot in the Brecon Beacon National Park. It is a large diamond-shaped slab of conglomerate, 3.7m (12ft) high and 2.8m (9ft) wide and only 0.6m (2ft) thick. It is likely that a quarter to a third of the stone is below ground, so it has managed to stand up to thousands of years of wild Welsh weather.
It lies at the junction of two valleys and its visibility from some distance suggests that it could possibly be a territorial marker or it could mark an ancient trackway, guiding travellers across the watershed, in a way similar to the stone north of Maen Mawr circle. In the Forties, some faint Latin and Ogam inscriptions were still visible on the stone's surface.
A legend says that whenever a cock crows, the stone moves off to drink in the River Nedd. According to another story, the stone visits the River Mellte on Midsummer morning.

 

[Hamish Gill]

A nice shot!
the only problem with this is that you walked around it before finally choosing this shooting angle ...
so what's the jiggery pokery with the sky then, I smell cheating with regard to the blueness

 

[Darren Turner]

[stalkeyes][drool] your not wrong..............on both counts.............lol Do you not like the blue sky then??

should have cloned the feet out eh......

Daz

 

[Hamish Gill]

I'm pretty certain you have also cropped a bit off the right and bottom ...? But that might be my cheaty-radar on the blink?
no I like it, it's the bit of blue behind the blue that gives it away (above the stone) Just makes it look less real... Maybe a bit of blending it with its surroundings?

 

[Beth Carter]

lol, love the footprints too. seriously though, the snow and sky combo looks great.

 

[Darren Turner]

I'm pretty certain you have also cropped a bit off the right and bottom ...? But that might be my cheaty-radar on the blink?
no I like it, it's the bit of blue behind the blue that gives it away (above the stone) Just makes it look less real... Maybe a bit of blending it with its surroundings?

nobody likes a smart A$$.......no seriously your to clever for your own good hahahahah

yer i know what you mean about the sky, will go have a play, hey i only just realsied / noticed our footprints go around in a big circle all way round the stone........lol

Daz