With the winter chill arriving Big G takes us to an eminently accessible, but thus far little exploited landmark on the edge of Bethal.

Dear NWB.com readers,

The "Great North Stone" guards the waste depot at the north east end of the village with a strange resigned grandeur, (gr 535656) its gaunt profile all the more stark on this otherwise flat-rolled landscape.

With its proximity to the ancient sites of Dinas Dinorwig and Gegin Arthur there is undoubtedly some human influence in its positioning; it is said to have been put in place (perhaps marking a lay-line of religious import) by some of the very earliest JCB's.

The toxic spirituality of the thing is undeniable when caught in the first morning light or fronting a sunset over Caernarfon Bay, but is somewhat belittled by its roadside position.

Sit down starts will lack purity, a small cluster of holes having been fashioned for the fixture of several lost generations of gates. But there are holds...possibilities, dancing quartzy ripples. Perhaps only those with a little bit of druid in them will be in receipt of sufficient inspiration to act, to ...as it were, feel their way. (To maximise the climbing experience here it would also be good if participants were quite short.)

The boulderer will need a great deal of conviction in this most public of circumstances, being called upon to ignore the sinister forces of history and also a degree of mockery from passing traffic.

I'll expect to see the chalk!

Love Big G

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