Cardiff

The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Although the physical journey begins 30 miles or so further into the Valleys running down to Cardiff, the best starting point is a visit to Cardiff itself, the capital of Wales, and its glorious Amgueddfa Genedlaethol, National Museum.

Here in the Wales Past gallery are some of the artefacts and maps that have helped to form and create the story.  For example a central theme to the book is Rhiannon’s mission to become the bearer of the Cauldron of Wisdom.  References to Cauldrons are commonly found in Celtic mythology, and they are frequently imbued with all kinds of Magical properties.  In The Book of Taliesin there is a story about a Cauldron of Wisdom, and the consequences when its potion of wisdom and inspiration is tasted by the wrong person.  The caldrons recovered from the lake at  Llyn Fawr and to be found in the exhibits in the gallery, along with some of the other discovered  artefacts.

The history of the ecology and the landscape unfold in the varied galleries and set the background to the story, and to the rise and fall of the celtic empire.

Finaly, the web is full of information about the Celts and Wales in general. Two informative sites are firstly the Cambrian Archaeology site and secondly Megalithic Wales. Both sites have excellent links to many other sources of information

The Places visited in the Story

• Cardiff – The Museum of Wales
• Llanwonno – Cwtch 
• The Lake – Llyn Fawr                         
• CaerCoch – Pen-y-Crug 
• The Stone Circle – Cerrig Y Pigwyn       
•  The Contested River – the River Irfon
• The Devil’s Bridge – Home of Melcha
• Pen Dinas – Melcha’s work
• Strata Florida – where Rhiannon rests her soul
• Coed-y-Brenin – the Gold Mine 
• Llyn Tegid – Lake Bala
• The Waterfall – Pistyll Rhaeadr                    
• The Hill-fort of Caer Ogyrfan – Oswestry
• The Mountains of Eyri – Snowdon
• The Crossing Place
• Anglesey – Mona – Home of the Druids  

Introduction
The Physical Journey
The Story
The Author
Information Pages
Reading List