Sarn Helen is the name given to a number of Wales’ Roman roads. The roads were built after the conquest of the Welsh tribes to create a network of all-weather routes linking the Romans' forts. "Sarn Helen" is a misnomer meaning Helen's Causeway or Road and refers to Elen, a Romano-British princess and the wife of the emperor of Britain, Maximus. Whilst she is fabled to have got Maximus to build roads across Wales to help defend it, it is considered that Elen is from a much later period than the roads themselves. These roads suggest a route from a fort in Neath in South Wales all the way up to a fort near Conwy in the north. Parts of Sarn Helen (such as this) are off-road and make for interesting MTBing, but much of Sarn Helen is tarmac or obliterated. However, I’m inspired by the idea of a south to north route split into bite sized chunks, which follows Sarn Helen or haunts its surrounding countrtside and visits the Roman sites along the way. See plots #1 & #2 for a description of this section. WIP.by Pilau
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