Yr Elen 3156ft (962m) Elen's Hill SH 6737 6507

This attractive mountain is easily overlooked, accidentally or otherwise, on a traverse of the fourteen peaks, as it lies off the main ridge line and requires something of a dog leg to reach it from Carnedd Llewelyn. The summit is a small grassy area with three bumps overlooking it. Which is the highest is anyone’s guess! Unfortunately, because it is the nearest of the high summits to Anglesey, it seems to be a popular training ground for helicopters from RAF Valley.

Its name is probably derived  from the story of Macsen Wledig which, although not strictly a part of the Mabinogion, is often included in it. Elen was a Welsh princess so beautiful that, like the sun, she could not be gazed on for more than a moment without being dazzled. The Roman Emperor Macsen, having seen her in a dream, became obsessed and eventually fought his way from Rome to North Wales where he found her in   a magnificent castle at the mouth of the river Seiont, where Caernarfon now stands,  just as his dream had foretold. A feisty lass, one of her stipulations before accepting his hand in marriage, was that he improve north – south communicatons within Wales, which was duly achieved in the form of Sarn Elen, still usable today in places.

She became known as Elen of the Hosts for her habit of accompanying her husband on his campaigns and her brothers played a key part in the re-capture of Rome made necessary by Macsen’s seven year honeymoon in Wales.