10.07.15 Mynydd
Deulyn (SH 759 612), Pt. 403.8m (SH 746 594), Pt. 416.9m (SH 745 589) and Clogwyn Manod (SH 741 593)
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| Pt. 416.9m (SH 745 589) |
Out with Mark today
Pedwar bagging in the eastern Carneddau, we had options for how many hills to
visit and what direction to tackle them.
We opted to visit Mynydd Deulyn first and leave Crimpiau as our last
hill if time and inclination permitted.
These hills and the ones
between are best visited from Llyn Crafnant where there is a car park set in
mixed forestry. By the time we arrived
and sorted our gear the sun blazed down and gave a taste for what was to come.
Leaving the car park a
small path took us to the paved road which skirts the eastern side of the lake. Llyn Crafnant is a reservoir with its
northern end being dammed in 1874; the view from its outflow gives a glimpse of
the steeply wooded and cragged sides of the hills encircling the valley, with
Crimpiau prominent at the head of the lake.
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| Crimpiau from Llyn Crafnant |
Beyond the northern
outflow and beside the road is a memorial that looks out over the length of the
lake and which was erected by the inhabitants of Llanrwst, it commemorates ‘the
gift to that town of this lake’.
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| The memorial to the building of the reservoir |
The road ends at the
head of the valley next to the house of Blaen-y-nant, we left its paved surface
close to the tea rooms that beckon passing walkers, Mark already knew its
closing time and hoped we’d be there in time for a leisurely late afternoon
snack and drink, but we both thought that we’d probably miss out on its
delights.
A path heads up from
near to the tea rooms toward part of the Gwydir Forest that spreads across the
south-eastern lands of the Carneddau.
Mark led the way on what proved to be a delightful path next to the
richness of high summer growth, before entering the woodland we had views
across Llyn Crafnant to the steep sides of Allt Goch.
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| On the path that heads into the Gwydir Forest |
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| The steep sides of Allt Goch |
Two couples passed us
walking in the opposite direction from Llyn Geirionydd which is situated to the
east of Llyn Crafnant, with these two lakes giving the name to our first hill;
Mynydd Deulyn, ‘mountain of the two lakes’.
We followed the wooded
path down beyond its high point to where it joins a forest track and then
followed this as it gained height and doubled back around a 336m forested
top. This way has been used by a number
of people in the past as Mynydd Deulyn is listed as a Hump as well as a Pedwar
with c 105m of drop, Mark had also visited the hill before and hoped to
remember where to leave the forest track and enter the confines of the conifers.
We opted for what looked
like a reasonable opening and headed into the trees, within a few paces we knew
there was no path and that we had probably overshot where a small red ribbon on
a tree signifies where the narrow path is that weaves its way through the
woodland. However, by branching (no pun
intended) right we soon found what looked like the path and as height was
gained we knew we were on it.
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| Our opening into the trees |
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| On the way to the 382m spot heighted top |
This path makes its way
up toward where a 382m spot height appears on the map, this position gives
excellent views over Llyn Crafnant to the higher hills of Eryri, with Moel
Siabod, Yr Wyddfa, Glyder Fach and the distinctive profile of Tryfan all being
prominently displayed. These hills are
set against a wall of robust individual cragged hills that form a cirque around
the south-western end of Llyn Crafnant.
Having never visited Mynydd Deulyn it is a view I had not seen before,
it is highly recommend.
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| Looking beyond Llyn Crafnant to the cirque of crags enclosing its south-western lands with the higher Eryri peaks in the background |
Leaving the 382m top
behind us we re-joined the narrow path as it led us through the trees with an
occasional green coloured plastic tie indicating we were on the right route. Thankfully the trees give out near to the
summit of Mynydd Deulyn and they leave heather and fern to mingle.
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| The green tie indicated that we were on the correct route |
The high point of Mynydd
Deulyn is crowned by a neat cairn, this vantage point does not give as good a
view south-westward as from its 382m spot heighted neighbour but it does give
an extended view east. I took two data
sets, one on the highest bit of earth we could find beside the cairn, all of
whose rocks moved when we wriggled them, and the second about 1.5 metres from
the base of the cairn on heather that was firm which indicated that an ancient
cairn may have once been positioned on this hill. Not wanting to excavate in the warn sunshine
I was happy with the Trimble’s placement and took another five minutes of data.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Mynydd Deulyn |
By now I felt somewhat
flobbered but knew that my flobbiness was only to get worse as the heat of the
day was just about to strike. We
retraced our steps back through the trees on the path which proved relatively
easy to follow when compared to our initial foray into the woodland on our
ascent. Occasionally a flap of green
plastic was tied to a tree branch and a succulently coloured toadstool would
emerge from the undergrowth.
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| Another green tie indicated we were still on the path |
We had previously looked
at our route through the trees toward our next hill near to the top of our
inward wooded path, and once back on the forest track we walked back up to the
top of our inward route through the wood and headed toward a number of felled
trees which we clambered under and over before emerging back out into bright
sunlight.
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| Emerging back into the light |
I had hoped to survey
the critical bwlch of Mynydd Deulyn but once onto open hillside we found
ourselves in a land which was covered in chest high fern. We were now on top of a hillock that
overlooks the bwlch position of Mynydd Deulyn and ahead of us lay a number of
rocky tops, with the land between us and them all saturated in chest high fern. What made matters worse was the hidden rocks,
gorse and brambles. I took one fall and
saw a rock approach my head as I crumbled in a heap on steep broken ground,
thankfully nothing was twisted or bashed and I heaved myself to my feet and
wondered how on earth we were going to make progress as the continuation of our
planned route resembled an assault course.
It was at this stage that our plan to include Crimpiau at the end of the
walk was shelved.
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| The onward route from the small hillock |
As we stumbled down from
the hillock Mark suggested keeping to high ground whereas I was tempted in
following the forest boundary beside a fence, we chose the former and my energy
levels plummeted, so much so that after a few minutes I had to stop, sit down
and scoff on an apple.
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| The previous few minutes and the next half hour proved tough going |
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| However, there was beauty to be seen amongst this landscape |
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| Looking down on the critical bwlch of Mynydd Deulyn with the heather clad hillock on the right and the forested slopes of Mynydd Deulyn in the background on the left |
In between my bouts of
reluctance to move I looked around and tried my darnest to appreciate our
surroundings, and what a place it was that we were struggling through. In winter this territory would be no more
than a navigational wander from one undistinguished hill to another, today in
high summer the undergrowth was formidable and the heat blazed down causing me
to wilt. However, progress was made and
slowly we went from one rock laden hill to another and as we gained height the
fern gave way to patches of burnt heather.
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| The forested summit of Mynydd Deulyn |
Looking back the wooded
summit of Mynydd Deulyn was now just below us as the cairned summit of our next
hill was reached. Phew, time to rest, I
needed it. We prodded about in the cairn
for quite a while and found that one of the rocks was embedded and formed a
part of a small summit tor, I dismantled part of the cairn to expose this and
have no qualms doing so as I consider cairns on the actual summit of hills to
be vandalism, especially so when they are positioned over such a small tor. It seems man cannot leave such natural things
exposed and we have a want to embellish them with untidy rock
constructions. If wanting to build a
summit cairn why not place it adjacent to the high point and not over it?
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| Gathering data from the summit of Pt. 403.8m |
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| The green slopes of Clogwyn Manod with Yr Wyddfa in the background |
Once five minutes of
data were collected we re-made part of the cairn and headed down to find the
hill’s critical bwlch. This hill is
listed under the point (Pt.) notation in Y Pedwarau as no appropriate name for
it could be found when the 1st edition of the list was published by
Europeaklist, it is listed as a 400m Sub-Pedwar with c 29m of drop. However, the hill is listed as Clogwyn Pryfed
with 31m of drop in the Tumps. This name
harks back to when Mark Jackson duplicated this list from my compilation on the
RHB file database, its inclusion as a Tump also harks back to when the hill was
promoted from its Sub status, with its contours being re-evaluated when this
list was published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website and it was placed back in
the Subs.
The ten figure grid
reference for the estimated position of the bwlch took us to the top of a small
intervening hillock which I thought rather funny, the critical bwlch lay just
below in a morass of heather and grass.
Mark relaxed in the sun as the Trimble gathered its five minutes of
data. The Trimble result for this hill will
be interesting as status change is guaranteed as it will either be a new Pedwar
or a dethroned Tump.
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| Gathering data from the bwlch area of Pt. 403.8m |
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| The view of the 400m Sub-Pedwar from its critical bwlch |
When I packed the
Trimble away I walked up to join Mark on the small hillock and found a path
which led toward our next hill, which we also list under the point (Pt.)
notation. The path weaved its way up
toward what would prove to be our highpoint of the day; it only petered out
within metres of the summit, by now I had regained some of my momentum and
thankfully so, as at one stage I wondered how on earth I was going to complete
the walk.
Another neatly
constructed cairn unfortunately obliterates the high point of this hill, as the
cairn was not an untidy construction I decided that I should only remove one or
two of the lower rocks and hope that by doing so the cairn would not
collapse. It didn’t, and this gave me
just enough space to position the Trimble aligned with the highest part of rock
that constitutes the summit of this hill.
Miraculously the Trimble attained its 0.1m accuracy relatively quickly
as it was now perched partly inside the cairn, once ‘Log’ was pressed it
gathered data and only screamed out in annoyance twice when its internal
logarithms and the like probably found latching onto overhead satellites a wee
bit difficult due to the enclosed nature of its position.
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| The summit cairn on our high point of the day with Moel Siabod in the background |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 416.9m |
The next objective was
the bwlch of Clogwyn Manod which lay in an elongated bog which had a number of
stagnant slender threads of water laid across its length. Mark led the way and zoned in on where the
361m map spot height appears on the ground, once there we assessed the lay of
land from a couple of directions, chose a spot and the Trimble did its stuff.
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| On the way to the next bwlch |
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| Gathering data at the bwlch area of Clogwyn Manod |
Only one summit remained
and as I picked the Trimble up from its position in the bog I walked over a
number of grass tussocks that balanced their way between the sloshy undergrowth
and joined Mark as we headed to the summit of Clogwyn Manod. This summit has a small squashed cairn on it
with the high point of the flat rock beside it being the summit of the hill. Soon the Trimble had been set up and was
gathering data.
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| Pt. 403.8m the 400m Sub-Pedwar from the summit of Clogwyn Manod |
By now the heat of the
day had thankfully dispersed, and the strong breeze that had been welcome
during the latter part of our walk had pushed in a cooling weather front which
heralded evening rain.
Clogwyn Manod does not
give a lasting impression as a hill, it is neither eloquent in shape or have
feature to boast, but it is well positioned and gives excellent views toward
the higher Carneddau peaks, and as the Trimble gathered its data I looked out
toward these wonderful mountains, a number I have not visited for many years,
but all hold special memories from past visits.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Clogwyn Manod with Creigiau Gleision in the background |
All that remained was to
walk north-west across pathless land to where the last bwlch of the day was
positioned. This is the critical bwlch
for our high point of the day which we have listed under the point (Pt.)
notation, the pathless wander eventually joined the path that crosses this
bwlch from the direction of Capel Curig.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Pt. 416.9m |
As the Trimble gathered
its last data set for the day Mark waited patiently looking out toward Llyn
Crafnant, by now the sky had turned a milky grey and a breeze blown drop of
rain fell, but thankfully this was all, and after packing the Trimble away I
joined Mark for the walk down the path to the shores of Llyn Crafnant and past
the sign saying ‘Closed’, we had missed our snack and drink at the tea rooms by
45 minutes.
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| Oooops, just missed our cuppa |
%20-%20LIDAR%20bwlch%201.jpg) |
| LIDAR bwlch image of Mynydd Deulyn (summit at SH 759 612) |
Postscript
Since visiting these hills full LIDAR coverage is
now available. The LIDAR (Light
Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and
positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales. Consequently the numerical details for these
hills have been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height
and position being prioritised for some of these hills.
Survey Result:
Mynydd Deulyn
Summit Height: 400.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 75936 61265 (
Bwlch Height: 291.6m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 75304 60323 (LIDAR)
Drop: 108.5m
Dominance: 27.11% (
Dominance: 27.11% (
Pt. 403.8m
Summit Height: 403.8m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 74675 59467 (
Bwlch Height: 375.1m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 74704 59294 (LIDAR)
Drop: 28.7m (
Dominance: 7.12% (
Dominance: 7.12% (
Pt. 416.9m
Summit Height: 416.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 74560 58930
Bwlch Height: 337.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 73825 59654
Drop: 79.5m
Dominance: 19.07%
Dominance: 19.07%
Clogwyn Manod
Summit Height: 403.6m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 74169 59314 (
Bwlch Height: 359.7m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 74403 59373 (LIDAR)
Drop: 43.9m
Dominance: 10.88% (
Dominance: 10.88% (
For further details please
consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}
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