Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Y Berwyn


27.09.15  Long Hill (SJ 202 190)  

Long Hill is just one of a number of hills that spreads its welcoming profile out above the Afon Efyrnwy (River Vyrnwy) as it meanders past the small town of Llansanffraid-ym-Mechain.  This countryside is predominantly pastoral with the landscape rising toward higher hills to the west.  However, height is not everything and these hills around Llansanffraid have a welcoming beauty.

This evening I had the pleasure of meeting Charles and Jamie Everett who were having a stopover for the night before heading south to surprise and celebrate Charles’ mother’s 86th birthday in Cheltenham.

We met around 6.00pm and drove to a small pull-in spot on the narrow lane to the north-east of this hill’s summit.  The weather was set fine with a large high pressure system firmly embedded over the country giving blue skied warmth during the day and peaceful chilly nights.

As we left the car and walked down the lane toward the public footpath that crosses the southern flank of the hill, father and son grinned at the camera.  Charles and Jamie seem to have a special relationship, partly based on older sibling – younger sibling, more so than that of father and son, this gives a lot of banter and some competiveness which adds to the hilarity that is often found when they are together.

Charles and Jamie

As we branched off the footpath and walked up the higher part of the hill a herd of sheep were set against the brightness of the sinking sun.  We had timed our ascent to watch the sun set and as we arrived on the summit the orange glow ebbed behind a line of cloud out to the west.

Just beyond the trees is the summit of Long Hill

Charles and Jamie on the ascent of Long Hill

By now I started to accustom myself to the Everett’s need to social mediarise when on the move as both seemed glued to their mobile phones, especially so Charles, whose mobile phone seemed to be an added appendage and one that was becoming increasingly apparent as the evening progressed.  Life on the move where it is broadcast into the public domain is now part of the norm, however when on show it can take a little while to get accustomed to.

Once we’d assessed the ground at the summit of Long Hill I placed the Trimble on what we judged to be the highpoint and waited for it to gather its customary five minutes of data.  It was then packed away for the remainder of the evening.

Gathering data at the summit of Long Hill

As the orange glow of a disappeared sun slowly started to cast out pink and golden hues the super moon rose to our east, a large bright and illuminating light, we stood and watched as the colour to our west intensified with streaks of scarlet edged cloud adding depth to the scene.

Jamie and Charles at sunset on Long Hill

The super moon rising

Are they having a pee, admiring the sunset or fiddling on their mobiles and posting on Facebook - yep, it's the latter

The scene to our west kept us transfixed until the colour ebbed and the night and its dusk shadow fell upon us, it was then that the brightness from the super moon took over; this led us down the hill and back onto the narrow lane to the car, the walk had been a lovely way to spend an evening.   



Survey Result:


Long Hill

Summit Height:  196.6m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 20264 19081

Drop:  60m

Dominance:  30.52%




For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}




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