06.09.17
Perthi Common (SO 097 547), Gwernhwsmon Bank (SO 105 559), Bryn-glas
Bank (SO 103 559), Cwm Bank (SO 107 570), Gilwern Hill (SO 096 568) and Castle
Bank (SO 087 561)
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| Castle Bank (SO 087 561) with the Carneddau beyond |
The Radnorshire hills seldom
disappoint, they have a quiet quality all to themselves, where heather, moor
and heath meet, and dotted farms interspersed amongst grazing sheep are usually
the only sign of habitation.
I’d plotted a route
taking in five P30s, where each summit and bwlch could hopefully be surveyed,
and where each hill was new for me, I do enjoy venturing out on to new ground
as the sense of investigation, even on hills in Radnorshire, can give a
fulfilling feeling.
The forecast gave
passing light showers breaking up to sunshine later in the day, and as I pulled
up in Llansanffraid-yn-Elfael a grey sky predominated and a chilled early
September breeze whisked across the land.
My first hill; Perthi
Common rises directly above a saw mill which was in full operation as I pulled
up at 8.30am, I was quickly spotted and asked to park off the narrow road in
the space allotted their workforce; a kind gesture. I took the opportunity to ask about the names
of the hills on my route and three were given; Perthi Common, Gilwern Hill and
Castle Bank, and two local contacts were also suggested who would be beneficial
for me to visit.
A gate led from the
paved road up steepening ground through bracket to the summit of Perthi Hill,
where an embedded small rock signified the high point. Castle Bank looked slender and inviting as
the morning’s grey highlighted its profile, whilst a flash of sunshine
illuminated the saw mill with Gwernhwsmon Bank beyond.
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| Castle Bank against the morning's grey shower cloud |
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| Gwernhwsmon Bank (SO 105 559) with the saw mill in the foreground |
As the customary five
minutes of data were collected from the summit of Perthi Hill I looked west as
shower cloud bathed in dulled grey blew in toward me, I’d prefer not to get wet
on the hills, but this had an unusual welcoming feel, one of awakening with the
spirit of breeze and rain adding substance to upcoming seasonal change and Autumn’s
arrival.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Perthi Common |
Retracing my steps back
to the narrow road I headed toward the critical bwlch of Perthi Hill through
two gates and over fields of greened grass.
Once the Trimble was set up I noted all necessary detail in my small log
book and waited for the 300 datum points to be stored.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Perthi Common |
My second hill stood
above me directly connected by the bwlch I had just gathered data from, but an
easier route to its summit lay via the narrow road and a farm named Hirllwyn,
taking this latter route would also enable me to knock on the door of the farm
and make place-name enquiries.
P30s are a joy to visit,
the higher hills are mountainous and grand, but P30s give an opportunity to
visit land that is worked and meet people who make their living from these
smaller hills, this also gives an opportunity to talk and enquire about these
hills, in the main this for me takes in place-name enquiries.
Approaching Hirllwyn I
stopped and chatted with Simon, who was beside his truck and trailer with chainsaw
in hand cutting wood, Simon worked for Hirllwyn and told me that the high point
of the hill above the farm is not a part of its land, this confirmed
information from the Tithe map that I had studied the previous evening, he told
me to knock on the door at the farm, which I did, but unfortunately could get
no reply.
A path led from the farm
to a green track that headed up the hill toward the summit trig point. All was quiet on the surrounding farm land as
I quickly judged the high point of the hill and set the Trimble up. As it gathered its all-important data I stood
with my back to the breeze as the mornings heaviest shower blew in. The rain conveniently stopped when it was
time to close the Trimble down.
This summit is given a
357m spot height on Ordnance Survey maps with a 357.835m flush bracket adjoined
to its triangulation pillar in the OS Trig Database, to its immediate west is a
356m map heighted top, the latter looked visually lower, but as long as I was
not disturbed I thought it wise to also collect data from its high point.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Gwernhwsmon Bank (SO 105 559) |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Bryn-glas Bank (SO 103 559) with the trig pillar atop Gwernhwsmon Bank in the background |
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| Cwm Bank (SO 107 570) from the summit of Bryn-glas Bank |
Once these two data sets
were stored I headed down the hill toward its critical bwlch which is
positioned beside a narrow country lane.
Nearing the area of the bwlch the buzz of a quadbike became more
distinct and soon it appeared rounding one of the vehicle tracks I was aiming
for, I flagged it down knowing that I was not on open access land, its
occupant; Philip Dyke was pleasant to speak with and kindly confirmed the names
of Gwernhwsmon Bank, Bryn-glas Bank and Gilwern Hill, all except the latter had
been deduced whilst studying the Tithe map.
The bwlch of Gwernhwsmon
Bank was no more than a few metres from a paved country road and the Trimble
was soon positioned atop my rucksack gathering data. My next hill was positioned above The Cwm, an
old farm whose working occupant now lives in a bungalow near to it; I hoped he
would be in as I wanted to make further place-name enquiries. I knocked at his door and that of The Cwm,
but again no reply.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Gwernhwsmon Bank |
The Tithe map names the
land where the summit of this next hill is situated as being a part of The Cwm
and named as Bank, inference from the morning’s local enquiry and information
on the Tithe map would deduce that the name of Cwm Bank is an appropriate one
for this hill.
Cwm Bank rises steeply
above The Cwm and a slender path leads upward to its broad summit ridge, this
was the middle hill of five and as the Trimble gathered its five minutes of
summit data I studied the map for the best route to the hill’s connecting
bwlch.
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| Gaining height on Cwm Bank with Gwernhwsmon Bank on the left and Bryn-glas Bank on the right |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cwm Bank |
Once the Trimble was
packed away I straddled one or two fences on my way down over fields to where
the critical bwlch of Cwm Bank is positioned, it only took a couple of minutes
to judge its critical point and soon the Trimble was in position and data being
gathered. As the Trimble beeped away I
stood beside a hedge listening for any rogue quad bikes, except for the humming
sound of a generator off in the distance all was quiet.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cwm Bank |
Gathering the Trimble and my rucksack the next point to survey was the bwlch of Gilwern Hill. Getting there I followed a fence line that led to a greened track and then heading left another fence led toward a number of gates and access to the field where I judged the next bwlch to lie.
I was now on the southern
side of a fence and high hedge, whilst on the northern side was another grazing
field but with reed grass beside the hedge that may signify that the natural
bwlch once drained from this point, however land on the southern side crept
upward toward the hedge and I judged this to be the best point to gather data
from.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Gilwern Hill |
Ahead of me lay common land which is now designated as open access, and my morning’s enquiries had given the next hill and all of this land the name of Gilwern Hill, which surprised me as current Ordnance Survey maps give this name to a 440.7m hill positioned at SO 098 582 which Alan Dawson and I had surveyed in November 2015. However, Ordnance Survey maps such as the old Six-Inch and Historical 1:25,000 are much better indicators for name placement when compared to the current 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 maps, both of these old maps have the name of Gilwern Hill stretching across a large area of this common land, indicating that local knowledge used to be more precise on older Ordnance Survey maps when compared to current ones.
There’s an enjoyment
pottering about in pastured field’s clandestinely gathering data, but there’s
also an enjoyment to get on to land where access is unlimited and as I
approached the summit of Gilwern Hill my inward and onward routes stretched out
before me. It was relatively easy to
judge the high point of the hill and after the customary data collection I
headed south-west down the hill hoping to find convenient trails through the
copious amounts of high fern.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Gilwern Hill |
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| Castle Bank from the descent of Gilwern Hill |
My next port of call was Pendre, an old farm nestled beside two narrow country roads, but again no one was in. I slowly plodded up the lane toward the bwlch of Castle Bank, which would be my fifth and last hill of the day. By the time I arrived at the bwlch I was overheating and quickly dispensed with my one skin light weight coat which had kept me snug from the morning’s breeze and occasion shower.
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| Autumn's harvest, if edible |
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| In the hedgerow beside the country lane leading toward Castle Bank |
Although the bwlch of Castle Bank is broad and full of reed grass it was relatively easy to judge where its critical point lay, and the Trimble was soon atop my rucksack gathering the necessary data.
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| The view south at the critical bwlch of Castle Bank |
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| The view north at the critical bwlch of Castle Bank |
A vehicle track crosses this part of the hill and the southern part of which is a public footpath, this gave me thankful easy passage onward around the western lower slopes of Castle Bank and then up to connect with a path through fern to the higher slopes above.
Castle Bank is a
delight, with rock strewn rubble, steep sides and expansive views it stands out
amongst many good hills. Its summit is
crowned by a cairn and I investigated land at its base and prodded its innards
to find its highest point. As the
Trimble gathered data I stood and admired the view, studied the map for my
downward route and luxuriated in the early afternoon’s warmth which contrasted
against the chilled morning’s breeze.
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| The Trimble set-up position beside the cairn at the summit of Castle Bank |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Castle Bank |
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 at the high point of Castle Bank |
The summit of Castle Bank gave excellent views toward Gilwern Hill, a patchwork of green and brown bracken picked out by the afternoon’s sunshine, off in the distance Perthi Common looked compact against the bulk of part of Aberedw Hill, with Gwernhwsmon Bank greened and dominated by the beyond bulk of Gwaun Ceste.
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| Gilwern Hill from the summit of Castle Bank |
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| Perthi Common (SO 097 547) |
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| Gwernhwsmon Bank (SO 105 559) |
Leaving the summit of Castle Bank I followed its southern ridge and doubled back under it to join a vehicle track on the moor, looking back the ridge of this hill was now bathed by blue sky and highlighted by foreground yellowed gorse, a lovely sight to be left with from these quiet and attractive Radnorshire hills.
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| The attractive profile of Castle Bank |
Survey Result:
Perthi Common
Summit Height: 296.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 09765 54754
Bwlch Height: 257.2m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 09923 54983
Drop: 38.7m
Dominance: 13.08%
Gwernhwsmon Bank (significant name change)
Summit Height: 357.3m (converted to OSGM15, and confirmed as
higher than Bryn-glas Bank [SO 10338 55952])
Summit Grid Reference: SO 10538 55967
Bwlch Height: 307.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 09990 56301
Drop: 49.7m
Dominance: 13.92%
Bryn-glas Bank (significant name change)
Summit Height: 354.3m (converted to OSGM15, and confirmed as
lower than Gwernhwsmon Bank [SO 10538 55967])
Summit Grid Reference: SO 10338 55952
Drop: c 7m
Dominance: 1.98%
Cwm Bank (significant name change)
Summit Height: 354.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 10798 57035
Bwlch Height: 302.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 10463 57249
Drop: 52.4m
Dominance: 14.77%
Gilwern Hill (significant name change)
Summit Height: 384.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 09676 56836
Bwlch Height: 325.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 09986 57328
Drop: 59.1m
Dominance: 15.37%
Castle Bank
Summit Height: 382.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 08754 56179
Bwlch Height: 301.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08347 56594
Drop: 80.3m
Dominance: 21.02%
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