23.01.18 Hazler Hill (SO 464 928), Ragleth Hill (SO
454 921) and Ragleth Hill (SO 451 917)
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| Ragleth Hill (SO 454 921) |
Having seen the forecast
I did wonder if it was wise going out as it seemed almost guaranteed that we
were going to get wet, and however much our beautiful green land relies upon
the wet stuff it is the one type of weather that I make a concerted effort to avoid.
I was out with Mark
today and we headed east in to Shropshire and the hills around Church Stretton,
with a route taking in Hazler Hill and Ragleth Hill planned, Mark had visited
the latter but was good enough to repeat his ascent, by visiting these hills we
also hoped to be in the rain shadow of the higher hills above Church Stretton
to our west, as it turned out we picked our hills wisely and got away with only
a few spots of rain mid-afternoon, although it was a bit blowy to say the
least.
We parked close to the
centre of the town and crossed the busy A49 road and picked up the public
footpath that leads southward toward the col between Hazler Hill and Ragleth
Hill. With the mast atop the former an ever
present indicator of the steepness of these hills.
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| The mast atop Hazler Hill |
The early morning’s rain
had swept east, with another front predicted for the afternoon, and therefore
the going under foot was soggy as we made progress near to Plocks Coppice
through gentle deciduous woodland.
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| The upper part of the footpath leading to the minor lane |
The footpath led to a
minor lane where the view toward the east opened up, dark skies predominated
with an occasional flash of sunlight highlighting the land. We followed the lane north-eastward to the
access track to the high mast and used this to reach the summit area.
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| Dark skies to the east |
Further north the
shapely profiles of Caer Caradoc and Hope Bowdler Hill looked inviting,
both have been Trimbled as have the bulk of P30s over 400m in these parts.
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| Caer Caradoc |
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| Hope Bowdler Hill |
As we crested the area
of the summit the wind blew from the south, it was unusually mind for this time
of year but the wind would remain with us on the tops for the rest of the
walk. The trig pillar atop Hazler Hill
is not positioned at the high point; this is further south-west beside the fenced-off area that houses the mast.
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| Hazler Hill with the trig pillar and high mast with the summit to the left of the fenced-off area |
It took the Trimble an
inordinate amount of time to achieve the 0.1m accuracy level before data should
be logged, I’d propped it on top of my rucksack which was positioned flat on
the ground, and wedged it in position with two rocks, otherwise it may have
been blown off. Once data were gathered
and stored we retraced out route back on the access track and followed the lane
south-west toward the public footpath gaining the north-eastern slopes of
Ragleth Hill.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Hazler Hill |
These hills are
distinctive and give a sense of being separate, with each affording good views
of the other. The route up Ragleth Hill
proved steep, we made good progress and as the higher ridge was reached the
wind blew directly in to our faces, from here a path leads all the way to the
summit, which is comprised of grass about 5 metres from a small embedded rock.
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| Hazler Hill from the ascent of Ragleth Hill |
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| Caer Caradoc from the ascent of Ragleth Hill |
As I set the Trimble up
Mark continued on the ridge to the relative shelter of the connecting col to a
potential 390m Double Sub-Four which I planned on surveying. The wind was blowy on top of Ragleth Hill and
once the measurement offset had been taken I wedged the equipment in place with
the two small rocks which I’d brought from the summit of Hazler Hill.
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| Gathering data at the summit area of Ragleth Hill |
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| Mark heading to the relative shelter of the connecting col to the potential 390m Double Sub-Four |
This was the high point
of the day’s walk and a summit that had previously been surveyed by Alan Dawson
using his Leica RX1250, so it’ll be interesting to compare the results. Once the Trimble was packed away I joined
Mark at the col and as I set the Trimble up to gather another five minute data
set he headed for the summit of the potential sub to assess the lay of land.
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| Gathering data at the col of the potential 390m Double Sub-Four |
By the time the Trimble
had collected five minutes of data the rain had arrived, it blew in quickly
from the south, where the sky was now slate grey, the land to the west and east
looked particularly murky and I thought we were going to get a good drenching,
however the few spots that fell were quickly swept away leaving us intermittent
light drizzle when down in the valley, otherwise it remained dry on the tops, we
were indeed fortunate.
As I joined Mark on top of
the potential sub the wind howled across its summit, Mark quickly pointed to
the highest rock and shot down the continuation of the ridge seeking a
semblance of shelter leaving me to somehow balance the Trimble atop the high
point without it moving for the five minutes of data collection I usually
allocate. This proved a difficult task as
the wind increased in intensity and kept howling for the duration I was on the
summit.
It took three attempts
for me to gather data, I eventually wedged the rocks either side of the Trimble
whose internal antenna was aligned with the high point of the highest rock, and
then proceeded to crouch below it whilst holding one rock in place and also the
end part of the equipment.
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| Gathering data at the summit of the potential 390m Double Sub-Four |
During this process I
counted each second, occasionally timing my count with the beeps emanating from
the Trimble indicating each data point that was gathered, these are collected
per second, and with five minutes of data allocated I needed to reach the
magical 300 before switching the equipment off, unfortunately the wind was so
fierce I only occasionally heard the beeps from the Trimble and therefore spent
my time hunkered under it counting silently before it was time to close it down
and store the data. I quickly took a few
photos before the Trimble was blown in to Herefordshire and then walked down
the steep southerly ridge to join Mark.
Once out of the gale we
followed the path down to the A49 road where the old bridge led us in to Little
Stretton, passing on the way a memorial to Crag Bullock entitled Country Blood,
and which has been transcribed by Mark and appears below.
Country
Blood
I
am of the countryside
Carved
out of the oaktree bark
And
I am of the wild free wind
That
bears the soaring lark.
Part
of the upturned earth am I,
One
with the cornfield sea,
And
I exist in the quiet green hill
And
it exists in me.
Here
all the dainty weeds are mine
That
blows along the way,
And
all the little resting things
Whose
heart beat for a day.
My
peace is where the velvet dew
Sleeps
under hanging mists;
Where
the cavernous forest deeps and dims
My
secret soul exists.
Poem,
by anon, inscribed on the grave of Craig Bullock, carpenter
‘tragically
killed’, aged 30, on 4th October 2002
Below
Ragleth Hill, Shropshire, at grid ref. SO 44577 91487
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| The memorial to Craig Bullock |
It wasn’t far to the car
from the delightful narrow lanes of Little Stretton, although my old body
suffered and just wanted to sit down. This
I did after changing in to clean clothes back at the car, as we walked in to
town for an assortment of goodies at a very good café; yummy!
%20-%20LIDAR%20hill%202.jpg) |
| LIDAR image of Hazler Hill (SO 464 928) |
Postscript:
Since the survey of these hills LIDAR has become 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 for some of these hills being prioritised.
Survey Result:
Hazler Hill
Summit Height: 346.7m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 46469 92873 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Col Height: 307.8m (LIDAR)
Col Grid Reference: SO 46226 92445 (LIDAR)
Drop: 38.9m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)
Dominance: 11.22%
Ragleth Hill
Summit Height: 397.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000) 397.5m (Leica RX 1250)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 45403 92098 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) SO 45406 92101 (Leica RX1250)
Col Height: 256.2m (LIDAR)
Col Grid Reference: SO 46809 93242 (LIDAR)
Drop: 141.3m (Leica RX1250 summit and LIDAR col)
Dominance: 35.55% (Leica RX1250 summit and LIDAR col)
Ragleth Hill
Summit Height: 391.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 45103 91746
Col Height: 372.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Col Grid Reference: SO 45262 91867
Drop: 19.0m
Dominance: 4.85%
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