26.02.18 Tŷ Croes (SH 785 187) and Foel Caerynwch
(SH 772 179)
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| Foel Caerynwch (SH 772 179) |
Occasionally in life the
hills are there for more than views and enjoyment, they are also there in times
of need, when the soul needs replenishing and a mind needs to think and assess,
this morning was such a day.
I’d only decided on the
morning’s walk late last night, on a whim, out of an inner need to be on the
hill. I knew which hill to head for, one
whose rounded top I had viewed from many a direction and yet never
visited. It was a hill that had been on
my radar for a number of months and it did not disappoint.
The hill is named Y Foel
on Ordnance Survey maps and it is situated mid-way between Dinas Mawddwy and
Dolgellau. When compared to its many
higher neighbours it is only small in height and yet for me, there is something
special about its shape, as having an elongated upper ridge leading to a grassy
coned summit seems to personify many a Welsh hill, I thought it must be seldom
visited outside of the farming community with only an occasional hill walker
going its way.
I set off from the outskirts
of Brithdir to the hill’s north; it was bitingly chilly with winter morning
colour enhancing the adjacent higher hills to the north. It was good to be out, in an environment that
I am accustomed to, an environment that over many years has given me so much. Being on the hill seldom disappoints whatever
the weather and whatever the season, the hills enhance and enthral, they are a
wonderland difficult to quantify. They
give simple and yet fulfilling pleasure and they help to fathom those intricate
ways of life’s complexities.
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| Winter colour on Rhobell Fawr |
The route to the hill
took me up a narrow paved road, at the end I veered left on to open but walled
hill side, following who I thought to be a farmer, they were in fact a
contractor who along with a colleague was rebuilding one of the many stone
walls, a cold job for the day as an easterly wind chilled the land.
I stopped and talked
with Dewi Thomas; the contractor, who was local to Dolgellau, he gave me two
hill names and kindly posed for a photograph.
These meetings with people who work the land, who on the main are from
the farming community are a pleasure to have, they have taken place on a
frequent basis over recent walks, they enhance the pleasure I get from the
hills, and inform and bring local knowledge to an otherwise unknown landscape.
After this chance
meeting I made my way to the top of a 307m map heighted bump that the Tithe names as Tŷ Croes and assembled the
Trimble aligned with the high point, as it gathered data I stood and took in
the colour wash as the winter sun cast rich colour across the higher hill to my
west, this is the hill named Y Foel on the map and which Dewi told me is named
Foel Caerynwch, a name I noted and hoped to substantiate later in the day.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Tŷ Croes |
Sheep tracks led me to
the hill’s connecting bwlch which bisected a vehicle track, I placed the
Trimble on top of my rucksack and gathered another data set, during this I
stood back and admired the moor, a bleached and yet radiantly delicate golden
colour that will turn with the passing of the seasons to a luxuriant emerald
green before the brilliance of orange tinged colour vividly strikes the
Autumnal land.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Tŷ Croes |
By now bulbous snow
flurried clouds were massing to the east, but in the main the upper ridge I was
now on remained bathed in winter sunshine.
The next point to survey was the critical bwlch of Foel Caerynwch,
this proved a wide expanse of bog, which today was thankfully frozen. I positioned the Trimble to gather data and
waited for the allotted 300 datum points to be stored. After gathering the equipment up and packing
it away I continued toward the high point of the day.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Foel Caerynwch |
Although one aim for the
day was to visit new hills, and another to survey and gather data, my
underlying need was to think and let my mind open and race and consider and
assess and possibly even conclude. I did
much of this during the day, it seemed to help, but sometimes life can be
difficult, even complicated and occasionally even after time on the hill the
conclusion that is reached is the one that was there before.
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| The view north-east beyond Tŷ Croes |
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| Cadair Idris and Foel Caerynwch |
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| Approaching the summit of Foel Caerynwch |
Reaching the summit of
Foel Caerynwch the easterly wind blew across its top with flecks of snow
being cast across the land. It was
wondrous to be out on such a day. I
stood in the lee of the wind whilst the Trimble gathered its last data set of
the day, occasionally glimpsing the mass of Cadair Idris, a gem of a hill from
this direction with its rounded cliff shaped summits soaring skyward.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Foel Caerynwch |
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| Looking north-west toward Foel Offrwm |
I joined a green path on
the descent, a lovely way off the hill, and one that took me to Tyn Llidiart
where Terry and Marion Ogden were out busying themselves around their car, I
stopped and chatted, Marion smiled when telling me that they know the higher of
the two hills I had visited as The Pimple, and that its name is Foel Caerynwch, and asked if I had noticed this name on one of the wooden marker posts
just back up the path, I hadn’t and was intrigued, so double backed finding a
Snowdonia National Park information board, a finger post and wooden marker post
all giving the hill’s name as Foel Caerynwch.
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| And the name of the hill is......... |
It had been a chance
encounter with Marion and Terry, but one that led me to the name of the hill
being substantiated by another local and by the National Park via their
information board, finger post and marker post.
I had missed all these when walking down the green track; my mind had
wandered to other things, ones whose importance was a part of my day on the
hill. Walking back to my car I thought
how a mind can be a delicate and complicated thing, missing detail that is on
show whilst still immersed in thought.
Survey Result:
Tŷ Croes (significant name change)
Summit Height: 306.6m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 78563 18733 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 288.95m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 78671 18487 (LIDAR)
Drop: 17.7m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 5.77% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 and LIDAR bwlch)
Foel Caerynwch (significant name change)
Summit Height: 342.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 77261 17997
Bwlch Height: 304.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 78442 18047
Drop: 38.9m
Dominance: 11.35%
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