06.06.18 Bradnor Hill (SO 282 584)
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| The critical col of Bradnor Hill |
At 9.50am I was sitting
in a field full of barley listening to summer bird song, somewhere in amongst
the crop was the Trimble, beeping away as individual datum points were
collected. To my left a mature hedge
obstructed any view of the field from the adjacent narrow lane, behind me was
another hedge, this time one of trees which obstructed the view from an
adjacent row of houses, ahead were one or two dotted houses off in the
distance. No one could see me, and as I
couldn’t even see the Trimble from my seated position as it gathered data
amongst the barley crop, it also meant that this equipment was out of view from
anyone that just happened to pass, no one did.
I remained seated for ten minutes, enjoying the warmth from the sun,
wondering how funny life can be and the directions it sometimes takes, after
all I never thought that sitting in such a field full of barley could be a part
of a hill walk, but here I was, content with life.
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| The esoteric part of mountain surveying |
The field in question is
where the critical col of Bradnor Hill is situated, the col is positioned near
a row of houses, eloquently named The Row, it has the Cynon Brook to its south
and a dismantled railway to its north, it sits almost forgotten, as is the want
of a col, seldom visited except for the farmer whose field the col is situated
in and who no doubt planted the barley.
Col’s are the polar opposite of summits in many ways, they are a meeting
of convex and concave, whilst a summit is an individual point, they are seldom
visited and yet they form an intrinsic part of a hill’s numerical data and are
the pivotal point between summit and Ordnance Datum Newlyn. Simply put, without a col there would be no
drop, and yet they are almost forgotten, and almost devoid of visitors, especially
amongst the hill walking community, but on this morning I was more than happy
to spend time at this col, quietly sitting and thinking and luxuriating myself
in summerness, where insect and bird and warmth and tranquil beauty slowly went
about their business.
As the time spent
sitting neared its end I checked my watch, ten minutes of data had been
gathered, I stood and followed one of the vehicle tracks amongst the crop to
where the Trimble beeped away in the sea of green, I pressed ‘Done’ and closed
the equipment down, and took a number of photos before packing it away.
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| Gathering data at the critical col of Bradnor Hill |
I followed the vehicle
track back through the crop to the access gate I had used to enter the field,
across the lane was my car, during my time in the field only one car had passed
on the adjacent narrow lane and I was firmly planted behind the intervening
hedge when it did so, no one to my knowledge had seen me and I tried to leave
the crop as I had found it, sprouting to the heavens.
It was only a short
drive east to the outskirts of Kington and then upward toward the Kington Golf
Club on a narrow and steep road that gained height at an appealing rate. I parked where a sign proclaimed ‘no cars
beyond this point’ and headed up a closely cropped runnel of grass toward what
turned out to be the 12th fairway.
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| A great place to park and a lovely hill to visit |
As I walked along the
fairway the morning was utterly beautiful with blue skies and a coolness of
warmth, I stopped and chatted with a number of golfers and helped one try and
find his misdirected ball, without success I’m afraid.
I knew that the summit
of Bradnor Hill was close to the 8th tee and asked directions to it,
I made sure that I stopped as any budding Nicklaus adopted their position
before connecting with the ball that flew up the adjacent fairway, I found it
next to impossible to follow the ball’s trajectory from side-on, but easy from
behind.
Within a few minutes of
setting out I spotted the large rocks that designate the hill’s summit, close
to the 8th tee. Thankfully
and also conveniently one of the large rocks that made up the summit cairn was
positioned in such a way that my rucksack could snugly sit on it and with the
Trimble placed atop my rucksack it gave it elevation above its immediate
surrounds, I measured the offset between the equipment’s internal antenna and
the ground below and sauntered off to the 8th tee to sit whilst data
were gathered.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Bradnor Hill |
During this time a group
of golfers passed, I headed over for a chat and they kindly posed for a few
photos whilst in the background the Trimble did its stuff positioned high above
the uppermost large rock of the summit cairn.
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| Some of the golfers on Bradnor Hill with the Trimble gathering data in the background on the right |
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| The Trimble set-up position at the summit of Bradnor Hill |
Once the allotted data
were stored I closed the equipment down and re-activated it as I’d come
prepared with a ten figure summit grid reference from LIDAR analysis conducted
by Aled, this position proved to be 12 metres from the base of the cairn, and
visually it was hard to determine which was higher as ground between consisted
of bracken.
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| Gathering data at the LIDAR summit position of Bradnor Hill |
I again positioned the
Trimble atop my rucksack, measured the offset and headed back to the 8th
tee waiting for the last datum set of the day to be gathered and stored, whilst
doing so Rob Williams came slowly chugging toward me on a seated large mower,
we chatted for a number of minutes and he told me about the Adder patrol and
said that although there were a number of these snakes on Bradnor Hill, there
were none on Hergest Ridge which was just across the valley from where we were.
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| Rob Williams with the Trimble gathering data from the LIDAR summit position of Bradnor Hill in the background on the left |
I waved Rob off as he
headed to mow another part of the course and then closed the Trimble down after
the allotted data were gathered. It had
been a good morning spent in lovely conditions with blue skies and a cool
summer warmth, meeting a number of very friendly people and enjoying the
esoteric aspect of surveying when sitting in a field full of barley and on a
golf course. Next stop Worcester.
Survey Result:
Bradnor Hill
Summit Height: 391.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 28234 58440
Col Height: 212.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Col Grid Reference: SO 23381 58603
Drop: 179.0m
Dominance: 45.72%
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