Myrddyn Phillips - Mapping Mountains: Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys

10.07.18 Fron Bank (SO 078 708), Buddugre (SO 089 700) and Cwm Faerdy Bank (SO 078 695)

Fron Bank (SO 078 708)

With the weather predicted to be slightly cooler than of late this proved an ideal circuit of three hills, starting from the convenience of the minor road that heads north-west toward the small community of Abaty Cwm-hir (Abbeycwmhir).

I was walking further up the road by 9.00am having travelled from Worcester, and although slightly cooler the cloud heralded a muggy day on the hill. Leaving the lane another minor paved road headed north-east and gained height toward the old farm of Fronrhydnewydd.

Adjacent hillsides were parched and dazzled in a yellowish tinge, with the overall colour to the land one that I had not seen in many years. I accessed the field leading to the summit of my first hill through a gate, by now the sun had broken through the cloud and the clear heat of the last few weeks was replaced with a sun scorched humid feel where beads of sweat trickled down my face and quickly dropped to the floor as with face down I slowly plodded uphill.

I’d read reports that the high point of this hill was on an elevated hedge bank and LIDAR analysis had confirmed the summit to be positioned on or just to the south of this embankment. As I gained height Buddugre stood across intervening land, rising to a long rounded ridge, with Llywy majestically alone, with its felled forested summit looking invitingly high against a backdrop of grey cloud whilst sun highlighted its lower slopes.

Buddugre (SO 089 700)

Llywy (SO 055 704)

Reaching the high point of the northerly field adjacent to the elevated hedge bank I peered through toward the southerly field and judged that a little higher, and therefore used a gate for access and did likewise when at its high point, resulting in the same conclusion. As I deemed the hedge bank to be a recent man-made construct I positioned the Trimble on a fence post and took a measurement offset to the highest land at the base of the embankment.

As the Trimble was positioned against a hedge I took a ten minute data set, once complete I closed it off, packed it away and exited the field through a different gate and wandered back down to the minor paved road.

Gathering data at the summit of Fron Bank

The connecting bwlch for this first hill is positioned on the access track to Troed-rhiw-felen farm, with its critical point in the middle of the track which at this point has tree coverage on both sides. Although I set the Trimble up, I closed it down after five to ten minutes as the accuracy level had not been attained and as this point has LIDAR coverage an accurate height value had already been obtained.

I then visited Bernie Pugh at the farm, once I’d introduced myself and explained my interest in local hill names he invited me in and offered a cup of coffee, we sat for 20 minutes in his conservatory as the fan blew cooling air and talked about local history and hill names. Bernie’s family had been living at Troed-rhiw-felen since 1868 and the northern section of the hill I had just visited is a part of this farm’s land and he explained that the northern and eastern part of the hill is known as Troed y Felen Bank, whilst the southern and western section is known as Fron Bank, both unsurprisingly taking their names from near farms, with the designated boundary being the hedge bank, I told him I had just visited and thought the land of Fron Bank to be slightly higher and Bernie was in agreement. He also said that he knows the hill with the wind turbine on top, which was my third and last hill of the day, as Cwm Faerdy Bank, again after the farm of Cwmfaerdy which is below the hill to its north.

After thanking Bernie for his time and the mug of coffee he kindly directed me on to the correct track from the side of his farm and gave me directions toward my second hill of the day; Buddugre.

The earthen track quickly gained height with the view back toward Fron Bank opening up, the land resembled a scene from southern Spain with parched dried fields and a heat induced stillness pervading all around.

Once on the broad northerly ridge of Buddugre it was only a short distance through a field of thistles to its summit which has a small concrete structure beside its high point, this I judged to be an embedded rock, with land 15 metres to the north also vying for the accolade of high point. I took data sets from each and stood in the sunshine looking out toward the forested tops to the north-west whilst doing so.

Gathering data at the summit of Buddugre

Once data were stored I joined a gauged track that took me quickly down to the west toward a large field where the critical bwlch of Cwm Faerdy Bank is positioned. The ten figure grid reference produced by LIDAR analysis brought me to its critical point and the customary five minutes of data were gathered.

Cwm Faerdy Bank (SO 078 695)

Approaching the critical bwlch of Cwm Faerdy Bank

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cwm Faerdy Bank

All that remained was a slow plod up a track toward the top of Cwm Faerdy Bank where a single wind turbine spun its blades looking down on a large circular shaped field where bales of hay were neatly packed and awaiting collection. Again the LIDAR grid reference led me to its high point and after setting the Trimble up and pressing ‘Log’ I stood beside the perimeter fence and looked back on my earlier route up the lane toward Fron Bank and the continuation toward Buddugre.

Gathering data at the summit of Cwm Faerdy Bank

Once fine minutes of data were stored I packed the Trimble away and retraced my inward route back toward the connecting bwlch and walked down the track to Cwnfaerdy farm. I knocked on the door and a young girl answered and kindly gave me the telephone number for me to contact her father in relation to the name of the hill above his farm.

I’d been on the hill for 4 hours 30 minutes and had taken five data sets and sat with a cup of coffee in a conservatory and arrived back at my car with two new locally known names for P30s, all in all it had been a good day!

Survey Result:

Fron Bank (significant name change)

Summit Height: 328.0m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference: SO 07843 70880

Bwlch Height: 291.7m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08229 70861 (LIDAR)

Drop: 36.2m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance: 11.04% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)