10.10.18 Bryn Eithin (SH 775 752), Cae Alen (SH 781
758) and Bwlch Mawr (SH 777 755)
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| Bryn Eithin (SH 775 752) |
To the south of Conwy
and nestled between the B 5106 road and the Afon Gyffin to the west and the Afon
Conwy to the east is an area of land with three summits of similar height, with
the names of Iolyn Park and Gorse Hill now prominent for part of this land on
contemporary Ordnance Survey maps. The
central and southerly summits are given a small uppermost 130m ring contour,
whilst the northerly summit is given a 130m spot height on these maps.
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| The wooded surrounds of Bryn Eithin on the left, the grazing field of Cae Alen on the right and Bwlch Mawr in between |
When these hills were
first listed in the original Welsh P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website,
the southerly hill appeared as Iolyn Park and the northerly hill appeared as
Iolyn Park North East top, whilst the central summit was not listed.
Local and historic
place-name research has led me to believe that appropriate names for these
three summits are:
Northerly summit: Cae Alen (SH 78116 75814)
Central summit: Bwlch Mawr (SH 77790 75561)
Southerly summit: Bryn Eithin (SH 77584 75224)
Joining these three
summits are two bylchau, with the bwlch between the northerly and central
summits being of a height that only the higher of these two hills will qualify
for P30 status, whilst the bwlch between the central and southerly summits
being of a height that the southerly summit will qualify as a P30.
Prior to my visit I
analysed these hills via LIDAR and today I wanted to survey each summit with
the Trimble GeoXH 6000 and if opportunity arose to also make place-name
enquiries.
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| LIDAR image of Cae Alen, Bwlch Mawr and Bryn Eithin |
The southerly summit is
now dominated by the Gorse Hill Caravan Park; which is a well maintained site
perched on the hill side with expansive views over the Afon Conwy, the central
summit forms a part of the Conwy Lodge Park; another site that has expansive
views over the near river, whilst the northerly summit is still clinging on as
a grazing field.
As I drove up the road
to the Gorse Hill Caravan Park the sky shone blue and October warmth
predominated. I parked close to the
entrance gate and started to gather all necessary equipment, just as I was
about to set off Richard Davies pulled up in his van, Richard is local and an
employee of the site, he was interested in what I planned to do and wanted to
know my motives. I explained where I
hoped to visit and he kindly gave me directions and advised me where to park,
he also confirmed the name of the southerly hill as Gorse Hill and the central
one as Bwlch Mawr. The latter
information is substantiated by the Tithe map which gives the land where the
central summit is situated as a part of Bwlch Mawr farm and having this name.
Having thanked Richard
for his time I slowly plodded up the paved road between the manicured gardens
and neatly kept chalets toward the high point of the site, from here a narrow
path climbs steep grass to the summit of Bryn Eithin which is crowned with a water
tank near its high point. As I neared
the top of the path a vehicle pulled up behind me and Rob Thomas-Evelyn called toward
me. Rob owns the Gorse Hill Caravan Park
and he was concerned that someone was wandering about unannounced and asked me
to visit the site office for health and safety protocols.
Thankfully Rob didn’t
want me to back-track immediately and let me visit the summit first, once on
the manicured summit area I was left to enjoy the expansive view toward the
high eastern Carneddau. The high point
of this southerly summit is easy to identify and as the Trimble gathered its
allotted ten minutes of data I walked the cliff edge that makes up the western
flank of this hill.
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| Looking toward the high Carneddau from the summit of Bryn Eithin |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Bryn Eithin |
The drop plunged down
accentuating the view which was enhanced by cloudless blue sky, it was a
delight to be on such a summit and soak in the view. Once data were gathered and stored I closed
the equipment down, packed it away and sauntered down to the site office, where
I greeted Rob, signed the visitor’s book and asked him about the hill and its
name. Rob confirmed the hill is known as
Gorse Hill and unprompted referred to it as Bryn Eithin, which is the literal
translation, he then explained that the central summit is known as Bwlch Mawr,
although this is now a part of the Conwy Lodge Park.
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| The cliff top view from Bryn Eithin |
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| The view from the summit of Bryn Eithin with Cae Alen the field on the right with cattle in and Bwlch Mawr is in the centre left of this photo with its summit obstructed by trees |
Thanking Rob for his
permission to visit the summit I headed back to my car and the short drive down
on to the B 5106 road and then up toward the entrance to the Conwy Lodge Park,
where I parked near to a public footpath which heads east through the site, and
also diverts north toward the northerly summit.
The footpath led through
an enclosed avenue with high fir trees to my left and scrub land to my right,
and onwards through a kissing gate before heading across the paved access road
in the site and up another enclosed path, this led to a high metal ladder stile
which gave access to the northerly summit through an open gate.
The land where the
northerly summit is situated is named as Cae Alen on the Tithe map with the farm
of the same name situated to the north-west of the summit. Once on the northerly summit I zeroed in to
its high point, set the Trimble up and stood back as it gathered another data
set. As the Trimble beeped away
collecting datum points I watched a herd of cows as they slowly munched their
way a little nearer, thankfully they remained distant during the time I was on
the summit.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cae Alen |
After packing the
Trimble away I headed to the open gate and followed the footpath down to where
it diverts south-east, here I entered the caravan site and started my
wanderings proper. Until now the two
summits I had visited had been easy affairs to navigate, but I was now in
amongst a maze of roads with many dead ends leading into small and secluded
caravan sites. I ended up in the White
site and asked if anyone knew of a path heading up to what looked like
horrendous gorse to where I imagined the central summit to be situated. A woman said that there may be a path behind
the shower block, I found what looked like this path but it only led to a small
top enclosed by vegetation, therefore I checked the ten figure grid reference
for the summit compared to my position.
I needed to head approximately 200 metres one way and 50 metres the
other, so I back-tracked to the shower block and walked around a wide paved
road looking to my right for a path that headed up toward a fence, beyond which
I was sure this elusive central summit was placed. At last I found a path that headed up to the
fence, this could easily be circumvented and out I popped close to the central
summit.
Within a few minutes the
Trimble was set up gathering data, during the ten minute allotted data set I
sat on a narrow path overlooking the continuation of the paved road I had been
on and out toward Bryn Eithin. It felt
good to be here, seemingly without the proverbial care in the world,
luxuriating myself in autumn warmth and having now gathered data from, and
hopefully confirming, which of these three summits is the higher.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Bwlch Mawr with Bryn Eithin in the background |
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| Cae Alen from the summit of Bwlch Mawr |
It was only a short walk
back through the site to my awaiting car once the Trimble had done its stuff
and was packed away. Leaving the Conwy
Lodge Park I drove toward Conwy where I now wanted to visit Coed Bodlondeb (SH
779 781); a P30 that Mark Jackson had discovered in August 2015.
Survey Result:
Bryn Eithin (significant name change)
Summit Height: 128.5m (converted to OSGM15) (confirmed as
lower than Cae Alen)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 77584 75224
Bwlch Height: 95.5m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 77644 75447 (LIDAR)
Drop: 33.0m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 25.67% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Cae Alen (significant name change)
Summit Height: 129.1m (converted to OSGM15) (confirmed as
higher than Bryn Eithin and Bwlch Mawr)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 78116 75814 (Dominant summit relocation confirmed)
Bwlch Height: 34.8m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 77629 74003 (LIDAR)
Drop: 94.3m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch) (100m
Twmpau reinstated)
Dominance: 73.05% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Bwlch Mawr (significant name change)
Summit Height: 128.4m (converted to OSGM15) (confirmed as
lower than Cae Alen)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 77790 75561
Bwlch Height: 110.9m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 78016 75713 (LIDAR)
Drop: 17.5m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch) (100m
Twmpau deletion)
Dominance: 13.64% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
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