06.10.18 Dinas Dinorwig (SH 549 652)
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| Dinas Dinorwig (SH 549 652) |
Dinas Dinorwig is a part
of the Glyderau lowlands as them succumb to grazed fields and eventually the
sea. The hill is situated near the small
community of Bethel and as its name implies the upper part of the hill has the
remains of an ancient Iron Age hill fort on it with the ramparts now infested
by small trees, brambles and high bracken, making the hill well protected from prospective
visitors.
I’d visited once before
in May 2004 when the hill was listed as Pen Dinas, which is the name of the
farm nestled below the northern part of the upper ramparts.
Prior to my second visit
I analysed the summit and bwlch of this hill with LIDAR, and found that the contouring
give a part of the upper ramparts as higher than the grazed inner part of the
hill which is crowned by two rocks on what looks like a slightly raised old
grassed cairn.
As the ancient ramparts
and their brambled and brackened defences would give a testing ascent I thought
enquiring at Pen Dinas if I could park and use a path beside the farm to visit
the summit would be a more convenient approach.
As no one answered when I knocked on the door I parked my car, left a
note on the dashboard explaining where I had gone and who I was, and up I went
with Trimble in hand.
A grassed path led
around the side of the farm through the upper rampart to what I expected to be
a grazed inner part of the hill, I was surprised to be met by a friendly horse that
now has the run of this part of the hill as a paddock.
I wondered how the horse
would react with a surveyor wandering in his domain; I should not have worried
as the horse remained inquisitive and very friendly during my stay in his
paddock. After gently talking to and
stroking the horse we seemed on best of terms.
The high point of this
part of the hill was easy to determine and as I set the Trimble up the horse
showed more interest in what I was doing than many of my hill walking friends. Once the equipment was in position I slowly
backed away and hoped the horse would follow, thankfully it was now more
interested in me than the Trimble and off we sauntered to the edge of the paddock,
and during data collection the horse remained close nuzzling its head toward me
on occasion.
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| My new surveying assistant |
I now wanted to take a
data set from where LIDAR gives the summit of the hill to be situated, but all
I could see was a mass of bramble and undergrowth. I gave up on my first venture in to this
almost impenetrable jungle and decided to approach from a slightly different direction;
I was soon standing in bracken that was well above my head, a novel experience
to say the least. I wondered what the
horse was making of it all.
As I slowly waded
through the undergrowth the first signs of an embankment came in to view, this
was no more than a rise of bramble and stunted trees, but there was something
definitely there, I struggled on and eventually clambered up on to one of the
inner ramparts and looked steeply down to a ditch, which again was swamped in
all manner of undergrowth.
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| Somewhere up there is the summit of Dinas Dinorwig |
I checked the grid reference
on the Trimble’s screen against the summit position from LIDAR and stretched
out a boot cladded foot to touch the highest part of ground which was under a
stunted tree and more bramble and looked at where I was now standing, deciding
that it would be next to impossible to set the Trimble up let alone gather data
from this position I decided that LIDAR alone would suffice for the position
and height of this hill’s summit.
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| On top of the ancient embankment |
As I clambered down from
the rampart I was met by what I initially thought to be a swarm of flies, they
were diffused in late afternoon sunlight, their small silhouettes difficult to
detail, but I became aware that they were yellow as one landed on my fleece
coat, I’d disturbed a bee’s nest and they were not happy. As I looked at the bee on my coat which was just
under my chin I felt a sharp pain in my upper right arm, one had stung me, I
wondered if it was under my fleece or had gone for the direct approach landing
on my fleeced arm and attacking me from there.
Whatever its approach I did not hang around and quickly left the
undergrowth and the bees to their own devices.
The thought of attempting to gather Trimble data from the embankment was
now a definite non-starter!
Before leaving I went
back to the rock in the centre of the paddock and compared the grid reference
for its position against that produced by LIDAR, and again the horse sauntered
toward me and inspected the Trimble, a gentle soul who I patted my goodbye’s to
before walking the short distance to the farm and my awaiting car, rubbing my
right arm as I did so.
Survey Result:
Dinas Dinorwig (significant name change)
Summit Height: 169.6m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 54955 65254 (LIDAR) (summit relocation confirmed)
Bwlch Height: 131.8m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 54648 64645 (LIDAR)
Drop: 37.8m (LIDAR)
Dominance: 22.29% (LIDAR)
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