28.03.19
Cerrig Gwaun y Llan (SN 865 779), Cistfaen (SN 867 775) and Llechwedd y
Cloddiau (SN 853 786)
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| Cerrig Gwaun y Llan (SN 865 779) |
In June 2008 I tramped
through copious amounts of rough tussock grass approaching from the south to
visit the 535m map heighted summit of Cistfaen (SN 864 771) and retraced my
steps happy in the knowledge that I’d bagged another 500m P15. However, summit locations are prone to change
and a few years later when the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local appeared on the
Geograph website, the connecting forested summit towards the north-east was
given a 536m spot height. Therefore, I
wanted to visit the new summit and if conifers permitted gather Trimble data
from its high point.
The weather forecast was
set fine for the day with light breeze, blue sky and increasing warmth and I
was parked beside a cattle grid at the top of the dead end road at the base of
a track leading to the mast atop Llechwedd y Cloddiau and ready to head in to
more tussocks by 8.15am. I’d been this
way before in April 2000 and March 2009 and remembered it being rough underfoot
with a semblance of a sheep track / narrow path easing passage toward the
summit of Cerrig Gwaun y Llan, and I wanted to take advantage of this before
the summer months when the rough grass of the Elenydd can hide any semblance of
path and make walking particularly difficult.
From where I parked two
fences lead down in to the land of tussocks, I followed one and soon made my
way to the connecting bwlch of my first hill of the day; Cerrig Gwaun y
Llan. Considering the open nature of
this land and the underfoot conditions it was not too difficult to pinpoint the
area for this hill’s critical bwlch and the Trimble was soon atop my rucksack
gathering its customary five minutes of data.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cerrig Gwaun y Llan |
As I stood at the bwlch
the only sound that pervaded this land was that of Sky Larks, with soothing
incessant song they accompanied me for large stretches of the walk; and proved
a welcome backdrop to the wild land of the Elenydd.
A path of sorts headed
up from this bwlch and I started on it and soon lost any semblance of its
continuing direction and slowly stumbled the remainder of the way on to the broad
tussock and heather bound summit ridge of Cerrig Gwaun y Llan and veered right
to walk toward its high point on the southern periphery of its summit plateau.
Gentle blue sky shone
from above as the Trimble gathered its customary summit data set, as I stood
back waiting for the 300 individual datum points to be stored I wondered what
the tussock grasslands would be like for the continuation of the walk toward
the forest ride that would give access toward the summit of the 536m map
heighted hill.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cerrig Gwaun y Llan |
The walk down to the
next connecting bwlch positioned close to the forest ride was broken by a
number of large rocks strewn on the moor; a welcome addition for the eye
compared to an otherwise bleak but wonderful scene of open moor and quietness.
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| The forested summit of Cistfaen from the approach to its bwlch |
The position of this
critical bwlch proved relatively easy to pinpoint and again the Trimble was
soon set-up gathering data. Ahead of me
I could see the start of the forest break that led up toward the summit of the
hill I wanted to visit and after the Trimble was closed down and packed away I
headed toward it.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cistfaen |
The forest break proved
relatively wide compared to many that I’ve ventured on to over the years and formed
a cross roads higher on the summit ridge.
With the bisecting break from the south-west connecting to the lower
535m map heighted summit of Cistfaen, whilst this same forest ride continued to
my left toward the higher map heighted summit.
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| The forest break leading to the summit of Cistfaen |
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| The way up on the left and the summit on the right |
Once at the summit I
waited an inordinate amount of time for the Trimble to slowly ebb down toward
its 0.1m accuracy level before data should be logged and stood silent in shade
where nothing stirred with a canopy of blue sky and succulent greens of
conifers above. Every five minutes or so
I would dash toward the Trimble to check on its downward progress and walk away
knowing that my wait would be a long one, eventually I activated the equipment
and waited patiently for it to gather and store data.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cistfaen |
I now had to retrace my
inward route, down through the forest break and across the bwlch, up past the
rocks and over the summit of Cerrig Gwaun y Llan and down through the tussocks
and heather to its connecting bwlch.
During this my mind wandered and trance like I made steady progress,
enjoying the wild land whilst listening to the accompaniment of those ever
present Sky Larks.
My original plan was to
include a visit and survey of Cefn (SN 851 772) which connects with these
hills, but I also wanted to head toward the north-eastern Pumlumon range and
re-survey Y Grug (SN 840 934) for Uchaf status, and with a visit to the trig
pillar and ancient cairn on Llechwedd y Cloddiau which was positioned above
where my car was parked, I decided the survey of Cefn could wait for another
day and headed up following the inward fence to the minor road and forest track
that leads toward the mast positioned close to the high point of Llechwedd y
Cloddiau.
Entering the forest on
the track I was met by the gentle scent of pine needles and instantly
transported back to a walk through pine forests on Cyprus where piecing blue
sky radiated from above. The forest
track soon led me to the mast and a muddied and wet forest break then led
onward toward the ancient cairn and trig pillar which constitutes the summit of
Llechwedd y Cloddiau.
The trig pillar is
positioned in the centre of an ancient cairn which has been re-made to form a
wind shelter, although nowadays the forest canopy will give protection from the
incoming wind. The land beside the
ancient cairn is now vegetated and on its north-eastern side almost reached the
highest rocks of the cairn and as this was solid I decided to place the Trimble
here considering it now a part of the hill.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Llechwedd y Cloddiau |
As data were gathered I
stood beside the conifers and waited and looked at the moss on trees, the many
hued greens and the morning light, it was a quiet scene and one that I
appreciated.
All that remained was to
retrace my steps back toward the mast and the forest track leading downhill to
my awaiting car. I now wanted to head
toward Y Grug for a series of summit and bwlch surveys that I hoped would
determine the hill’s status.
Survey Result:
Cerrig Gwaun y Llan
Summit Height: 538.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 86560 77993
Bwlch Height: 484.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 85778 78270
Drop: 53.6m
Dominance: 9.96%
Cistfaen
Summit Height: 535.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 86787 77515 (summit relocation retained)
Bwlch Height: 512.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 86609 77748
Drop: 22.3m
Dominance: 4.16%
Llechwedd y Cloddiau
Summit Height: 559.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 85382 78688
Bwlch Height: 518m (SH)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 85314 79750 (SH)
Drop: 42m
Dominance: 7.45%
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