10.04.19 Cripiau (SN 798 836), Banc yr Haul (SN 802
828), Pt. 518.7m (SN 802 825), Peraidd Fynydd (SN 811 824), Peraidd Fynydd (SN
809 825), Pt. 547.3m (SN 807 810), Cefn Croes
(SN 808 799 [bwlch only SN 806 811]) and Pt. 555.7m
(SN 803 810)
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| Banc yr Haul (SN 802 828) |
I’d been delaying a
visit to the forested delights of Peraidd Fynydd for ten years or more, but
with only a few remaining Welsh 500m P15s to visit a concerted effort was
required to get my total nearer completion, so this hill needed a visit.
By the time I left
Eidteddfa Gurig an east wind chilled to the bone and I started walking in what
would not go amiss as full winter gear.
Usually walker’s head north from this point to the higher Pumlumon
hills, but my destination today was south to open hillsides followed by
forestry and ending close to the Cefn Croes wind farm before retracing my
inward route back to the comforts of my car.
A steep uphill soon led
to the summit of Cripiau and within a few minutes the Trimble was set atop my
rucksack and data gathered. During this
process I stood with my back to the wind overlooking the descending westerly
lands toward the coast. Cloud just
skimmed the higher Pumlumon tops to my north, but this was soon blown away as
that east wind continued.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cripiau |
My next hill was due
south and known locally as Banc yr Haul, I’d visited this hill twice before,
each time surveying it. The first in July
2000 with my old basic levelling staff and the second with Graham Jackson in
February 2010 when we line surveyed the hill in winter conditions.
The land between Cripiau
and Banc yr Haul undulates and has one or two old fences crossing it; otherwise
it is bleak and wonderfully beautiful.
The connecting bwlch was soon Trimbled and I then pressed on to the
conically rising summit of Banc yr Haul which is a delight to the eye compared
to many of the rounded summits hereabouts.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cripiau |
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| Cripiau from the approach to Banc yr Haul |
I had a number of
objectives during this walk, the data from the first two hills can be compared
to LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled and the second hill’s line survey, whilst
there were two 500m P15s that I had not previously visited, the second of which
was Peraidd Fynydd with 5m contouring on the OS Maps website showing its
westerly top higher than its 547m spot heighted easterly top, I wanted to visit
each and if the Trimble behaved itself gather data from their summits. There were also two hills leading toward the
Cefn Croes wind farm with one having been surveyed with my old basic levelling
staff many years ago, this is a marginal P15, and both I planned on Trimbling.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Banc yr Haul |
The connecting bwlch of
Banc yr Haul was relatively sheltered and its critical point easy to identify
and as the Trimble gathered its customary data I stood back out of the wind
waiting patiently for the allotted five minutes of data to be stored.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Banc yr Haul |
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| Pt. 518.7m (SN 802 825) from the summit area of Banc yr Haul |
Ahead lay a steep slope
leading to a 519m spot heighted summit which was the first of two 500m P15s I
had not previously visited. Its high
point is at a junction of fences with forest butting up against the old fence
on its south-western and south-eastern sides, unfortunately for surveying
purposes its high point is positioned under a fallen tree and therefore having
taken a ten figure grid reference from its summit I positioned the Trimble away
from the trees having aligned it with the hill’s high point. Once data were gathered and stored I headed
down its slopes to enter the forest.
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| The Trimble marks the spot; at the summit of Pt. 518.7m (SN 802 825) |
When I entered the trees
my memory whizzed back to Graham and I sheltering from the snow in this spot nine
years ago as the figures from our line survey were added up. Today, conditions were more favourable,
albeit that east wind still chilled.
The gap in the trees led
to a wide sweeping corner on a part of the access track leading to the Cefn
Croes wind farm, I was now sheltered from the wind and enjoyed being in the sun. The connecting bwlch for the 519m map
heighted hill is positioned beside the wide sweeping bend of this track and
soon the Trimble was atop my rucksack gathering data.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Pt. 518.7m |
A steady plod soon
brought me to where the track continues out of the forest in a south-eastern direction
which in time would lead to the high wind turbines, but I now wanted to visit
Peraidd Fynydd and opted to take the north-eastward track leading down through
the forest to the Nant Garw Mawr. As I
walked down the track luxuriating myself out of the wind I thought that I’d
probably suffer in the afternoon sun reclaiming the height I was now loosing.
Beyond the stream the
track veered south-eastward and led to felled forestry which rather
conveniently has a narrow gravelled path of sorts which leads up to the forest
break to the south of the easterly summit of Peraidd Fynydd. So far everything was relatively easy, the
forest break is now open on its southern side and led westward to where felled
forestry ends and the conifers begin.
Entering the forest the break continued through the trees and choosing a
point to leave it I used the Trimble as a hand-held device to zero in on the high
point of the easterly top which consists of a greened area just free of trees
and in a small break of its own. I was
hopeful for satellite coverage, and waited a long time before activating the
Trimble. Before leaving I wanted to take
another data set but the equipment could not fix on to the minimum of five
satellites required before logging can start.
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| The graveled path leading up through felled forestry toward the summit of Peraidd Fynydd |
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| At the summit of the easterly of the two Peraidd Fynydd tops |
Heading through the
trees on a compass bearing I soon found myself on the continuation of the
forest break that had brought me in to the trees, and opposite a gap in the
trees led up the slopes of the westerly top.
Toward the top of the gap I turned right and followed a distinct ridge
to its high point. It was impossible to
judge which of these two tops is higher as there is no direct line of site
between them, and I had little hope of the Trimble logging on to the minimum of
five satellites, let alone gathering data, but I switched it on and left it
placed on top of a mound of moss under a tree and continued on the ridge to
check if all ground descended from this point, it did. Retracing my steps to the Trimble I took a
few photos of it on the summit and was just about to switch it off and pack it
away as it made a sound indicating that it had logged on to five satellites,
considering its position I was more than surprised and soon it was beeping away
gathering five minutes of data.
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| The route toward the summit of the westerly of the two Peraidd Fynydd tops |
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| Gathering data at the summit of the westerly of the two Peraidd Fynydd tops |
Leaving the summit I retraced my inward route back to the gap and down to the forest ride and followed this to the felled forestry and the narrow gravelled path down to the forest track where I sat on a conveniently placed bale of hay in the sunshine feeling knackered but happy.
Reclaiming height on the
forest track back to where it heads toward the Cefn Croes wind farm proved a
slow process as the sun warmed proceedings.
My efforts were broken when a vehicle pulled up, I chatted with the
driver for five minutes or so, he worked at the wind farm and was pleasant to
meet and this gave me the opportunity to recover from my uphill route.
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| The two tops of Peraidd Fynydd from the access / forest track |
As I left the forestry following the continuation of the access track toward the wind farm the next point to survey was the bwlch of a 556m spot heighted hill and its critical point was beside the track. Once data were gathered and stored I continued on the track as it calved its way through the next hill I wanted to survey with its connecting bwlch to the east of its summit and in a bog.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Pt. 555.7m |
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| The Cefn Croes wind farm |
I took two data sets on the valley to valley traverse in the bog and stumbled toward the Trimble through small tussocks of bog grass as I checked on its progress, once the allotted data were stored I switched it off and headed in the bog to the next point to survey. During this I stood back and immersed myself in the scene, these hills are wild affairs, although the wind farm has taken part of this wild quality away, however they are still pleasing.
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| Gathering data at one of two positions surveyed for the critical bwlch of Pt. 547.3m |
As I slowly plodded out of the bog and back through a gate on to the access track and up initial steep slopes to the next summit I felt wiped out and knew that the outward route would have to be taken slowly. I took data sets from two positions on the summit area of this small hill, one on an attractive grassed area and the other amongst tussocks, with the former my candidate for its high point.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 547.3m (SN 807 810) |
I only had one survey remaining that I wanted to complete but between me and it lay another bwlch, at the time I didn’t know that this is the critical bwlch connecting to Cefn Croes, but as I was passing I thought I’d better gather data from it. As the Trimble did its stuff I sat on grass beside a fence under the access track not wanting to move, just wanting to sit and recover.
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| Gathring data at the critical bwlch of Cefn Croes |
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| The last survey of the day; at the summit of Pt. 555.7m (SN 803 810) |
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| The last hill of the day; Pt. 555.7m (SN 803 810) |
All that remained was the long walk out. I’d asked the person who had pulled up in his vehicle what time the remaining workers at the wind farm would be heading down the access track to the A44, he told me at about 4.00pm. Leaving the last summit I walked down its grassed northerly ridge and made it back on to the track at 4.05pm, ate a banana and continued north slowly on the track stopping occasionally in the faint hope of hearing a vehicle approaching. Suddenly the hum of a red van rounding a corner ignited forlorn hope and I stood, smiled, and pleaded with a thumb in the air for it to stop, the driver smiled and waved and ever so slowly passed, he went so slowly that I thought he was stopping, he wasn’t, and I watched him disappear in a red dot around the next corner.
By now I thought I’d
struggle over Banc yr Haul and Cripiau on my way back to Eisteddfa Gurig, so
decided to wait at the wide sweeping corner where the gap through the trees
gives access toward these two hills, hoping for more vehicles to approach. Soon one appeared and stopped, the driver
offered to drop me at the road but couldn’t take me up to Eisteddfa Gurig as he
was already late to pick his daughter up, however he said that a delivery lorry
was on its way down the track and the driver was heading toward Welshpool. I’d waved at this same delivery lorry as it
headed toward the wind farm earlier in the afternoon, it soon appeared and the driver
took pity on me and within a few minutes I was sitting in the cab.
The driver; Keiron
Maddocks enjoyed hill walking so we happily chatted about the hills I had just
visited and his various trips to the Lakes and Scotland. I felt relieved to have got a lift and
thanked Keiron a number of times as he drove down the remainder of the track
toward the A44.
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| Keiron saved me a long walk out |
I waved him off as he dropped me beside my awaiting car, and duly paid the £5.00 parking fee putting the money through the red doored letter box as instructed. All that remained was a visit to Eryl and Rita’s in Llanidloes for a couple of hours catch up and a very welcome mug of tea and a lovely meal.
Survey Result:
Cripiau
Summit Height: 510.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 79838 83644
Bwlch Height: 485.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 79927 83280
Drop: 25.4m
Dominance: 4.98%
Banc yr Haul (significant name change)
Summit Height: 525.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 80202 82864
Bwlch Height: 495.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 80293 82632
Drop: 30.6m (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 30.6m (Level and Staff line survey)
Dominance: 5.83%
Pt. 518.7m
Summit Height: 518.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 80249 82542
Bwlch Height: 500.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 80329 82559
Drop: 18.2m (Uchaf status confirmed)
Dominance: 3.51%
Peraidd Fynydd
Summit Height: 547m (spot height prioritised)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 81166 82428
Bwlch Height: c 526m (I)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 80853 82417 (I)
Drop: c 21m
Dominance: 3.84%
Peraidd Fynydd
Summit Height: 546.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 80994 82517
Bwlch Height: c 533m (I)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 81044 82468 (I)
Drop: 13.7m
Dominance: 2.51%
Pt. 547.3m
Summit Height: 547.3m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 80706 81044
Bwlch Height: 530.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 80823 81083
Drop: 16.4m (Uchaf status confirmed)
Dominance: 3.00%
Cefn Croes
Summit Height: 573m (Lev)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 80800 79953 (HH)
Bwlch Height: 529.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 80617 81118
Drop: 43m
Dominance: 7.59%
Pt. 555.7m
Summit Height: 555.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 80394 81092
Bwlch Height: 531.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 80417 81360
Drop: 24.1m
Dominance: 4.34%
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