Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Y Berwyn

19.05.19  Foel y Groes (SH 918 235, previously Trimbled), Moel y Cerrig Duon (SH 923 241, previously Trimbled), Moel Eunant (SH 946 238) and Allt yr Eryr (SH 958 232)

Foel y Groes (SH 918 235)

Many years ago my main impetus were the 2,000ft mountains of Wales and having visited these on a number of occasions, I started to investigate new ground adjoined to them, including many unvisited ridges and using different descent routes.  However, amongst many untrodden parts of these higher mountains was the extended easterly ridge of Moel y Cerrig Duon, which is a great lump of a hill easily accessed from the convenience of Wales’ second highest public road at Bwlch y Groes.  I’d picked off the two lower heighted hills on this ridge, which involved quick heather-bound stomps from the southerly valley below, but had not visited the ridge in its entirety; until today.

The opportunity to do so came when Aled suggested a two car walk with this ridge and surveys of its two lower peaks the priority for the day.  We met in the car park on the northern edge of Llyn Efynwy (Lake Vyrnwy), leaving one car on the minor road leading to Bwlch y Groes, and taking the other to the high point of the road.

Great swathes of near hills played with bulbous cloud formations as we headed toward this high car park, with light and shade dappled against the land as morning sunshine broke through the grey murk that predominated.  Thankfully our chosen hills were clear of mist and soon we were following the narrow path beside a fence crossing the summit of Foel y Groes and making progress up the steepening slopes of Moel y Cerrig Duon.

Morning clag clearing

On our way toward Moel y Cerrig Duon

The high Aran still battled with morning cloud with their lower easterly outliers highlighted in sunshine, with this accentuated by shadowed near hillsides; it felt wonderful to be out in such a place.  This feeling usually follows me when on the hill; it gives feelings of euphoria even during the most exhausting of times.

The high Aran cloaked in early morning cloud

Leaving the summit cairn atop Moel y Cerrig Duon the continuation of the land following its easterly ridge looked particularly uninviting as mounds of darkened heather were on show, and although a semblance of a narrow path strode confidently beside an adjoining fence heading toward the connecting bwlch with Moel Eunant, this soon petered out, leaving us to stumble our way through the heathered undergrowth.

The heathered expanse of Moel Eunant and Allt yr Eryr

The critical bwlch for Moel Eunant was relatively easy to pinpoint with the help of a ten figure grid reference ascertained from 5m contouring on the OS Maps website, and the Trimble was soon set up gathering its customary five minutes of data.  Conditions overhead had by now quickly changed, with the early morning’s sunshine replaced with deep grey gloom pushing in from the north-west with the hills around Arenig Fawr looking dark and forlorn.

Gathering data at the bwlch of Moel Eunant

A heathery plod led to the summit of Moel Eunant which was easily distinguished atop its heathered small knoll, and again another data set was soon gathered and stored.

Gathering data at the summit of Moel Eunant

The next point to survey was the critical bwlch of Allt yr Eryr which is currently listed as an Uchaf with the minimum qualifying drop of 15m.  Two data sets were taken from the area of this hill’s bwlch with the second our favoured position for its critical point.

Gathering data at the bwlch of Allt yr Eryr

The grey gloom had now immersed the high Aran and intermittent wafts of breeze blown drizzle fell, heralding what looked like heavy downpours to come.  Thankfully these did not materialise, although light wafts of rain met us at the summit of Allt yr Eryr, where two further data sets were taken, before Aled led the way down the rough slopes of the hill toward my awaiting car.

Gathering data at the summit of Allt yr Eryl

The descent took just over 30 minutes, with blue bell fields peering back at us over the Eunant Fawr, all that was needed was a burst of sunlight to highlight their delicate colour, but grey was now the order of the day.

Looking across the Eunant valley to hillsides of bluebells

We arrived back at my car after almost five hours on the hill.  The ridge from Moel y Cerrig Duon heading east was wonderful to visit, although we both commented that we wouldn’t be heading back to its heathery confines anytime soon.

 

Survey Result:

Foel y Groes

Summit Height:  580.9m (converted to OSGM15) (from previous Trimble survey)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 91835 23507

Bwlch Height:  560.5m (converted to OSGM15) (from previous Trimble survey)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 92028 23791

Drop:  20.4m (500m Sub-Twmpau status confirmed)

Dominance:  3.51%

  

Moel y Cerrig Duon

Summit Height:  624.3m (converted to OSGM15) (from previous Trimble survey) 624.5m (Leica RX1250)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 92349 24147

Bwlch Height:  545.4m (converted to OSGM15) (from previous Trimble survey)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 91331 23270

Drop:  79.1m (Leica RX1250 summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)

Dominance:  12.66% (Leica RX1250 summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)

  

Moel Eunant

Summit Height:  566.9m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 94660 23861

Bwlch Height:  534.5m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 93602 24414

Drop:  32.3m (Dewey, Dodd and 500m Twmpau status confirmed)

Dominance:  5.70%

  

Allt yr Eryr

Summit Height:  542.4m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 95845 23277

Bwlch Height:  527.4m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 95615 23600

Drop:  15.0m (Uchaf status retained)

Dominance:  2.77% 

 

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet.