22.05.19
Maen Esgob (SH 748 759), Craig Celynin (SH 746 733) and Cerrig y Ddinas
(SH 754 739)
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| Cerrig y Ddinas (SH 754 739) |
There are few places in
Wales where two or more new P30s adjoined to one another are waiting to be
found. The north-eastern Carneddau is
one such example, specifically the land adjoined to, and to the north-east of
Tal y Fan, where three hills are situated that are potential new P30s; Maen
Esgob, Craig Celynin and Cerrig y Ddinas.
LIDAR analysis has
helped in determining the P30 prospects of these three hills, and with Maen
Esgob having broken through the magic P30 barrier all that remained was to
confirm this with a Trimble survey. The
remaining two hills; Craig Celynin and Cerrig y Ddinas have partial LIDAR
coverage with Aled Williams having initially LIDARed the former’s bwlch and I
then LIDARed the latter’s summit. What
was now required was a circuit of these three hills gathering Trimble bwlch and
summit data for each.
There are limited parking
places on the narrow roads leading in to these hills, but by 9.55am my car was
squeezed off one of these lanes and I was heading on a track designated a public
footpath leading to the house of Hafodty.
Some of the higher near
hills were still blanketed by morning cloud caps, but otherwise conditions were
perfect with a slight breeze and a comfortable walking temperature. Beyond the house of Hafodty the track led to
a path on upper grazing fields which soon came to another track which was my
onward route toward Craig Celynin after the planned survey of my first hill of
the day; Maen Esgob.
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| Craig Celynin from the approach to Maen Esgob |
The ten figure grid
reference produced by LIDAR analysis for the bwlch of Maen Esgob zeroed me in
to the position for Trimble placement, which was beside a greened track leading
westward. As the Trimble gathered data I
walked further down the track to take a couple of photos of Llyn y Wrach, which
today looked rather forlorn with dried outer edges and shallow water.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Maen Esgob |
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| Llyn y Wrach |
A good path led from the
bwlch to the hill’s summit where before placing the Trimble on top of its flattish
summit rock I tidied the remains of its cairn which had been pushed from its
perch. According to LIDAR this hill has
30.6m of drop and as such it means that Maen Esbob is Wales’ newest P30.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Maen Esgob |
Once the Trimble had
gathered its allotted data I packed it away and re-joined the greened track and
followed it southward pausing at a stone circle on the way. A number of these stones are now recumbent
and embedded in the ground with two remaining uprights, one of which is tilted,
but still looking impressive.
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| Maen Esgob from the approach to the stone circle |
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| The most impressive of the monoliths |
I passed a small herd of
wild Carneddau ponies soon after and again stopped; these animals are always a
joy to be near with their wildly wind-blown manes and dappled colouring. Today the one that stood out was a brown foal
who stood and watched me as I watched it framed by blackened burnt heather.
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| One of the wild Carneddau ponies |
The greened track soon
led me to a stream and then rising slopes toward the connecting bwlch of Craig
Celynin. The critical point was again on
a greened track, and after talking with a fell runner who was out scouting an upcoming
event, I set the Trimble up and proceeded to gather its third data set of the
day.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Craig Celynin |
Craig Celynin is a
potential new Pedwar and if it made the all-important 30m of drop it would be a
fine addition to this list as its summit is crowned by a series of rocks, the
highest of which soon had the Trimble aligned to its very highest point and
individual datum points being gathered and stored.
By now the slight breeze
of the morning had increased in strength, and as the Trimble gathered summit
data on top of Craig Celynin I sat on a near rock and looked out on this
stunning part of Wales with breeze blown thoughts cascading through a contented
mind.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Craig Celynin |
Leaving the summit I
retraced my route back to the bwlch and continued around the northern part of
Craig Celynin on the greened track, only diverting from it in favour of a sheep
path. This led me to a walled greened
track leading up and around to the old church of Llangelynin, which nestles
amongst the hills and almost merges with its landscape.
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| Llangelynin |
This church was
mentioned in documents dated 1254, it breaths oldness and tranquillity, a place
apart from modern day. As I opened the
heavy wooded door a sign above it made me smile.
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| The sign above the front entrance |
The interior transports
back to a time and place now forgotten, with painting on the north wall of the
chancel, including text and a skeletal figure looking rather ominous against
the white washed interior walls.
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| Inside the old Church |
I left and encountered
increasing wind as the door was closed behind me. A stoned ladder led over a near wall and gave
access to the area of the connecting bwlch of my last hill of the day; Cerrig y
Ddinas. The bwlch was again beside a
greened path, come track and as the Trimble slowly ebbed down to its 0.1m
accuracy level before data should be logged, I sat on a near rock and
luxuriated myself in the afternoon sunshine.
However, it took an age for this accuracy level to be attained, but once
the 0.1m figure showed on the equipment’s screen I quickly pressed ‘Log’ and
sat on my rock whilst data were gathered.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Cerrig y Ddinas |
A path from the bwlch led
around an intervening lump toward steepening slopes giving access to the rocky
summit cone of Cerrig y Ddinas. This
consists of a huge rock tapered toward the customary drop, and by the time I
arrived on its summit the breeze had developed to gusting wind, and with
Trimble oblivion awaiting below the summit I set the equipment up aligned with
the highest part of the summit rock, and attached it to its dog lead. I use the dog lead as a safety precaution as
it enables me to sit close to the Trimble and importantly below its internal
antenna whilst data is gathered, and with the equipment attached to my hand via
the lead, if it was blown off its airy perch I would be able to stop it
tumbling to a rocky death many metres below.
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| The impressive summit rock of Cerrig y Ddinas |
As the Trimble beeped
away collecting its individual datum points I squeezed in to the rock below it
and waited for the allotted data to be stored.
After taking a few photographs I gathered all my gear and made my way
down to the leeward side of a near rock to sit and pack all necessary equipment
away.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cerrig y Ddinas |
It was only a short walk
from the summit retracing my inward route toward a fence, which gave access
down grazing fields toward a gate and the narrow lane which led back to my car. The walk had taken five hours with six data
sets taken and three hills visited, with some interesting results pending!
Postscript: Two out of three new P30s ain’t bad!
Survey Result:
Maen Esgob
Summit Height: 300.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 74877 75900
Bwlch Height: 269.2m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 74870 75664
Drop: 30.8m (Sub-Trichant reclassified to Trichant)
Dominance: 10.26%
Craig Celynin
Summit Height: 404.8m (converted to OSGM15) (significant height revision)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 74667 73373
Bwlch Height: 377.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 74604 73263
Drop: 27.7m (400m Sub-Pedwar status confirmed)
Dominance: 6.85%
Cerrig y Ddinas
Summit Height: 313.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 75427 73948
Bwlch Height: 283.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 75140 73786
Drop: 30.5m (Sub-Trichant reclassified to Trichant)
Dominance: 9.73%
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