Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Carnedd Wen

 

15.09.20  Pt. 185.9m (SO 181 991) 

LIDAR image of Pt. 185.9m (SO 181 991)

Having just visited Beddau (SO 185 977), the next hill on the route devised from Alex’s 23 hill screen grab was positioned across and to the north of the A483 road.  Leaving the A road we headed up a narrowing lane toward our next hill; the second of what was hoped to be 13 during the day. 

When I compiled the Welsh P30s that were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website I’d used an invented name for this hill; Bryn y Garthmyl, with an accompanying note stating; Named from surrounding district.  This name sounds clumsy to the ear and an obvious imposition upon the hill.  This is also the name used in the listing of Tumps collated by Mark Jackson, so the duplication of much of the Welsh segment of the Tumps from work I originated seemingly went beyond the 400m and 300m hills.  Sadly the Tithe map does not document a field name for where the summit of this hill is positioned, so for now it is being listed by the point (Pt. 185.9m) notation.  Although the Tithe map does not document a field name the hill is covered by LIDAR and prior to our visit I had used this to produce a summit and bwlch height. 

We found a suitable pull-in spot close to a gate which gave access to the hill.  This is to the west of the summit and is the high point of the narrow lane we had driven up as it heads from a south-east to a north-west direction. 

A vehicle track on the rising field led toward an area of mature trees, either side a number of cows were quietly munching away, with a few noticing our arrival.  Cows are inquisitive creatures and usually friendly enough and over recent years I’ve had a number of encounters with them whilst surveying, and on every occasion I’ve found them docile and usually initially inquisitive, with a farmer who I recently met describing them as playful on occasion. 

The ten figure grid reference produced by LIDAR analysis led us to the high point of the hill, and by the time we stood on its summit a group of cows was quietly approaching to within a few metres of where the Trimble was being set-up.  I gently raised my arms and guided them away.  They remained compliant during data gathering occasionally raising a head and looking our way, probably wondering what on earth we were doing. 

Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 185.9m (SO 181 991)

The weather was forecast fine all day and warming with sunshine during the morning and high cloud pushing in during the afternoon.  The hill was bathed in a morning glow, one of awakening, with higher distant hills just blued grey silhouettes across the intervening valley. 

The blued grey silhouette of Corndon in the distance

The customary five minutes of data were gathered before I closed the equipment down and joined Alex as he was on a cow hunt for our birth years.  He’d already found his stamped on the rear end of one of the cows and was now pointing toward another which had the number 1961 stamped across its hind-quarters; my year of birth. 

Alex heading back down the hill

All that remained was the gentle plod down the way we had come, past the cows and through the open mature trees to the gate giving access back to the narrow lane.  By the time we reached the car it was 9.00am.  We had eleven hours to play with from 8.00am to our 7.00pm cut-off point when we would need to consider heading back to Welshpool for Alex’s 7.55pm train connection, so two hills done and one hour gone, our leisurely schedule was on course for at least ten of the planned 13 hills. 

 

Survey Result:

 

Pt. 185.9m (significant name change) 

Summit Height:  185.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 18181 99192 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  131.5m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 16899 99363 (LIDAR)

Drop:  54.4m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  29.28% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

 

 

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet