17.07.21 Hergest
Ridge (SO 246 557), Hergest Ridge (SO 254 562, previously Trimbled) and Hanter
Hill (SO 251 570, not Trimbled)
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| The Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge (SO 246 557) |
The main purpose of this
walk was to visit and survey the Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge, which is now
classified as a Pedwar under National Top status. The concept of National Tops is explained in
a separate post and for the lists co-authored with Aled Williams affects two
hills, the other is Stonewall Hill (SO 318 696) which we visited and surveyed
later in the day.
This walk would also
give opportunity to visit the English summit of Hergest Ridge and extend the
walk across this hill’s broad summit ridge, to a point marked with a 417m spot
height on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps and then also visit the Pedwar of
Hanter Hill, with this and its higher neighbour separated at the connecting
bwlch by the national border between Wales and England. As the forecast gave for extremely warm conditions
we needed a relatively early start to gain the majority of height before the
heat of the day struck.
We met in Caersŵs
just before 8.00am and were parked and walking by 9.00am. I had visited these hills once before in
April 2015, on that occasion I had visited the higher English summit of Hergest
Ridge, and not the Welsh summit, and although taking two data sets from the
summit area of Hanter Hill, I failed to survey its actual summit, which we
later found to be immersed in a mass of gorse.
Approaching the hills
from the west we followed a public footpath that starts as a track leading to
Upper Hanter, which was once a farm. It
was already warm and any shaded area on the track proved a welcome relief from
the conditions that would increase in ferocity as the day progressed.
The public footpath
leads past the front door of Upper Hanter before continuing as a green track
through a gate and then onward through copious amounts of fern. As we walked past the house we said our
‘hello’s’ to a woman sitting in shade reading.
We chatted for a few moments before waving our goodbyes and continuing
up the hill.
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| On the path leading to the bwlch between Hanter Hill and the English summit of Hergest Ridge |
The greened path crept
up hill giving good views of our first objective; the Welsh summit of Hergest
Ridge, which from this viewpoint at this time of year shone green with upper
slopes of fern, middle slopes consisting of grazing fields and mature trees as
foreground, it looked a good hill and one which I had bi-passed when making an
ascent from the south-west during my only other visit to the English summit of
Hergest Ridge.
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| The Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge |
The green track
eventually led to the connecting bwlch between Hanter Hill and Hergest Ridge;
on one side of this bwlch is Wales and on the other, England. On my previous visit a small conifer
plantation was positioned just below the bwlch, this has now gone with the trees
cut down.
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| Hanter Hill from its connecting bwlch |
The bwlch is also the
meeting point of a number of tracks; we opted for the track leading to the English
summit of Hergest Ridge, leaving Hanter Hill for later. This ascent proved warm, with the left hand
side of the track giving a semblance of shade.
Reaching a T-junction of tracks we then headed south-west loosing height
as we did so, aiming for the Welsh summit and leaving the higher English summit
until after.
The new Pedwar is
covered by LIDAR, which Aled and I had analysed. The summit is close to a pool, which today
was almost dry with just the last remaining vestiges of water giving some
respite to the sheep who visited.
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| LIDAR image of the Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge (SO 246 557) |
The green track leads to
within a few metres of this hill’s high point which consists of a small patch
of gorse and fern. The concept of
National Tops was raised a few months ago and we had debated its merits and details
on a number of occasions, having done so it was good to now be here standing on
the Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge.
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| Aled heading toward the Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge |
We quickly assessed the
lay of land and having decided its high point the Trimble was soon set-up
gathering data. During data collection
Aled sat on the green track whilst I stood 50 or so metres away submerged in
bracken. Once allotted data were
gathered and stored the equipment was closed down, packed away and I re-joined
Aled on the green track and followed him back toward the higher English summit
of Hergest Ridge.
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| Gathering data at the Welsh summit of Hergest Ridge |
The upper part of
Hergest Ridge is open and any fences that exist are few and far between. On a clear day the hill gives excellent
walking on greened tracks with extensive views south to the distinctive profile
of the Bannau Brycheiniog, east to the Clee Hills and Malvern Hills, and the
higher Radnorshire hills to the west and north.
It was a joy to be back
on this hill; however conditions were decidedly warm and only on occasion did a
welcome cooling breeze drift across its upper slopes. We were soon on the higher summit which today
had a number of horses beside it. These
slowly moved away as we made our way to the highest rock that constitutes the
summit. It was time for a rest and a
bite to eat and the rocks proved an ideal place to sit and recuperate.
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| The English summit of Hergest Ridge |
We had no firm plan to
visit the 417m map heighted top to the north-east, but as another track headed
from close to its high point down to the connecting bwlch with Hanter Hill we
decided to continue on the main ridge toward it.
This top is crowned by
nine monkey puzzle trees which are an unusual adornment for any summit at this
altitude in this country. Two benches
are placed on their periphery and the larger gave another opportunity to sit
and rest. Just below the summit is the Whet
Stone, which is marked on the map. The
stone is large, but is not Neolithic and in all likelihood found its way to its
present position naturally.
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| Monkey Puzzle trees at over 400m |
From here it was only a
short distance down the track to the bwlch between Hanter Hill and Hergest
Ridge. This bwlch has been Trimbled and
LIDARed, therefore a second data set was unnecessary, however I hoped to take a
data set from the true summit of Hanter Hill; something I failed to do on my
previous visit.
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| Hanter Hill from near the Whet Stone |
The path leading up
Hanter Hill proved a hot plod. I watched
as Aled quickly pulled ahead. I paced
myself going up, stopping once to take on water, look at the expanding view and
to take a few photographs. Soon I
reached the hill’s summit area.
On my previous visit I
had taken two data sets from the summit area of Hanter Hill, neither of which
matches the position of the summit produced by LIDAR. This position is submerged in gorse. As I recovered a modicum of breath I watched
as Aled approached the gorse and headed in to it. I soon followed but wearing shorts later
emerged scratched and bloodied, with thorns still sticking in my legs.
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| LIDAR image of Hanter Hill (SO 251 570) |
When at the high point the
gorse proved so dense that when I placed the Trimble on top of it, it remained
in place. Because of this I wondered
about gathering data, but the thought of kneeling to take a measurement offset,
coupled with four journeys in and out of the gorse waiting for the Trimble to
achieve its 0.1m accuracy level before data should be locked and then waiting
for allotted data to be gathered was enough to discourage me – LIDAR would
suffice!
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 at the summit of Hanter Hill |
We now headed down to
the bwlch and followed the green track of our ascent route back to Upper Hanter
where the woman; Janet van der Linden, was still outside enjoying the morning’s
shade. We stopped and chatted, I joked
that we had wondered if on our return we would be met with glasses of
lemonade. She smiled and went inside and
brought out a jug of cold water with two glasses.
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| A welcome sight; Janet with fresh chilled water |
The water was refreshing
and from a spring, it was very welcome.
We chatted about the old farm house and the route we had taken and where
we were now heading. This proved a much
needed rest as even walking down hill in the increasing warmth proved tiring. Having thanked Janet we headed down the
continuation of the green track to the awaiting car and then headed northward
toward Presteigne, where we stopped and replenished with goodies from the local
Spar, before joining up with a narrow lane heading toward The Warren and
Stonewall Hill, the latter our second Nation Top of the day.
Postscript:
Since the survey of these hills full
LIDAR coverage is now available. The LIDAR (Light Detection &
Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is
now freely available for England and Wales. Consequently the
numerical details for these hills have been analysed using this technique,
resulting in the LIDAR height and position for some of these hills being
prioritised in
preference to that produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000.
Survey Result:
Hergest Ridge
Summit Height: 401.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000) (Pedwar addition under National Top status)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 24693 55769 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 269.5m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 22053 55707 (LIDAR)
Drop: 131.5m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 32.80% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Hergest Ridge
Summit Height: 426.9m (converted to OSGM15, from previous
Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 25435 56259 (from previous Trimble GeoXH
6000 survey)
Col Height: 269.5m (LIDAR)
Col Grid Reference: SO 22053 55707 (LIDAR)
Drop: 157.4m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
col)
Dominance: 36.88% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
col)
Hanter Hill
Summit Height: 415.0m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 25199 57096 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 346.9m (converted to OSGM15, from previous
Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 25392 56820 (from previous Trimble GeoXH
6000 survey)
Drop: 68.1m (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000
bwlch)
Dominance: 16.41% (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000
bwlch)
For details on the survey of
the English summit of Hergest Ridge and the bwlch survey of Hanter Hill
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
