04.03.22 Pen Rallt (SN 951 859)
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| LIDAR image of Pen Rallt (SN 951 859) |
I had visited this hill
once before in January 2004 when it formed one of five walks during the day,
then I approached from the minor road to its west and scampered up and down in
14 minutes. Today was a more leisurely
affair, it also proved much wetter! Prior
to visiting the hill I had conducted LIDAR analysis for its summit and
connecting bwlch, and had come prepared with the necessary ten figure grid
references for both.
On my previous visit I
considered the pastured grass of a grazing field on the northern section of the
upper ridge, to be slightly higher than an artificially raised green on the
opposite side of the ridge fence and which makes up a part of Llanidloes Golf
Club. As there is a large parking area
at the Golf Club I thought this would give easy access to the high point and as
this was the third walk and fourth hill of the day it would also hopefully give
me a leisurely saunter to its summit, before visiting friends in town followed
by a dinner party later in the evening.
As I drove toward the
Golf Club the heavens opened, I hoped this would be no more than a passing
shower, but as I drew up and parked the rain battered my car for the next 45
minutes. Peering out of the rain
splattered window the sky to my north had taken on a slate grey and foreboding
look. It continued like this for quite
some time. All I wanted was a 30 minute
gap to scamper up, survey the summit and plod back down, and ideally followed
by a few minutes of dry weather to visit Penrallt; the local farm just below
the Club House to make place- name enquiries about the hill and then a few more
minutes without any rain to change and get dry and clean clothes on for my
impending evening’s entertainment.
Slowly the downpour
lessened and as what I then thought to be the last rain drops fell, I decided
to go for it and gathered all necessary equipment, locked my car and started up
a very soggy driving range toward the upper part of the golf course. As I did so it started to rain again!
Reaching the high point
of the golf course I looked out across the valley toward a greyed scene where
Bryn y Fan was silhouetted in rain, it swept across the land. Even though I had not got my wet proofs on I
would usually have just bagged the high point and very quickly descended back
to the car. However, surveying requires
a little more methodology! I decided the
best course of action was to wait out the rain and therefore I stood behind a
hawthorn tree for 20 minutes or so with my back to the rain watching it
sweeping across the land to my south. Great
drops of wet stuff fell on me from the tree, I tried shielding the Trimble
which was already switched on and logged in to a number of satellites, whilst
also shielding my camera which was dangling around my neck. I should have been more patient and remained
in my car for another 30 minutes until the grey rain cloud had definitely
passed. But here I was, getting soggy
and cold standing behind a hawthorn tree.
I related this story to a friend later in the evening; they replied that
it was a wonder I wasn’t arrested, which brought a smile to face.
The rain eventually
stopped and brought glimmers of sunshine, with the late afternoon colour to be
savoured after such wet conditions which consisted of silvered grey
dullness. I quickly left the confines of
my hawthorn tree as the last few drops of rain skirted the upper part of the
hill.
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| Bryn y Fan |
The high point of the
golf course was just behind me and I was soon on top of it looking out toward
the high point of the grazing field on the opposite side of the intervening
barb wired fence. This part of the golf
course was artificially raised and my eye agreed with what LIDAR also gives;
that the natural ground in the grazing field is higher. I was soon over the fence taking photographs
as the low light gave wonderful colour.
Soon the Trimble was
placed on what I judged the highest part of this hill and as it quietly beeped
away collecting its individual datum points I looked out toward Bryn y Fan,
which was now bathed in delicate colour.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pen Rallt |
Once the allotted five
minutes of summit data were gathered and stored, I closed the equipment down,
packed it away and sauntered back over the fence and wandered down the golf
course to my awaiting car. I now wanted
to call at the farm which is just below the Club House.
I met Janet Breeze at
the farm, her husband; Graham was out lambing.
Janet told me that the whole hill including the golf course and the high
grazing field where I had just gathered data from was a part of Pen Rallt land
and it is known by that name.
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| Janet Breeze of Penrallt farm |
I thanked Janet for her
time and drove the short distance down the access road to the Golf Club and
back in to Llanidloes to find a quiet spot to change before visiting Eryl and
Rita, followed by another excellent dinner party with much merriment and
raucous laughter at Suzanne’s. I was
home by just before midnight; it had proved a wonderful day with three walks
and four hills visited, with one marginal hill confirmed as a P30, local
farmers met, names of hills confirmed, friends visited and excellent food,
conversation and company had.
Survey Result:
Pen Rallt (significant name change)
Summit Height: 301.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 95168 85960 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 223.9m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 94689 85959 (LIDAR)
Drop: 78.0m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 25.84% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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