20.05.23 Esgair Pentanau (SN 846 703) and Esgair y Llyn (SN 841 701)
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| Esgair Pentanau (SN 846 703) |
The uplands in the
central belt of Wales are always a pleasure to visit. Their quality are emphasised by their
openness and remoteness. Few fences
cross their wild depths and only an occasional narrow mountain road pass
through them. On a good day when the
weather is fine they give so much when their seemingly unending beauty
stretches to the horizon. It was one
such day when we visited the remote hills of Esgair Pentanau and Esgair y
Llyn. Even though I’d previously visited
their higher neighbours on two occasions I had not visited these two hills and
the walks to their higher adjacent hills were in 2003 and 2005 and therefore 18
years had passed since I was last in this area, and that timeframe only
highlighted how wondrous these hills are.
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| Glanhirin |
On my previous visits to
this area I had sought and been granted permission to park at Glanhirin; a
remote farm in the wilderness of the Elenydd that is hidden from view when
travelling on the mountain road between Rhaeadr Gwy and Aberystwyth, and one
that can only be accessed by a 1½ mile long track that
crests its high point and then descends toward the farm. I again sought and was granted permission to
park. The farmer was a delight to speak
with and I remember her showing me their Angora Goats in 2003.
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| The route to the hills |
By 8.20am I was parked
at Glanhirin and soon afterward Aled and I were heading past the farm house to
the first of two gates leading on the continuation of the track toward the
hills. Soon afterward the track split and
we veered left and lost height at it descended to cross the Nant
Cerrigyrhelyg. Beyond the stream the
track gained height and then petered out to a quad bike track on the moor. This we followed ever upward. The forecast for the day was ideal with a
cooling north-easterly breeze and any cloud soon burnt off by an increasingly
warming sun. As we followed the quad
bike track there were now only blue skies above.
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| Looking back toward Glanhirin |
The quad bike track
follows the crest of the Escair Cormwg ridge and this was the way I headed to
the higher hills on my last visit in 2005.
But whereas I continued on this ridge until reaching the summit of Blaen
Rhestr, today we veered off it and headed rightward and descended to a small
outcrop of attractive rocks before contouring around a near bog, this led to
the remains of what is marked on the map as a water course. We then followed this as it contoured its way
toward Llyn Cerrigllwydion Isaf. The distinctive
call of Canada Geese greeted us as we approached the lake. Even though our route to this point had been
relatively easy, we were still in some of the most remote land in Wales and the
lake was one of those land points aimed for and now reached.
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| Typical unrelenting Elenydd territory |
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| Our first glimpse of Llyn Cerrigllwydion Isaf |
As Aled settled down to
have a bite to eat I used the Trimble as a hand-held device to zero in on the
ten figure grid reference Aled had ascertained from his recent LIDAR
analysis. Once at the critical point the
Trimble was set-up on top of my rucksack, the measurement offset noted before
setting it to gather its allotted data.
During data collection I sat with Aled and stared out across the beauty
of the lake and those wild higher hills beyond.
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the bwlch of Esgair Pentanau |
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| Esgair Pentanau from its connecting bwlch |
This bwlch connected
with the summit of a Welsh Highland Sub that Aled had only recently confirmed
its status, its summit had stared out at us as we headed toward the water
course before reaching the lake, and its high point was crowned by a large
boulder. Once data at the bwlch were
gathered and stored we headed toward its high point.
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| Nearing the summit of Esgair Pentanau |
As we neared the top the
boulder grew in size, I’ve visited many Welsh hills over the years and a few
have large boulders crowning their summits, but I can’t think of any that match
this wondrous rock for its size. The
boulder was split with its larger section taking in its high point; this gave
us a gap to get in to before clambering up to its highest point. Aled led the way as I took photos. It was soon my turn, neither am I as young or
lithe as I used to be and this scramble involved a little huffing and puffing,
but soon I was on the top with Aled. It
was a great place to be looking down and across the expanse of the near lake.
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| Aled at the summit of Esgair Pentanau |
After setting the
Trimble up to gather summit data I sat perched on a narrow ledge and tried to
keep my head below the equipment so as not to disturb satellite reception. Once allotted data were stored I closed the
equipment down, took a few photographs and watched as Aled now sprang up the
opposite side of the boulder and re-joined me on the summit. I soon slithered back down in to the gap and
eventually onto the comfort of terra-firmer below.
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| Setting the file up in the Trimble GeoXH 6000. Photo: Aled Williams |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Esgair Pentanau |
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| Sitting on the large boulder waiting for the Trimble to gather allotted data. Photo: Aled Williams |
Esgair Pentanau is an
excellent addition to the Welsh Highland Subs and is an ideal example of when
the quality of a hill should not be judged by its prominence alone. We now headed back to the lake where a quad
bike track headed west toward the lower slopes of Esgair y Llyn, for me this
was the main objective of the day as it knocked off another one of my ever decreasing
Welsh Highland P15s that remained to be visited. However, for Aled it was just a staging point
as he would then head up to the higher hills.
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| Esgair y Llyn (SN 841 701) |
By now the day was
warming up. Again the ten figure grid
reference generated by Aled’s LIDAR analysis led us to the summit of Esgair y
Llyn, one more down and just a few more to go.
Having set the Trimble up to gather data I joined Aled and happily ate a
slice of cake he had kindly saved for me.
It was another lovely place to sit and relax, but whereas the previous
summit had been exciting and dramatic, this was a more leisurely affair with
tussock grass and moorland surrounds as our companions.
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| Approaching the summit of Esgair y Llyn |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Esgair y Llyn |
We now headed down to
its connecting bwlch where the critical point was found to be in a bog, which
today was thankfully relatively dry.
Once the equipment was set to gather data I again sat with Aled and
waited for the allotted data to be gathered and stored. We now went our separate ways, Aled toward
the higher near hills and me back down toward Glanhirin. My route down proved slightly torturous but still
utterly beautiful.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Esgair y Llyn |
My aim was the beginning
of another track that re-joined our inward one and which led back to
Glanhirin. To get there I had to contour
the land below the main ridge which would now always be on my left. This involved using narrow sheep paths that
went this way and that through a never ending landscape of tussocks. Progress was slow.
Leaving the bwlch I
contoured the western flank of Esgair y Llyn before heading down to cross the
Gamlas Las, sheep paths shot off in all directions and all through mounds of
grass tussocks. I now had the option to keep
high and try and avoid bog or head lower to where we had spotted a route toward
the track that at least used green sections of grass. I decided to keep high and continued
contouring the land using ever narrower sheep paths. I stopped once at a small rock where I sat,
ate a boiled egg and marvelled at the land hereabouts; it was unrelenting in
nature, with miles of open land, much of it consisting of tussock grass.
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| Looking a bit weather beaten during my rest on the small rock |
Eventually the beginning
of the track leading to Glanhirin came in to view and all I now had to do was
contour around a large expanse of bog and join a quad bike track on the moor
that gained height and then descended toward another smaller bog, just beyond
was the track. When I reached it I sat
and celebrated by resting and eating a banana.
Unbeknownst to me, Aled had just spotted me from above as he headed
toward the sub of Bryn Mawr.
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| Glanhirin was a welcome sight |
As I headed down the
track to Glanhirin I knew in hindsight I should have continued up to the high
point of the ridge at Cnapyn Drawsffos and followed the good vehicle track on
the moor down toward the track leading to Glanhirin, this would have saved me
an awful lot of slow cumbersome walking.
However, the land I walked through was wild and stunning and I’m glad I
had the chance to experience it.
Before leaving Glanhirin
I left a note thanking the farmer for letting us park and all that remained was
the drive back up the track to the bwlch connecting with the 400m Sub-Pedwar of
Lan Fraith, before downward to the flat bridge just before the minor mountain
road where I had arranged to wait for Aled.
However, as I drove to the bwlch who should be standing on the track but
Aled, he had arrived about a minute earlier and had made good time considering
the territory he had just walked through.
It had been an excellent
day on the hill amongst some of the most unforgiving land Wales has to offer,
however those quad bike tracks certainly help.
Such days replenish the soul leaving memories that last.
Survey Result:
Esgair Pentanau
Summit Height: 504.2m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 84648 70308
Bwlch Height: 493.2m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 84472 69977
Drop: 11.0m (Welsh Highland Sub addition)
Dominance: 2.18%
Esgair y Llyn
Summit Height: 528.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 84116 70174
Bwlch Height: 513.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 83810 70088
Drop: 15.6m (Welsh Highland P15 addition) (Y Pellennig addition)
Dominance: 2.96%
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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