01.07.23 Pt. 506.0m (SN 817 554)
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| Pt. 506.0m (SN 817 554) |
Back to the forested
hills above the Tywi valley today, and with only six hills remaining to
complete the Welsh Highlands list and with the encouragement from Aled the plan
was to knock another one off the ever decreasing total. This hill was my main objective of the day
and is listed as Esgair Gerwyn (SN 788 586), however as a higher prominence
hill which is classified as a Dewey is positioned conveniently across the
valley and on the way to Esgair Gerwyn, it seemed wise to visit the Dewey first
and make more of the day by doing so.
We were parked at the
start of the forest track leading toward the summit by 8.50am. Stepping out of the car was a shock as a
chilled breeze blew with flecks of wind-blown drizzle adding merriment to the
scene; therefore I put my lightweight fleece on and was glad for its extra
warmth.
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| Heading up the forest track |
The gate at the start of
the forest track was locked, which wasn’t a surprise. Soon on the other side we made good progress
up the track as drizzled showers pushed inland toward us. Looking toward the bleak grey skies to the
west the cloud was just above the hills, and one of these was Esgair Gerwyn. In time the cloud base would rise and patches
of direct sunlight would appear, adding flashes of intensified colour to the
scene. This was highlighted by the
deepening grey sky, which always intensifies colour when direct sunlight is at
play.
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| Flashes of sunlight between the showers |
As height was gained we
passed a section of felled forest, with machinery beside the track, with cut and
stacked logs neatly arranged for pick-up.
A short distance beyond and Aled called back that the summit area was
free of trees, which was an unexpected bonus.
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| One of the hazards of visiting forested tops |
Prior to tree felling
this section of the hill had two fire breaks leading up toward the summit. The second of which took you very close to
the high point. This is what I found on
my only previous visit in June 2003.
These fire breaks were still evident on the ground, the first adjacent
to the still standing mature trees and the second further in to the felled
section. It was this second fire break
that would lead us toward the summit.
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| A pleasant surprise when the summit area came in to view and it was free of trees |
Considering the whole
summit area of this hill had recently been felled the going underfoot was
relatively easy as we left the confines of the track and headed toward the high
point, Aled had recently analysed this hill with new Welsh LIDAR, and using the
Trimble GeoXH 6000 as a hand-held device soon took us to the LIDAR high point.
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| Heading up the fire break |
The felled section gave
a number of advantages; easier access to the high point, a summit that could
now be Trimbled and the prospect of a view, the latter was only partial as more
mature conifers were in front of us.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 506.0m (SN 817 554) |
By now the intermittent
drizzled showers were massing to wind-blown rain which swept across the summit
as the Trimble beeped away collecting its individual datum points. Once allotted data were gathered and stored I
closed the equipment down, wiped the screen to dry it off and down we went back
on the easier ground of the fire break to the forest track. It was here that Aled set off farther in to
the forest to visit a sub hill positioned at SN 825 540, whilst I headed down
our inward route enjoying the freshness of drizzle and the view farther west,
which was now slate grey with more rain massing.
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| Aled heading off toward the Welsh Highland Sub which is in the background on the left |
Once back at the car I
quickly sorted my gear out before sitting in the driver’s seat with a bite to
eat, water and a good book. About an
hour after I had arrived, Aled appeared with stories of conifer bashing to get
to the trig pillar at the summit of the sub hill. I was glad that the subs had not yet entailed
a compulsive bagging mentality in me!
Survey Result:
Pt.
506.0m
Summit Height: 506.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 81733 55429 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 462.7m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 81897 54586 (LIDAR)
Drop: 43.3m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 8.56% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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