26.08.24 Mynydd St Ioan (SH 979 202), Mynydd St Ioan (SH 973 202) and Pt. 503.5m (SH 959 199)
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| Mynydd St Ioan (SH 979 202) |
The land above Llyn
Efyrnwy can be an unremitting place to visit, with miles of pathless moor where
heather predominates. The hills within
this land are not distinctive, with many no more than rounded bumps on a
seemingly never ending ridge. I’d
visited many of these hills over the years, and always come away with a feeling
of it being a wild area where few people outside of local farmers and an
occasional hill bagger venture. Although
many are indistinctive; the hills are usually tranquil affairs, with no more
than scattered sheep and birds of prey as company.
Today I was out with
Aled, who wanted to visit and survey part of Mynydd St Ioan, whose main summit
forms the last major hill on the broad ridge that takes in the land on the
southern side of the reservoir. All of
the lower slopes, both north and south of this lake are forested and it was a
forest track that would take us up on to the open moor.
We met at a large
parking area adjoined to a picnic site close to the house of Llechwedd Du. Before starting our walk we took both cars
further west and left one at the end of the track that descends from Hafod
Fudr. This would be waiting for us after
our descent. We then drove back in the
other car to the picnic area and started our walk.
It was good to be out
with Aled, who I hadn’t seen for a number of months. Walking on the paved road toward the main
access lane to Llechwedd Du gave a semblance of easy walking before the uphill
started. The lane leading to the house
had two tangled clumps of ivy cascading down from tree branches overhead. It was more reminiscent of what may be encountered
in a rain forest rather than the quiet surrounds of this part of Wales.
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| Looking down and across Llyn Efyrnwy |
Beyond the house we were
soon on rutted forest tracks that led up toward an easier gravelled track that
in time brought us to the gate giving access on to the moor. Overhead the sky was grey and ominously so
with specks of wind-blown drizzle falling.
This was only slight, but in time on the hgher tops would bring a
chilled feeling to hands and eventually turn to rain.
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| The rutted and very muddy forest track |
The underfoot conditions
were never difficult, but were mainly pathless, with only a semblance of a
sheep path found. We headed toward a
prominent boncyn via the first of the days bogs. These proved a slushy affair with lots of
standing water interspersed amongst the greenery of such places.
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| Heading toward the hills |
Contouring the higher
slopes of the boncyn brought us directly beneath our first hill of the
day. This is the one Aled wanted to
survey as LIDAR gives it just over 500m in height with just over 10m of drop,
both are qualifications for P10 sub status that accompanies the main Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru list.
The ten figure grid
reference produced from Aled’s LIDAR analysis brought us to its high point, and
within a few minutes I had reacquainted myself with the workings of the Trimble
and it was sitting atop my rucksack gathering allotted data.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Mynydd St Ioan (SH 979 202) |
I found the view from
here amazing. It consisted of ridge upon
ridge of moorland hills and all today bathed in grayness. Such views are heart warming and especially
so when having been away from the hills for awhile. What amazed me more than anything else was
the openness. It was uplifting to be
here, both physically and mentally. Such
places are to be savoured.
After the Trimble was
closed down we headed further west to its connecting bwlch with the main summit
of Mynydd St Ioan. Finding a relatively
dry area to place my rucksack with the Trimble on top of it proved a difficult
procedure as the ground was laden in bog.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Mynydd St Ioan (summit at SH 979 202) |
I now had a chose;
continue on the ridge with Aled or descend our inward route back to my awaiting
car at the picnic area. The main summit
of Mynydd St Ioan looked tantalisingly near, and the route beyond didn’t look
to bothersome on the map and the planned route down also looked good, so on we
went. This meant that Aled would curtail
his route which he had planned to include Mynydd Coch and another hill beyond
before descending toward Hafod Fudr.
This would have been a wild walk to do and especially so in the weather conditions
we were now encountering, as when we crested the upper part of the next hill we
had views farther west toward what would be the higher Aran, but all were
bathed in a grey murked mass signalling rain heading our way. Thankfully our part of the ridge was never
under cloud and the greyness and rain added an unusual quality to the walk as
it emphasised the bleak, but beautiful nature of these hills and the land they
are situated in.
We didn’t survey the
main summit of Mynydd St Ioan, as LIDAR would suffice. I had visited this hill before in November
2006 ascending from the south via the farms of Maes-y-carneddau and Cefn-coch. On that day I also included Pen y Ffridd
Cownwy. The weather then was similar to
today; grey and bleak, but without the drizzle and rain.
Descending to another
bog enshrouded bwlch we pressed on up the slopes of another small bump that
LIDAR gives as just failing to meet P10 sub status. This would be our final surveying objective
and again the ten figure grid reference produced from Aled’s LIDAR analysis
brought us to its high point. The
Trimble was soon set up gathering data.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 503.5m (SH 959 199) |
Leaving the summit the
first vestiges of the promised finer weather emerged from above as glimpses of
brightness amongst the swirl of grey cloud could just be seen. We were soon at the bwlch. Here I noted the LIDAR position before using
the Trimble as a hand-held device to zero in on its critical point. During this bog trot, Aled headed up to the
next bump on the ridge. By the time he’d
visited its summit and headed back down the Trimble had done its stuff and allotted
data were gathered and stored.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of Pt. 503.5m (summit at SH 959 199) |
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| Leaving the area of the bwlch |
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| Heading down toward Hafod Fudr |
All that remained was
the descent to the awaiting car below. We
followed a green runnel beside a bog enclosed steam as it slowly left the upper
bwlch on its downward journey to flow in to the Hirddu Fach. The slopes soon steepened before we joined a green
track leading down to a bridge and then the slight up hill leading to sheep
pens adjoined to the remains of the old house of Hafod Fudr.
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| The old house of Hafod Fudr |
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| Hafod Fudr |
This old dwelling is
placed at the meeting of the Hirddu Fach and Hirddu Fawr and must have been a
remote place when inhabited. Just beyond
I rested next to a large Ash tree, sitting down to take my one skin jacket off
as the conditions were now verging on being barmy. Looking down to the stream all I could hear
was the rustle of breeze as it skimmed across the land and the rather welcoming
echoes of falling water as the stream tumbled its way down toward the
reservoir. It felt good to be out in
such a place.
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| Clumps of wet moss gave a tranquil scene on the descent |
The track soon led us
back to Aled’s car, passing on the way a large canopy of succulent moss with
droplets of water cascading from it. We
stood and looked at this for a minute or so, I’d seldom seen such a thing. The car proved a welcoming sight after hours
on the moor.
Survey Result:
Mynydd St Ioan
Summit Height: 499.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 97938 20254
Bwlch Height: 489.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 97773 20223
Drop: 10.5m
Dominance: 2.10%
Mynydd St Ioan (significant name change)
Summit Height: 512.9m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 97379 20286 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 489.1m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 96246 19964 (LIDAR)
Drop: 23.8m (LIDAR)
Dominance: 4.64% (LIDAR)
Pt. 503.5m
Summit Height: 503.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 95985 19925
Bwlch Height: 494.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 95867 19927
Drop: 9.1m
Dominance: 1.80%
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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