07.06.26 Ysgwydd Hwch
(SO 052 379), Lan (SO 052 391) and Yr Allt (SO 059 390)
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| Yr Allt (SO 059 390) |
This year’s Relative Hills Society (RHSoc)
dinner was held in The Wellington Hotel in Brecon. It was the first time I had attended since my
guest speaker slot at Shifnal a few years ago.
The evening was very enjoyable and especially so as our Y Pedwarau table won the quiz. Afterward I sauntered back to my car to find
a quiet spot to overnight. This was next
to a waste disposal site, which doesn’t sound very pleasant, but the area was
quiet and out of the way with only one car passing the junction at the end of
the road as I prepared my bed for the night with stars appearing in a clearing
sky. The following morning after boiled
eggs and samosas for breakfast I drove to Talgarth to the New Gurkha Inn to
meet Mark Trengove, who had over-nighted there.
After his breakfast and packing his car we headed off to the hills.
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| A nice quiet spot to spend the night |
Our plan for the day were three forested Pedwar
hills to the north of Talgarth, and as the days forecast gave strong blustery
wind the confines of the forest would at least give us shelter. Our first attempt at finding our parking
place ended in failure with me leading the way and trying to navigate with an
OS map. We ended up back on a main road
having driven about six miles on narrow country lanes. Our second attempt was led by Mark using his
SatNav, this thankfully proved successful and soon my car was parked at the
start/end of a forest track to the north-east of the small community of Llaneglwys. Mark then drove to the start of our walk
which had a convenient small parking area and picnic tables.
Close to where Mark parked his car was the
forest track leading to our first hill of the day. We set off walking at 10.40am, with the wind
blowing and if the forecast was correct, dry overhead conditions until late in
the afternoon when more rain was predicted to head in from the west.
A clearing on our left gave views looking south
toward the high Beacons, except for Pen y Fan all just clear of the grey
murking cloud. It made a tranquil scene
with greened fields as foreground, and all the more so as we didn’t expect many
opportunities for extensive views during the entirety of the walk due to the confines
of the conifer plantation we were now walking up in to.
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| Looking out toward the high Beacons |
As we approached the first summit and our high
point of the day; Ysgwydd Hwch, we encountered a section of felled forestry, this
gave a semblance of view. But as usual
such places are scattered with tree debris that is both an unruly mess to look
at and also a hell to walk through.
Thankfully the continuation of the access track we were now on which led
toward a tall mast and small compound made our upward progress relatively easy.
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| Mark heading on the access track toward the summit of Ysgwydd Hwch |
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| Approaching the summit of Ysgwydd Hwch |
The area of the high point was not difficult to
find and aided by the ten figure grid reference attained from LIDAR analysis we
were soon standing on the summit. Shortly
afterward I had the Trimble assembled and gathering data. However, as I stood below the equipment I
considered this position to consist of accumulated debris and therefore
man-made, because of this I took a second data set a few metres away at the
base of a tree stump.
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| Gathering data at the first of two set-up positions at the summit of Ysgwydd Hwch |
Once data were gathered and stored I closed the
equipment down and as I was just getting ready to take a few photographs I saw
a figure standing beside the edge of the small compound enclosing the mast, he
was smiling and waving my way; it was Alex Cameron who had also been at the dinner
last night and who was on one of his mammoth overnight walks with these same
three hills his destination. I hadn’t
seen Alex on the hill in quite some time and although Mark and I had wondered
if any other fellow hill bagger may be on these hills today, it was still a
surprise to see him. Hugs were had and
we continued the rest of the walk as a threesome.
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| The second of two set-up positions at the summit of Ysgwydd Hwch with Alex the unexpected visitor in the background |
Our onward route was now following forest tracks
north-eastward before swinging west where our track bisected another coming in
from the south which was an alternate option to get us from the summit of
Ysgwydd Hwch to this point. On the way
the view opened toward our next two hills.
From this direction they looked deeply forested, but thankfully the
trees on each were mature and proved easy to walk through and therefore reach
the summit of each hill. All around was
greenery with succulent ferns and moss encrusted old branches backed by the strong
wisps of wind that cascaded over the hills.
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| On the forest track between Ysgwydd Hwch and the small pool |
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| Summer greenery |
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| Lan (SO 052 391) |
As we lost height part of the forest had been
felled with the diggers in situ awaiting the next working day and the logs
neatly stacked awaiting removal. Close
to was a small pool that Mark had spotted, we stood beside it for a few minutes
enjoying the tranquil scene.
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| The forest track leading down toward the small pool |
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| Mark beside the small pool |
The next part of the walk was back on to the
continuation of the forest track as it headed uphill. For me I was now in head down and plodding
mode. Gone are the days when I could
tackle such ascents relatively easy and quickly, a sad indictment of getting
older when the body and its capabilities change. Soon we turned right on to a green track
which in time led to a narrow path on our right leading in to the main conifer
plantation. The narrow path was part of
a series of mountain bike trails through these woods, with others evident in a
few places. All were welcome and this
one was a delight to walk on as it took us forever higher through the wood. The path eventually swung around and ended up
within a few metres of the high point of this our second hill of the day.
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| Entering the wood on our way to the summit of Lan |
This hill was originally listed by the name of
Llaneglwys Wood. A name I invented when the
Welsh 400m hills were first compiled.
Its listed name was changed to Lan in 2016 when Aled consulted the Tithe
map and this is how it has appeared in the Y
Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales list ever since.
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 positioned at the summit of Lan |
Having reached the top it was time to have a
rest. Alex sat and took his boots off to
give his feet time to heal from those many hours of overnight walking, whilst
Mark and I pottered about checking grid references and judging any potential
high point for their claim to be the summit position of the hill. Having chosen our preferred candidate I
positioned the Trimble on top for the customary photograph. I had no intention of trying to gather data
from this summit due to the overhead canopy of trees and therefore soon joined
the others for a restful few minutes having lunch.
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| Time to rest |
As the remains of my treats consisting of a Polish
sausage and oat biscuits were packed away, it was time to set off and Alex led
the way on the continuation of the narrow mountain bike trail as it quickly
lost height heading in the direction of the green track that had given us
access to the upper part of the hill. The
path was more indistinct on this side of the hill, but nonetheless still easy to
follow.
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| Heading down from the summit back on to the green track |
Having regained the green track, it soon veered
left and then immediately right and now continued with an open field on our
right. This part of the walk I found particularly beautiful as the long grass in the field swayed to the rhythm of
the wind. We stopped to take photos of
the conifered upper part of our last hill of the day; Yr Allt which is another
name derived from the Tithe, with the farm to the south giving the name of the
hill away; Danyrallt, under the allt.
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| Yr Allt from the connecting green track between it and Lan |
By now I was progressively getting slower
compared to Alex and Mark. Alex is a
strong walker and even with a large heavy rucksack was much quicker than me
during the whole walk, whilst Mark is a good steady walker and who kindly
waited for me to come in to view at any major turn to make sure that I did not
overshoot as I brought up the rear.
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| On the green track leading to the narrow path on our right in to the wood |
We now headed in to the wood on what looked like
a form of path; however we soon left this and headed up through the trees with
Mark guiding the way toward the summit with the aid of his hand-held GPS. Thankfully the summits of Lan and Yr Allt are
both within mature forest, making walking between the trees easy. I found this delightful and such a change
from what can become an unruly obstacle course when further progress up or many
times even down, seems next to impossible due to the confines of conifer trees.
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| Extraordinary mosses on our way through the wood to the summit of Lan |
Having reached the summit we did the customary
things, stopped, chatted, took a few photos and then debated the best way to
get off the hill and back to my awaiting car.
We had a couple of options and eventually decided to backtrack to the
inward green track, this continued down the hill but was seemingly barred from
further progress due to one of the rare felled trees across the path that we
encountered during the day. Mark
considered backtracking and taking a detour, but thankfully Alex went ahead to
investigate and once on the other side called us on.
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| The summit of Lan |
The green track swung southward around the
eastern face of Yr Allt and then doubled back on itself now heading
north-eastward and all the time loosing height.
This again was a delightful part of the walk, easy underfoot with occasional
brambles and nettles to bi-pass, all of which were easy to avoid and all the
time the greenery of summer was on display with succulent growth appearing all around.
We were nearing the end of the walk; all that
remained was finding a way down on our right either over a barb wired fence
giving access through a long grassed field down to the minor road close to
where my car was parked, or another route down which Alex and Mark were now
investigating. This consisted of yet
another delightful narrow path on the edge of the wood and beside the boundary
fence with the field beyond.
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| Mark on the narrow path leading back to the forest track and the car |
We stopped for a few minutes as the view opened
toward the masted summit of Ysgwydd Hwch.
From this direction the whole upper hill seemed to consist of a mass of
confined forestry, as indeed all three hills seemed to be so from a distance. Thankfully for the enjoyment of today’s walk
each proved otherwise.
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| Ysgwydd Hwch (SO 052 379) |
We were soon at my car, and a few minutes later
at Mark’s car at the small picnic area.
All that remained was the drive back to Welshpool and three welcome mugs
of tea before Mark took Alex to Flint railway station for his train home. It had been another good day on the hill in
the company of two good friends with another three Pedwar hills visited.
Survey Result:
Ysgwydd Hwch
Summit Height: 455.7m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 05233 37909 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 386.6m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 03872 38847 (LIDAR)
Drop: 69.0m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 15.15% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Lan (significant name change)
Summit Height: 413.9m (LIDAR) (significant height revisions)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 05239 39141 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 377.2m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 04853 39386 (LIDAR)
Drop: 36.7m (LIDAR) (400m Sub-Pedwar reclassified to Pedwar)
Dominance: 8.87% (LIDAR)
Yr Allt (significant name
change)
Summit Height: 407.0m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 05914 39093 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 364.7m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 05578 39234 (LIDAR)
Drop: 42.3m (LIDAR)
Dominance: 10.39% (LIDAR)
My thanks to Alan Dawson with
help processing these data
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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