Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Beacon Hill

04.03.14  Moelfre (SO 121 759), Gors Lydan (SO 126 768), Warren Hill (SO

143 777), Newhouse Hill (SO 142 768) and Tylcau Hill (SO 141 762)

Gors Lydan (SO 126 768)

Ahhhh – the joys of open spaced Radnorshire with the first hint of spring’s warmth and growth under big skies with the sound of Sky Larks singing their song.  There are few better places to be.

Part of the reasoning for choosing this particular walk was to approach these hills from the south, an area I hadn’t visited before.  I also wanted to produce an accurate height for the summit and bwlch of both Newhouse Hill and Tylcau Hill as current map data has both as 486m high, whilst a basic levelling survey I conducted on each hill in September 2003 gave the higher as Tylcau Hill with 33.8m of drop and Newhouse Hill with 27.9m of drop.  It'll be interesting to see what the final results are.

At 9.15am I was knocking on the door of Lower Cae-glas and asking Barbara Gayther if I could park my car in her farm yard.  She kindly directed me toward a relatively new car park managed by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust who had bought land at the end of the paved public road.

The car park built by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust gives good access to these hills from the south

As I walked back up the road from the car park toward a track that headed west toward the first hill of the day I came across Barbara’s husband; Gerald Dilwyn in his tractor, he stopped and we chatted for ten minutes or so.  He told me that he’d been living here for 70 years and working on the land for 60, and had never seen it so wet.

Gerald Dilwyn Gayther 'It's the wettest I've seen in 60 years'

The lower section of the track matched Dilwyn’s description as it was particularly wet and muddy, but it did give easy access up to the bwlch of Moelfre.  I took data at this point and at the summit, the hill is currently listed as a Sub-Pedwar with 20m of drop, so dependant upon the processed result it may be the first extermination of a Sub-Pedwar!

Moelfre (SO 121 760) is currently listed as a Sub-Pedwar with 20m of drop

One or two spots of rain were being carried in the breeze but the forecast of the occasional shower never materialised, not on this area of land anyway.  A good green vehicle track made its way from Moelfre toward the high point of the day’s walk – Gors Lydan.  I’d only visited this hill once before in April 2000, so it was another tick for my second round of Welsh Dewey’s.

Looking back to Moelfre (SO 121 760) on the approach to Gors Lydan (SO 126 768)

The summit area is crowned by two ancient tumuli, the higher being easily identifiable.  Once the customary 10 minutes of Trimble data had been stored I had a few minutes heather bash to get back on to the track which led toward the connecting bwlch with Warren Hill.

The Trimble Ge0XH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Gors Lydan (SO 126 768)

I then took data sets at three different points at the bwlch before making my way to the summit of Warren Hill.  Another ancient tumulus crowned the high point.  With ten instead of five minutes of data now usually being taken at each point it gives sufficient time to scribble out all necessary detail and take photos.  It also gives time to look out on the land and enjoy the surroundings.  Something I do at most bylchau and summits.

Warren Hill (SO 143 777)

The summit of Warren Hill (SO 143 777)

Next point of call was the connecting bwlch between Warren Hill and Newhouse Hill, a small pond is on the area of this bwlch but the high point on the valley to valley traverse is a little further to the east.  Once another 10 minutes of data was gathered I continued up to the summit of Newhouse Hill and placed the Trimble adjacent to a mound of heather and awaited for another 10 minutes of data to be collected.

The connecting bwlch between Warren Hill (SO 143 777) and Newhouse Hill (SO 142 768)

I then proceeded down to the bwlch between this hill and the last summit of the day; Tylcau Hill.  The bwlch is a little odd as it has a large pond on it but also a long runnel that seems not to feed its water drainage in to the pond.  I looked at the bwlch from various angles, much of this was done in puzzlement, and eventually I picked my spot and placed the Trimble on the ground for another data set.  After which I visited the summit of Tylcau Hill.  

Newhouse Hill (SO 142 768)

All of these summits are connected by good green vehicle tracks.  However, most of these tracks bi-pass the summits, occasional paths can be found leaving the high point of each respective track and heading toward the summit of the hill.  But on many occasions it’s a wander through low heather to claim the high point.  All are excellent moorland hills with a quiet, open peacefulness to them.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the summit of Tylcau Hill (SO 141 762) with Beacon Hill (SO 176 767) in the background

My downward route from the summit of Tylcau Hill was on another good green track, past the renovated Newhouse Farm to the car park where members of the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust were busy at work. 

The land that the Trust has bought has been planted with saplings that in time will become an orchard, with Plum, Apple and Pear trees now growing.  As I made my way toward the car, wire was being hammered in to place around protective wooden surrounds of each sapling by a number of volunteers in the adjacent field, whilst other volunteers were cleaning the information board set up in the car park and weeding the surrounding area.  I stopped and chatted for a few minutes, one person remarked that I was the first person outside of the Wildlife Trust that they had seen use the car park, it was built four or five years ago!

I then drove the few miles to the high point of the minor road between Crossways (SO 144 740) and Felindre (SO 168 813) where I took another data set for the critical bwlch of Gors Lydan.  A very enjoyable day on peaceful hills.

The information board at the Radnoreshire Wildlife Trust car park

Survey Result:

Moelfre

Summit Height:  476.0m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 12125 75995

Bwlch Height:  456.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 12298 76143

Drop:  19.8m (400m Sub-Pedwar deletion confirmed)

Dominance:  4.15%

Gors Lydan

Summit Height:  529.3m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO  12611 76862

Bwlch Height:  403.9m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO  15275 76517

Drop:  125.4m

Dominance:  23.69%

Warren Hill

Summit Height:  506.6m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO  14385 77793

Bwlch Height:  471.7m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 13695 78097

Drop:  34.9m (Dodd, Dewey and 500m Twmpau status confirmed)

Dominance:  6.89%

Newhouse Hill

Summit Height:  485.6m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 14224 76874

Bwlch Height:  457.3m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 14184 76559

Drop:  28.3m (400m Sub-Pedwar status confirmed [Tylcau Hill is given the same 486m map height as Newhouse Hill])

Dominance:  5.83%

Tylcau Hill

Summit Height:  485.9m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 14195 76246

Bwlch Height:  453.7m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 14451 77397

Drop:  32.2m (Pedwar status confirmed [Newhouse Hill is given the same 486m map height as Tylcau Hill])

Dominance:  6.63%

The basic levelling surveys conducted on these hills in September 2003 give a good accordance with the data produced by the Trimble as Tylcau Hill has 32.2m drop (33.8m from the basic levelling survey) and Newhouse Hill 28.3m drop (27.9m from the basic levelling survey).

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}