20.03.15 Courthouse
Bank (SJ 247 183)
The summit of Courthouse Bank (SJ 247 183) |
The last time I had seen
a weather forecast for this morning it said that a cloud bank was pushing south
and would be over the part of Wales where I live during the morning hours. When I woke up to bird song and bright skies
it was a surprise, I also didn’t know what time it was as my watch had stopped
when out on the hill yesterday. I soon
found out it was 7.00am and as I opened my bedroom curtains blue sky invaded.
With over two hours
until the partial eclipse of the sun was to take place I quickly sorted my
walking gear and started looking at maps for a suitable wee local hill to visit
and watch as the moon slowly sank over the sun.
I’d watched the 11th August 1999 eclipse with friends from high
on the Black Mountains and had watched the transit of Venus across the sun from
the summit of Mynydd yr Hewyrch, time and inclination dictated that this
morning’s destination was to be a little less ambitious.
After studying the maps
I decided on Courthouse Bank which is a local P30, I decided on this hill as I
had not visited it, it had a public footpath to its summit and had no specific
absolute height on any map that I had seen, it was also only 20 minutes by car down
the road from where I live.
I parked just off the lane
at the start of the driveway that goes upto a property named Courthouse. The next few minutes were spent walking up
three different driveways trying to find the public footpath that led up the
western ridge of this small hill. I asked
one occupant who was busy emptying his bins where the footpath lay, he directed
me back to where I had parked and said that he thought it was at the back of
the Courthouse. I then quickly walked
back down his drive, investigated his neighbours drive, backtracked again and
walked up the drive next to where I had parked.
All these properties are rather grand with the backs of these houses
adjacent to the footpath and where I wanted to be.
The back of the
Courthouse looked promising and I opened a gate into a paddock which gave
access to a field which had a number of horses in it. Just as I was shutting the gate a voice rang
out ‘excuse me, where are you going?’, I said hello and chatted to the woman
who had seen me walking around the back of her property, I explained I was
looking for the public footpath and she kindly directed me back to her
neighbours house, which was the second property I had investigated. As I walked back up her neighbours drive the
woman directed me around the back of a garage to where she thought the footpath
lay. She had pre-warmed me that it was
full of brambles, she was not mistaken.
The footpath to this hill approaching from the west is not recommended
as gorse and brambles pre-dominate. I
disappeared around the back of the garage, clambered over a fence and bi-passed
the brambles by climbing another fence, I was now in the upper part of the back
garden of the first property that I had investigated, the one where the man was
sorting out his weekly refuse collection.
I crouched down and quietly walked up to the next fence which gave
access into a field. I was now adjacent
to the path which was on the other side of a fence and looked as if it had not
been used in decades.
Within a few minutes I
was at the summit of Courthouse Bank, the high point is beside the ridge fence,
ten or so metres away from a mature tree.
The summit is rather attractive with a slightly rising ridge which
steepens on its north and south sides.
It looked particularly welcome on such a morning with the sun ablaze and
blue skies above.
The summit ridge of Courthouse Bank |
Across the Severn Valley
the Breiddin were a greyish tinge of a silhouette and to the north the shapely
wooded summit of Bryn Mawr (SJ 251 190) looked down on the mid Wales landscape.
Bryn Mawr (SJ 251 190) |
Once I had chosen the
spot for the Trimble I set it down on the ground, pressed ‘Log’ and left it to
gather its data. It was now 9.07am and
the sun was a white streak of light in the sky, I then put on my Eclipse Shades
and looked up, the moon was slowly edging its way down across the
north-easterly part of the sun, which through the shades took on an orange
colour with the moon blacking out its bulk, this was not evident from the naked
eye as the sky was clear of clouds. It
was also not evident from photographs taken directly into the sun, these came
out showing the orb as a bright white mass with no partial eclipse
evident, what was needed was slight
cloud cover, but alas bright blue skies were the order of the day. The only way I could take a photograph which
showed the partial eclipse was through the eye piece of the Eclipse Shades. By doing this the sun appeared small and crescent
shaped with the moon merging into the black coloured sky.
The only way I could photograph the partial eclipse of the sun was through the eye piece of my Eclipse Shades, in the background is the Breiddin |
At 9.20am the partial eclipse was nearest its fullest for this part of the country |
At 9.30am the sun was no more than a crescent shaped disc and the land had dimmed of bright colour |
At 9.30am the fullest
eclipse for this part of the country occurred, just before this I turned the
Trimble off after it had collected 20 minutes of data. By now the landscape had taken on a dimmed
coloured effect, one that resembled the heralding of dusk, it felt unerringly
odd at this time of day and especially so on such a beautiful and clear spring
morning.
Gathering data at the summit of Courthouse Bank |
By the time I left the
summit of Courthouse Bank I’d been on top for over 30 minutes happily watching
the transit of the moon across the sun, considering the coincidence of the
mathematics, distances and sizes of the objects involved it was a stunning
thing to watch.
I now wanted to visit
this hill’s critical bwlch which is positioned to the west of the hill; I
straddled the ridge fence and wandered down another field in a dimly lit trance
as a tractor across the way chugged about its business. Finding the footpath towards the bottom of
this field which would take me over the connecting bwlch proved fun and
involved back tracking on a couple of occasions and clambering down through
undergrowth to straddle another fence.
Once on the expansive field of the bwlch its position was relatively
easy to judge and after five minutes of data were collected I packed the
Trimble away, climbed a roped up gate and sauntered into the farmyard of Coed
Mawr.
Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Courthouse Bank |
Busy at work were the
Pryce brothers; Alun, Dave and Neil. I
stopped and chatted for a while, Alun said that they had viewed the partial
eclipse through their welding goggles.
Busy at work at Coed Mawr farm, the Pryce brothers; (L-R) Alun, Neil and Dave |
After ten minutes of
conversation with Alun, Dave and Neil I continued through the farmyard and
walked down onto the continuation of the Courthouse Lane, turning left took me
back to my car. As I walked up the lane
the first Daffodils where pushing out from their slumbering bulbs as birdsong
rang out from the blue sky, the changing of the season seemed complete with
spring now here.
Survey Result:
Courthouse Bank (significant name change)
Summit Height: 149.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 24787 18328
Bwlch Height: 115.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SJ 24276 18362
Drop: 33.6m (100m Twmpau status confirmed)
Dominance: 22.45%
Dominance: 22.45%
For further details please
consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}
3 comments:
Definitely was a lovely morning for the partial eclipse. I was not very far away at all, just across the border at Webscott trig (Harmer Hill). These celestial events really align your consciousness with the vastness of the cosmos. Days like Friday certainly help to give one a little perspective about running around to and from random points on hill lists scattered about our fair planet.
Just savour each and every day out and the freedom to come and go here and there as you please.
Look forward to the next time, Alex
Hi Alex, good to hear from you. I'm afraid my attempts at 'eclipse photography' didn't do the event justice, but it was a lovely morning and very unusual when the light dimmed dusk-like at 9.30 in the morning.
I think you did an excellent job, all things considered with what were difficult conditions. Much better than my attempt to photograph it directly through the shielding metalwork of Harmer Hill mast. Have you had local confirmation that Courthouse Bank is the accepted name? Hill Bagging has it down as Cefn Briw, though this doesn't really seem right and I'd agree that Courthouse Bank is more appropriate.
I've been spending a good many days out in the area so far this year bagging by train and bike so I'll probably work my way over to this particular P30 in the coming weeks and months. I may even make it to Welshpool once or twice before the summer is out :).
Cheers, Alex
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