Hill sleuths' book uncovers Wales' most remote uplands
Wales' best-known beauty spots trip
off the tongue with ease - Snowdonia, the Beacons etc. But what of the gems we
have to search for?
They are at least 2.5 kilometres from the nearest road and have a drop of 15 metres or more from the summit to a path connecting them to other peaks.
And in some cases you would have
struggled to find them in any guide. Until now.
Myrddyn Phillips’ and Dr Aled
Williams’ new booklet Y Pellennig: The Remotest Hills of Wales catalogues the
undiscovered gems of the Welsh hinterlands.
The list evolved out of an attempt to
pinpoint the most remote spot in mainland Wales from the nearest road.
Some of the spectacular images from
the new booklet
This point was identified in the
heart of the Black Mountains in South Wales. This soon led the pair to
investigate all the hills in Wales.
But they had to decide on an
objective measure of remoteness. They came up with the definition based on the
closeness of roads that also tries to ensure individual hills are identified
rather than bumps in a range.
They settled on the 2.5km measure in
relation to roads and the 15m drop to distinguish one hill from another.
It resulted in a list of 166 hills
across Wales catalogued in their recently published booklet.
But after publishing the work, the
keen walkers discovered another hill they had overlooked.
The complete list includes 42 island hills
On a journey to Bardsey Island off the Llyn Peninsula, in
Gwynedd, Mr Phillips discovered Pen Diban on
the south of the island also fits the criteria for their booklet.
The work included another of
Bardsey’s hills, Mynydd Enlli, but made no mention of Pen Diban. Now the pair
plan to republish the work with Pen Diban included.
Retired printer Mr Phillips, 54, from
Welshpool, Powys, said: “I surveyed that
hill (Pen Diban) and it just squeezes into the list so we have a new remote
hill.
Some of the spectacular images from
the new booklet
Yr Wyddfa, part of the gallery of photographs on view |
“The main point of access for the list is the booklet and it hasn’t been put in there because it’s only been published two weeks and already we’ve got a new hill to enter the list.”
The complete list includes 42 island
hills, the majority of which are out of bounds during the summer due to seabird
nesting colonies, or their inaccessibility.
So a mainland-only list was also
devised that would be feasible for walkers to complete.
A few of the hills will be unknown to many walkers
The booklet features a diverse range
of peaks with contrasting summits, geological features and locations.
Included are the lofty tops of the
dramatic Worm’s Head, on the Gower, the lonely sentinel of Ynys Llanddwyn on
the south-western tip of Anglesey and the handful of hills found on Ramsey
Island, off Pembrokeshire.
Snowdon is the highest mountain in England and Wales, but not the most remote |
But a few of the hills will be unknown to many walkers, as the booklet represents their first appearance in a list.
The remotest hill in all of Wales also proved to be one of the lowest –
West Tump, which is a 17m high wave-battered lump of rock 16km out in the Irish
Sea, on Grassholm Island off
Pembrokeshire.
Tyle Garw, the remotest hill of mainland Wales, was found in grassland
to the south of the Black Mountain peaks in
the Brecon Beacons.
Scientist Dr Williams, 29, from
Porthmadog, said: “These distances are not great by Scottish standards, but the
perception of remoteness is, of course, relative to a particular country.
“The remote land found in Siberia is
on another scale when compared to the Scottish Highlands, and so are the Welsh
hills when compared to the Highlands.
“The booklet will assist walkers in
getting far from the madding crowd, visiting the loneliest, wild and scenic
spots in Wales”.
The book marks the latest in a series of works
The writers say every hill name has
been painstakingly researched, and the booklet also publicises some unrecorded
names from the duo’s research.
These names were given to the pair by
farmers, shepherds and landowners.
The authors say they want to
safeguard local upland names and encourage their use over invented terms with
“no or minimal historical and cultural merit”.
They hope to publish the entirety of
this place-name research to help ensure the names survive.
The book marks the latest in a series
of works Mr Phillips has been involved in cataloguing Wales’ hills and
mountains.
In 2013 Mr Phillips and Dr Williams
published what they believed was the definitive list (dubbed the Pedwars) of
the more than 400 hills in Wales between the height of 400-499m.
And with friends Graham Jackson and
John Barnard Mr Phillips has measured mountains and hills throughout Britain to
ensure they are properly classified.
In 2008, Mynydd Graig Goch on Snowdonia’s Nantlle Ridge was designated as a 2,000ft mountain as a result of
their work – it made mountain status by just six inches.
And in 2009 they proved that one of
the accepted 3,000ft Scottish Munros was below the 914.4-metre line that
defines qualification for that list.
Please click http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/heart-black-mountains-islands-pembrokeshire-9140172
to see the original article published on the Western Mail Wales Online website
No comments:
Post a Comment