05.04.15 Clee Burf
(SO 593 842)
Clee Burf (SO 593 842) |
Having visited
Titterstone Clee Hill (SO 591 779) and Hoar Edge (SO 596 768) earlier in the
day I drove northward and parked at the start of a forest road (SO 599 830),
which heads up from Thorn Lane to a number of houses that are steeply
positioned to the west of the forestry.
As I wanted to survey
the col and summit of Clee Burf I had devised a small circular route that would
leave the higher Brown Clee Hill for another day. The route toward the connecting col was
peaceful with blue skies and accompanying bird song and led me through a number
of fields, all connected by footpaths and small stiles, the last of which led
through a paddock with a number of contented grazing horses.
Beyond the paddock I
joined a steep lane which led to forestry, as I debated whether to use the
forest track or a field adjacent to the felled patch of conifers a runner
bounded up the lane, we chatted for a number of minutes, he lived at the last
house on the lane and had been out visiting Brown Clee Hill and Clee Burf, he
advised me that the forest track was probably easiest to use but the field
would also take me to where I wanted to get, I opted for the field and slowly
gained height before accessing the forest track through a gate.
By now the blue sky had
been replaced by another swathe of murk that always threatened to push in from
the east, this at least quietened the heat of the day. The forest track contoured past Boyne Water which
is an unexpected lake nestled between conifer plantations, beyond the lake the
forest track made its way past the remains of Burwarton Pole which was an old
house, come farm, high on the hill, later in the day I would meet the son whose
father used to live in this house.
Boyne Water |
The forest track led to
a path crossing a high field before it re-entered a deciduous wood which gave
access to the boggy col between Brown Clee Hill and Clee Burf. This col had two large puddles which were
almost small ponds, each were muddy, the one slightly more northward had two
outflows which to me indicated that the critical col was placed just beside the
surface water. As I was assessing the
lay of land at the col I chatted with a few people, the first threesome
comprising a family who helpfully gave me an independent assessment of where
the true col lay, the second twosome were birders enjoying the day on the hill.
Gathering data at the col area of Clee Burf |
Brown Clee Hill from the connecting col with Clee Burf |
Once the Trimble was
packed away I followed a green path up the hillside past the small nobble of
Green Lea to the summit of Clee Burf, this as its counterparts has a large mast
on its summit area, with its highest point laid back from the mast and being a
large embedded rock, as the Trimble gathered its data I sat on another rock,
ate a butty and looked down on the continuation of my route which was through
another large bog.
Gathering data at the summit of Clee Burf |
Beyond the bog was more
forestry with the open moored path now being enclosed by steep sided banks as
it headed south-westward quickly loosing height. I wanted to divert from this path and use a
track that eventually led down through the forest back to my car, the only
problem was that the access to the track was through the end house and the
access to the house was over a gate with barbed wire on the top, which was a
sure sign that this was private land.
Not wanting a detour I headed over the gate and smiled at the people at
the house who were happily chatting in the sunshine. Thankfully they didn’t mind me using their
field and track, we chatted for quite some time with the man telling me that
his father used to live at Burwarton Pole, which was the remains of the old
house I had passed earlier on the walk.
I thanked them for letting me use the track and continued on my way into
the forest and down to my car.
LIDAR col image of Clee Burf |
Postscript:
Since the survey of this hill LIDAR has become available. The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales. Consequently the numerical details for this hill has been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for its col being prioritised.
Survey Result:
Clee Burf
Summit Height: 510.4m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 59361 84264 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Col Height: 449.0m (LIDAR)
Col Grid Reference: SO 59678 85326 (LIDAR)
Drop: 61.4m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)
Dominance: 12.03% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)
Dominance: 12.03% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)
For further details please
consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}
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