Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Y Berwyn

04.05.16  Moel y Gôd (SJ 072 168) 

Moel y Gôd (SJ 072 168)

Moel y Gôd is an unassuming little hill that nowadays is no more than a closely cropped grassy pasture, but it has an elegance of upper shape and quietness where its views can be appreciated without hindrance.  I approached from its north having parked beside the B 4395 close to where this road intersects with the B 4393.  Wandering down the road an occasional hum of a distant car could be heard, otherwise the whole area was still with the heat of mid-day building to the first real warmth of the year.

A track contours around this hill’s northern flank and I briefly walked on this before venturing in to the adjacent field and followed a fence line up toward the 304m map heighted northern summit.  Scattered across the land were sheep, all happy and content in the sunshine, little white dots grazing on grass.  Away to the west the high Aran stood aloof, a profiled block of mountain from this vantage point almost hovering above the landscape.

Finding the high point of the hill was an easy affair and after a few minutes on my knees assessing the lay of land from a number of directions I chose my spot, placed the Trimble on the ground and off it went collecting its customary 300 data points.

Gathering data at the summit of Moel y Gôd

Inquisitive surveying assistants

After packing the Trimble away I sauntered back over the northerly top and watched as the sheep gathered in rows marching away from me, flecks of white on an emerald green canvass.

Flecks of white on a green canvass

Once back on the road it was only a short distance to my awaiting car, this route conveniently crossed this hill’s critical bwlch, which was placed beside the road with its indicator being two water channels and a drain diagonally opposite each other. 

Having placed the Trimble on top of my rucksack to give it elevation above its surroundings and measured the offset between its internal antenna and the ground at the base of the rucksack, I waited until the accuracy level of 0.1m was attained and then pressed ‘Log’ and scampered away whilst the first of 300 data point beeps beeped away.

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Moel y Gôd

During gathering data at the bwlch I stood a safe distance away from the equipment but positioned myself on the edge of the road and therefore the one or two cars that passed during the next five minutes of data gathering pulled out to the right hand side of the road to avoid me, this at least kept the few vehicles that passed a safe distance from the Trimble.  Once five minutes of data were gathered I packed the Trimble away and headed back to the car.

Survey Result:

Moel y Gôd

Summit Height:  307.6m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 07248 16808

Bwlch Height:  270.6 (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 07121 17185

Drop:  37.0m (Sub-Trichant reclassified to Trichant)

Dominance:  12.04%

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