10.07.18 Fron Bank (SO 078 708), Buddugre (SO 089 700)
and Cwm Faerdy Bank (SO 078 695)
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| Fron Bank (SO 078 708) |
With the weather predicted
to be slightly cooler than of late this proved an ideal circuit of three hills,
starting from the convenience of the minor road that heads north-west toward
the small community of Abaty Cwm-hir (Abbeycwmhir).
I was walking further up
the road by 9.00am having travelled from Worcester, and although slightly
cooler the cloud heralded a muggy day on the hill. Leaving the lane another minor paved road headed
north-east and gained height toward the old farm of Fronrhydnewydd.
Adjacent hillsides were
parched and dazzled in a yellowish tinge, with the overall colour to the land
one that I had not seen in many years. I
accessed the field leading to the summit of my first hill through a gate, by
now the sun had broken through the cloud and the clear heat of the last few
weeks was replaced with a sun scorched humid feel where beads of sweat trickled
down my face and quickly dropped to the floor as with face down I slowly
plodded uphill.
I’d read reports that
the high point of this hill was on an elevated hedge bank and LIDAR analysis
had confirmed the summit to be positioned on or just to the south of this
embankment. As I gained height Buddugre
stood across intervening land, rising to a long rounded ridge, with Llywy
majestically alone, with its felled forested summit looking invitingly high
against a backdrop of grey cloud whilst sun highlighted its lower slopes.
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| Buddugre (SO 089 700) |
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| Llywy (SO 055 704) |
Reaching the high point of the northerly field adjacent to the elevated hedge bank I peered through toward the southerly field and judged that a little higher, and therefore used a gate for access and did likewise when at its high point, resulting in the same conclusion. As I deemed the hedge bank to be a recent man-made construct I positioned the Trimble on a fence post and took a measurement offset to the highest land at the base of the embankment.
As the Trimble was
positioned against a hedge I took a ten minute data set, once complete I closed
it off, packed it away and exited the field through a different gate and
wandered back down to the minor paved road.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Fron Bank |
The connecting bwlch for
this first hill is positioned on the access track to Troed-rhiw-felen farm,
with its critical point in the middle of the track which at this point has tree
coverage on both sides. Although I set
the Trimble up, I closed it down after five to ten minutes as the accuracy
level had not been attained and as this point has LIDAR coverage an accurate height
value had already been obtained.
I then visited Bernie
Pugh at the farm, once I’d introduced myself and explained my interest in local
hill names he invited me in and offered a cup of coffee, we sat for 20 minutes
in his conservatory as the fan blew cooling air and talked about local history
and hill names. Bernie’s family had been
living at Troed-rhiw-felen since 1868 and the northern section of the hill I
had just visited is a part of this farm’s land and he explained that the
northern and eastern part of the hill is known as Troed y Felen Bank, whilst
the southern and western section is known as Fron Bank, both unsurprisingly
taking their names from near farms, with the designated boundary being the
hedge bank, I told him I had just visited and thought the land of Fron Bank to
be slightly higher and Bernie was in agreement.
He also said that he knows the hill with the wind turbine on top, which
was my third and last hill of the day, as Cwm Faerdy Bank, again after the farm
of Cwmfaerdy which is below the hill to its north.
After thanking Bernie
for his time and the mug of coffee he kindly directed me on to the correct
track from the side of his farm and gave me directions toward my second hill of
the day; Buddugre.
The earthen track
quickly gained height with the view back toward Fron Bank opening up, the land
resembled a scene from southern Spain with parched dried fields and a heat
induced stillness pervading all around.
Once on the broad
northerly ridge of Buddugre it was only a short distance through a field of
thistles to its summit which has a small concrete structure beside its high
point, this I judged to be an embedded rock, with land 15 metres to the north
also vying for the accolade of high point.
I took data sets from each and stood in the sunshine looking out toward
the forested tops to the north-west whilst doing so.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Buddugre |
Once data were stored I joined a gauged track that took me quickly down to the west toward a large field where the critical bwlch of Cwm Faerdy Bank is positioned. The ten figure grid reference produced by LIDAR analysis brought me to its critical point and the customary five minutes of data were gathered.
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| Cwm Faerdy Bank (SO 078 695) |
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| Approaching the critical bwlch of Cwm Faerdy Bank |
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cwm Faerdy Bank |
All that remained was a slow plod up a track toward the top of Cwm Faerdy Bank where a single wind turbine spun its blades looking down on a large circular shaped field where bales of hay were neatly packed and awaiting collection. Again the LIDAR grid reference led me to its high point and after setting the Trimble up and pressing ‘Log’ I stood beside the perimeter fence and looked back on my earlier route up the lane toward Fron Bank and the continuation toward Buddugre.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cwm Faerdy Bank |
Once fine minutes of data were stored I packed the Trimble away and retraced my inward route back toward the connecting bwlch and walked down the track to Cwnfaerdy farm. I knocked on the door and a young girl answered and kindly gave me the telephone number for me to contact her father in relation to the name of the hill above his farm.
I’d been on the hill for
4 hours 30 minutes and had taken five data sets and sat with a cup of coffee in
a conservatory and arrived back at my car with two new locally known names for
P30s, all in all it had been a good day!
Survey Result:
Fron Bank (significant name change)
Summit Height: 328.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 07843 70880
Bwlch Height: 291.7m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08229 70861 (LIDAR)
Drop: 36.2m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 11.04% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Buddugre (significant name change)
Summit Height: 417.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 08919 70025
Bwlch Height: 304.5m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08883 71933 (LIDAR)
Drop: 113.3m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 27.12% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Cwm Faerdy Bank (significant name change)
Summit Height: 302.3m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 07842 69512
Bwlch Height: 269.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08304 69664
Drop: 32.4m (Sub-Trichant reclassified to Trichant)
Dominance: 10.72%
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