12.07.18 Hatterrall Hill (SO 308 256)
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| Hatterrall Hill (SO 308 256) |
Hatterrall Hill lies at
the southern end of an elongated ridge, which is one of four that make up the
hill range of Mynyddoedd Duon. Many a
mile away to its north Hay Bluff and its trig pillar looks out across the
southern part of mid Wales from an escarpment edge plunging to gentle green
land below. Both hills are a part of the
same ridge that nowadays takes on the name of its southerly outlier; Hatterrall
Ridge.
This hill formed a part
of a two hill and two walk day with Mark, who had driven to my home in
Welshpool in decidedly murky conditions as the heat of the last month had given
way to grey murk and rain which accompanied us for much of the journey south,
but with a weather forecast for clearing conditions we were hopeful that our
planned hills for the day would be free of cloud and rain.
We started the walk from
Llanthony Priory where its ruins stand in tranquil farmland at the southern end
of Dyffryn Ewyas. The priory dates to
around 1100 and was reputedly founded by the Norman nobleman; Walter de Lacy,
it is now in the guardianship of Cadw.
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| Llanthony Priory |
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| Llanthony Priory |
Signposts to the hill
pointed us up through grazing fields toward Wirral Wood where the shaded canopy
gave respite from the muggy conditions that were already in evidence on open
land.
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| Llanthony Priory from the approach to Wirral Wood |
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| The meandering root system of a tree in Wirral Wood |
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| Wirral Wood |
The fields remained
parched even though overnight rain had fallen, with their grasses bleached
almost white and swaying in the slight breeze that brought comfort from the
muggy heat higher on the hill.
Beyond the wood we
joined a part of the Beacons Way, which is a 159km (99 mile) distance walk
established in 2005 by John Sansom. The
path contoured and then gained height past a myriad of coloured butterflies flitting
this way and that as high fern coloured the hill sides green.
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| Mark on the path leading toward the ridge |
The path brought us to
the upper ridge where the breeze rejuvenated me as the close conditions were
slowly taking their toll. From here it
was only a short walk to the critical bwlch of Hatterrall Hill which is
positioned close to the ridge path.
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| The ridge path leading toward the bwlch |
As the Trimble gathered
its allotted data Mark lay in the sun having lunch whilst I scribbled all
necessary detail relating to the survey, once five minutes of data were
collected and stored I joined him for a few minutes relaxing in the sun and
welcome breeze.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Hatterrall Hill |
The ridge path was a
delight to walk on as it was bone dry and gave relatively quick access toward
the summit of Hatterrall Hill where LIDAR analysis places the high point
approximately 8 metres from the cairn, and another five minute data set was
gathered from here.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Hatterrall Hill |
All that remained was to
reverse our inward route and head down back to the priory and awaiting car,
when we arrived the shop at the priory had unfortunately closed so the ice
cream we were dreaming of would have to wait, but a ginger beer and bag of
peanuts in the Half Moon Inn seemed to do the trick before continuing the drive
north to the car park near the top of the Gospel Pass.
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| Downward toward Dyffryn Ewyas |
Survey Result:
Hatterrall Hill
Summit Height: 530.8m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 30831 25648
Bwlch Height: 486.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 30674 26648
Drop: 44.3m
Dominance: 8.35%
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