22.10.18 Sotherby Top (SH 488 836)
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| Sotherby Top (SH 488 836) |
This hill was the last
of six I had visited during a day of generally relaxed contentment wandering
the south-eastern part of Ynys Môn. It was also a hill who’s high point may be
situated in what some have described as an impenetrable blackthorn forest.
I left my car pulled in
to the side of the minor road to the south of the summit, which wasn’t ideal,
but the road seemed quiet and I had left my car on a relatively long straight
with sufficient space for other vehicles to pass.
A boundary wall marches confidently
toward the forest of blackthorn that even from distance looked
unappetising. It looked even less so as
I neared its black innards. Gorse and
brambles even though unwelcome, can be bashed through, but a mass of blackthorn
is another matter. It is hard weathering
and has thorns that are positively needle like and even if the high point of
this hill was amongst its inner depths I was only going to dip my toe close to
it, which I did from the convenience of a low point in the adjacent boundary
wall.
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| Inside the blackthorn forest |
I wanted to take two
data sets, one from the high point of the land at the base of the wall and a
second from another 130m ring contour to the east of my present position. I set the Trimble up on the wall and measured
a 1.20m offset between its internal antenna and the ground at its base and as
part of its satellite coverage was obscured by the dense blackthorn forest I opted
for ten minutes of data to be gathered and stored.
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| The set-up position for the first data set taken at Sotherby Top |
By now I knew that my
last planned walk of the day taking in the three P30s making up Mynydd Bodafon,
would have to wait for another day as the sun was sinking on the western
horizon giving sublime colours to the early evening.
It was only a short walk
to where I wanted to take the second data set from, the high point of which was
placed on a raised and elongated grassy ridge, and as the Trimble gathered its
ninth and last data set of the day I watched a herd of cows slowly graze their
way ever nearer to the equipment, once five minutes of data were gathered I
closed the Trimble down, took a few photographs and packed it away. Before heading back to my brother’s in
Nantlle I visited the adjacent farm of Frigan where I spoke with Dawn
Pritchard.
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| The set-up position for the second data set taken at Sotherby Top |
The family of Dawn’s
husband have farmed from Frigan for three generations and she told me the
field leading to the boundary wall is known as Cae Pump as there is a water
pump situated in it, and unprompted she then gave the name of Sotherby Top to
the enclosed land where the blackthorn forest is situated. This name had intrigued me for many years
ever since first listing this hill as a P30, as an English name on an Ordnance
Survey map amongst many Welsh names looks unusual, but Dawn told me that in all
probability it would have been given to this part of the hill by the old estate
owners at Parciau, who no doubt were English speakers. Thanking Dawn for her time I drove south
watching the sunset cast golden colour as it sank. It had been another good day on some
excellent lower heighted hills.
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| Sun set on my journey back to Nantlle |
Survey Result:
Sotherby Top
Summit Height: 130.4m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 48871 83632 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: c 64m (interpolation)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 46734 82741 (interpolation)
Drop: c 66m (LIDAR summit and interpolated bwlch)
Dominance: 50.92% (LIDAR summit and interpolated bwlch)
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