30.12.19 Noethgrug (SN 837 373, not Trimbled) and
Mynydd Bwlch y Groes (SN 868 356)
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| Mynydd Bwlch y Groes (SN 868 356) |
Visiting the hills of Mynydd Epynt between Christmas and New Year is becoming an annual tradition. The land comprising the majority of this hill range is sadly out of bounds for much of the year due to military occupation. However, all people deserve a holiday, and whilst the military are away this land becomes a quiet place, with just an occasional farmer spreading feed for grazing sheep and a rogue hillwalker or two.
Today we planned on
visiting two Pedwar hills; Noethgrug and Mynydd Bwlch y Groes, with two 300m
P30s as optional extras. We were walking
by 10.00am starting from the upper reaches of the Nant Gwennol valley where a
forest track gained height up in to the misted realm of the conifer plantation.
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| The Nant Gwennol valley |
Mist and conifers are
well suited, neither are my favourites, but when combined they give an isolated
solitude where darkened shapes of regimented trees merge. Having gained height we left the main forest
track and headed toward the summit on a narrow track which soon deposited us
back on to the main forest track.
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| Leaving the main forest track |
It was now time for a
bite to eat as the next part of the walk involved tree bashing and following a
ten figure grid reference toward the high point of Noethgrug with the aid of a hand-held
GPS.
The outer trees gave
some form of protection toward the inner, with the latter dark and dead with
little greenery. Patches of greenery only
emerged the higher we got, with the summit beside an odd patch of green
squeezed in amongst a mass of conifered branches.
The Trimble was set up
beside the summit half way up a tree with the measurement offset noted between
its internal antenna and the ground below.
There wasn’t much hope of it ever achieving the 0.1m accuracy level
before data should be logged and after a few minutes I switched it off, packed
it away and followed my two companions further in to the forest as we tried to
find an old path back to the main forest track.
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| At the summit of Noethgrug |
The old path was found,
it had not been maintained and the trees soon enveloped us again. Nearing the main forest track we came upon a few
trees encrusted in moss. Standing with
branches sprayed out and greened with winter light adding to the background
mist. I stood and looked, a moment to
savour before the next few miles on the continuation of the forest track.
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| Moss encrusted trees |
We stopped where a
narrower path led toward the summit of the first of the two optional 300m
P30s. We knew by now that time did not
permit a visit as there was still a few miles to go to the top of our last hill;
Mynydd Bwlch y Groes.
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| On the forest track to the north of Noethgrug |
The forest track took us
on to a paved road with the Epynt red flag flapping in the slight breeze, I
took a few photos and we then continued.
A series of paved roads now took us over a slight ridge and up toward
the public road that speeds its way beside the summit of Mynydd Bwlch y Groes.
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| One of the landmarks of the Epynt |
Greeting us at the
junction where the public road heads southward were signs for Dixie’s Corner;
an unusual name so close to a Welsh summit.
The Epynt can be a surreal place to visit, with much of it out of
bounds, but tranquillity can still be found, although the occasional passing
vehicle as we marched up the road toward the triangulation pillar atop Mynydd
Bwlch y Groes broke the silence and added to the surreal element as they
quickly approached and disappeared again in to the mist.
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| An unusual name to find near the summit of a Welsh hill |
Reaching the summit was
welcome and gave me the opportunity to at least survey one summit or bwlch for
my endeavours. The Trimble was soon set
up atop my rucksack gathering its allotted data. During data collection I stood with my two
companions and chatted and only stopped doing so after 11 minutes of data were
gathered and stored.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Mynydd Bwlch y Groes |
We left the summit and retraced
our way back toward Dixie’s Corner and its near large barns and then headed
westward down a wide track which shot downward in a military style straight
line. At its bottom there was now height
to regain, again on the track, this was unwelcome at the end of the walk, but
it had to be done.
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| Down from the hill |
The track led us to an
enclosed lane, passing a large old house on the way. The old lane forever lost height fording the
stream at its bottom before the last bit of torturous uphill back to the
awaiting car.
Survey Result:
Noethgrug
Summit Height: 412m (spot height)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 83711 37384 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH)
Bwlch Height: c 293m (interpolation)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 84875 39048 (interpolation)
Drop: c 119m (spot height summit and interpolated
bwlch)
Dominance: 28.88% (Trimble summit and interpolated
bwlch)
Mynydd Bwlch y Groes
Summit Height: 441.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 86857 35625
Bwlch Height: c 306m (interpolation)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 88883 38592 (interpolation)
Drop: c 136m (Trimble summit and interpolated
bwlch) (Submarilyn deletion)
Dominance: 30.72% (Trimble summit and interpolated
bwlch)
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