Grough Article
Grough recently published an article on The Huws – 100 great Welsh hills under 2,000ft. The contributors to this list are; Alex Cameron, John Gillham, Myrddyn Phillips, Adrian Rayner, Mark Trengove and Rob Woodall.
Aim low: introducing The Huws, diminutive Welsh hills to pique your interest
Myrddyn Phillips, Guest contributor
Monday 01 March 2021 01:01 AM GMT
Pared y Cefn Hir (SH 661 148) |
Six hillwalking enthusiasts think so,
and have compiled a list of sub-2000ft Welsh hills worthy of attention.
With a nod to Andrew Dempster’s
Scottish list of similarly sized peaks, which he called the Hughs, the six men
have dubbed their list the Huws, and have revealed them today, to mark St
David’s Day.
The Huws – 100 great Welsh hills under
2,000ft
Contributors: Alex Cameron, John
Gillham, Myrddyn Phillips, Adrian Rayner, Mark Trengove and Rob Woodall.
Introduction
Few people would argue against Tryfan
being included as one of the best hills in Wales. It rises above Llyn Ogwen as
a great spine of rock and is crowned by the monoliths of Adam and Eve, with
many considering this one of, if not the best hill in Britain.
Middletown Hill (SJ 305 133) |
However, their popularity is partly
based on their height, as it is a natural inclination for many people to visit
the higher before then concentrating on lower hills. And in the case of these
hills, they are all over the benchmark 2,000ft (609.6m). But what about those
hills under this height?
Wales is relatively small in land area, but this does not detract from it having an abundance of hills of all differing shapes and sizes, from the lowly coastal plains to the higher inland hills. It has fantastic variety in abundance and so much to offer the investigative hillwalker who wants to explore farther afield from those higher and more frequently visited 2,000ft-ers.
Gathering the team
The title of the Huws is a play on the name Hughs, which Andrew Dempster used for his guide to Scotland's Best Wee Hills under 2,000ft. It is this book that gave inspiration for us to set about compiling our own similar list to represent Wales.
The initial team of Alex, Mark and Myrddyn was formed in late summer 2020 and soon set about discussing the merits of many classic hills which could easily meet the parameters set for the list.
It wasn't long before we realised that such a list of hills would vastly benefit from a wider breadth of experience and knowledge. Rob, Adrian and John were all invited to contribute, and our team was then complete.
Setting the parameters
Outside of each hill being less than
2,000ft in height our list is of a purely subjective nature. However, through
discussion we all came upon a common goal that two other important factors
should be met. Foremost that the hills should cover the whole length and
breadth of Wales, and secondly that we should include the fullest variety of
hills, both in height, prominence, geology, history and difficulty.
Mynydd Twr (SH 218 829). Photo: Mark Trengove |
The process
The restrictions imposed through Covid-19
meant that we were unable to meet up in person to discuss what hills to
include. Therefore, after we each independently chose our 50 best Welsh hills
below 2,000ft, these were listed on an ever more detailed spreadsheet resulting
in over 170 hills in all. This now formed the basis for discussion which took
place over a series of weekly Zoom meetings.
Carreglefain (SH 324 410) |
After the merits of each hill were
discussed we gave each one of three categories: four for rejection, three for
review and two for inclusion. This process resulted in 118 hills being given
the category of two for inclusion. We then independently listed our 18 hills
for rejection. It was from this ever decreasing list of candidates that our 18
hills to exclude were chosen. We had our final 100!
The hills
It is all too easy to forget the
process that goes on behind the scenes in any compilation of hills, but
ultimately it is the hills that matter. So, let’s have a little look at just
some of the ones that did make the grade.
Concentrating on variety meant that we
could include any hill of any height and prominence. This opened up the choice
to the whole of the country including its many delightful offshore islands.
Islands
These are represented with the tidal
islands of Penrhyn Gŵyr, otherwise known as Worm’s Head in the far south of the
country, with others including Ynys Fach and Ynys Lochtyn hugging the
south-west coast and giving exciting expeditions for any adventurous
hillwalker.
Ynysoedd y Moelrhoniaid (SH 267 947) |
The largest island of Ynys Môn
(Anglesey) and its adjacent Ynys Gybi (Holyhead Island) have good
representation with Dinas Gynfor being one of the farthest northerly hills, the
otherworldly coloured rock of Mynydd Parys and the dramatically situated
coastal hill of Mynydd Twr (Holyhead Mountain) are also included.
Higher hills
Unsurprisingly there are many of these
represented with some being Moel Wion in the northern Rhinogydd, also in the
heartland of Eryri we included Moel Meirch in the Moelwynion and Moel Ddu in
the Moel Hebog range, in the North-East is Moel Fama, one of the most popular
hills in the country, with Graig Goch on the edge of the wild openness of Y
Migneint, the shapely Foel Figenau in the south-western Y Berwyn, the
relatively remote Drosgol above Nant y Moch Reservoir in the Pumlumon range of
hills, the distinctive profile of Whimble in the central east of the country,
Domen Milwyn in the wild central belt, Carreg Cadno with its limestone summit
and the ever popular Mynydd Pen y Fâl (Sugar Loaf to its English friends) in
the South of the country.
Lower prominence hills
Clip (SH 653 327). Photo: Mark Trengove |
History
Tre'r Ceiri (SH 653 327). Photo: Mark Trengove |
Unique Character
Although all hills are different, there
are some whose individual uniqueness stands out head and shoulders from the
rest. For our list these include: the multi-coloured otherworldliness of Mynydd
Parys, Y Ceiliog Mawr; a remnant outcrop in the slate mining area of north-west
Wales, Ynys Gifftan; one of the rare estuary islands in the country, the summit
of Carn Llidi in the South-West which has the only deposit of gabbro in Wales;
Aberthaw’s (man-made) Ash Tip which is Wales’ southernmost hill and Tyle Garw
which is officially the most remote mainland hill in the whole of the country.
Foel Lus (SH 732 761) |
The authors
- Alex Cameron: Alex is an enthusiastic
backpacker based in the north of Wales and who goes about all his
exploring of the Welsh hills completely on foot, or also occasionally by
bicycle too.
- John Gillham: John is a full-time
professional writer, illustrator and photographer and the author of a
number of published books concentrating on Wales and more recently
Shropshire.
- Myrddyn Phillips: Myrddyn is the webmaster
of Mapping Mountains, he is an enthusiastic hill surveyor, hill list
compiler and enjoys Welsh upland place-name research and lives in
mid-Wales.
- Adrian Rayner: Adrian is a keen walker and
has summited more than 1,000 hills in Wales. He runs an email-based
discussion forum for British hills with more than 30m of drop. When time
allows, he enjoys visiting overseas mountains.
- Mark Trengove: Mark is the webmaster of
Europeaklist. He lives in the North-East of Wales and enjoys international
peak-bagging and poly bagging, and has a wide experience of the Welsh
hills.
- Rob Woodall: Rob has completed numerous
hill-lists in Britain and has bagged many overseas peaks. He’s also
visited all the British trig pillars and is currently working on Ordnance
Survey benchmarks.
Foel Fawr (SM 705 225). Photo: Mark Trengove |
Haroldstreet: The Huws – 100 great Welsh hills under
2,000ft
Mapping Mountains: The Huws – 100 great Welsh hills
under 2,000ft – Introduction
Mapping Mountains: The Huws – 100 great Welsh hills
under 2,000ft – List
For the original article published on the Grough website
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