04.03.22 Pen y Banc (SN 939 845)
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| Pen y Banc (SN 939 845) |
Prior to visiting this
hill I had analysed its numerical and positioning data via LIDAR. I had also examined approaching the hill from
the comfort of sitting in front of my laptop screen, by driving a Google car up
the paved road leading to Pen y Banc farm.
Online logs give the summit of the hill positioned behind the farm house
beside a small water tank. The ten
figure grid reference for the summit produced by LIDAR analysis matched those
from hand-held GPS units given online.
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| LIDAR image of Pen y Banc (SN 939 845) |
This hill was one of the
few that I had not visited close to Llanidloes, this was probably due to the
summit being so close to the farm house.
However, I also wanted to make place name enquiries as although the farm
is named Pen y Banc, contemporary Ordnance Survey maps imply this is also the
name of the hill.
Earlier in the day I had
visited Drum Ddu (SN 971 604) and Pen Llys (SN 998 584) and although the weather
forecast was for intermittent sunshine, with generally dry conditions and an occasion
rogue shower materialising, the sky was now looking ominous with heavy showers
cropping up across the land.
I drove toward
Llanidloes and turned left off the A470 road on to the B4518 road as it heads
in to the town. Across the valley Pen y
Banc stared back as a bulk of a hill partly forested on its southern side. I drove through the town and turned left over
the river and continued on the minor road now heading north-westward, only
leaving this road when the wide entrance to the paved road leading up to Pen y
Banc farm came in to view.
I pulled up in the
farmyard near to where another vehicle was parked close to the front door of
the farm; this implied that someone was in.
Gathering all necessary equipment I locked my car and walked down the steps
leading toward the door and gave it a good knock. With the vehicle outside I expected the local
farmer to emerge at any minute, but there was no reply. I gave the door another good knock and then
shouted ‘hello’ just in case the farmer was in the near barn, again there was no
reply.
Leaving the house I
walked past my car toward the outbuildings, on my way shouting out ‘hello’,
again there was no reply. As the summit
was only a minute or so walk from the farm house I followed a track up toward a
conifer plantation and a bricked water tank which has a larger green structure
close to it. As I was now at the summit
I decided to see if I could gather data with the Trimble.
The positioning of the Trimble
beside the water tank and conifer plantation meant that in all likelihood data
would be compromised, this was evidenced when the Trimble was activated and
then screeched a number of times, an indicator that either satellites were
dropping out or that the 0.1m accuracy level was not being attained. However, I persisted and gathered the minimum
two minutes of data advised by Trimble.
This would at least give comparison between Trimble data and that
produced by LIDAR.
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| The Trimble set-up position at the summit of Pen y Banc |
As I took photographs of
the Trimble set-up position at the summit I heard the distinctive sound of an
approaching tractor. I packed the
equipment away and headed back down the track as it emerged in to the farm
yard. I waved across to it and spent the
next five minutes or so chatting with Jonathan Grewe; the son-in-law of the
local farmer. Having explained my
interest in the hill and its name he asked me to wait for him to park the
tractor and for me to follow him back down the road to where their cabins were
situated, this was where his father-in-law was and he should be able to help
me. Jonathan disappeared around the
corner to park the tractor and get in to his car, at this moment a quad bike
and trailer appeared and drove in to the near barn, I waved across toward
it. By the time I had got my key out of
my rucksack and turned to unlock my car, the person driving the quad bike was
beside me asking who I was and what I wanted.
I asked if he was the local farmer, he said ‘no’, Jonathan and his wife;
Kate later told me he was. I mentioned
that I had talked with one of his colleagues who had just driven around the
back of the outbuildings in a tractor; he said ‘no he hadn’t’. By now I realised that whatever I said would
not be sufficient for him to engage in polite conversation. He then asked quite sternly ‘what do you
want’, I explained that I was interested in the name of the hill, he said ‘now
you’re mouthering me’ and disappeared in to the house, as he did so I thanked
him for his time and got in my car to wait for Jonathan who soon appeared and I
followed him down to the cabins where his wife; Kate joined us. I explained who I had just met and they both
apologised for his rudeness, I said it was no bother as Kate’s father was
confronted by someone who he did not know and who was standing in his farm
yard.
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| Jonathan and Katie Grew |
We chatted for a number
of minutes with Kate taking my telephone number and email address promising she
would ask her father what name he knew the hill by. As I thanked them for their time rain started
to fall, this was the start of what proved to be a heavy downpour that lasted
for an hour or so, it seemed the forecast for rogue occasion showers was
optimistic. I still had one more hill I
wanted to visit, so waving my goodbyes to Jonathan and Kate I headed down the
paved access road and on to the minor road back in to Llanidloes.
Survey Result:
Pen y Banc
Summit Height: 312.8m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 93927 84591 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 273.1m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 93683 85143 (LIDAR)
Drop: 39.7m (LIDAR)
Dominance: 12.69% (LIDAR)
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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