19.04.19 Yr Allt (SO 056 162), Bryniau Gleision (SO 084
161), Cefn yr Ystrad (SO 086 137), Cwar yr
Ystrad (SO 082 140), Cwar yr Ystrad (SO 084 142) and Tor y Foel (SO 114 194)
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| Tor y Foel (SO 114 194) |
Cefn yr Ystrad stands
adrift of the higher Welsh mountains with the peaks of Bannau Brycheiniog to
its north and the Cymoedd Gwent hills adjoined to its south. I hadn’t been to its summit for 14 years, but
with two relatively recent new Uchafion hills in the quarry to its west found
from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled, it was time for me to re-visit.
I met Aled in Caersws,
stopping on the bridge entering the village to admire and take a few photos as
the last lingering mist of the morning slowly gave way to the warming sun. We were parked and walking by 8.50am above
the Tal-y-bont Reservoir following vehicle tracks rising steeply on the
hillside heading forever upward toward the summit of our first hill of the day;
Yr Allt.
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| Early morning mist |
The ten figure grid
reference produced by LIDAR zeroed the Trimble in to the hill’s high point and
as the first of 15 data sets for the day were gathered, I stood close to the
trig pillar with Aled as a hazed view silhouetted the higher hills to the
north.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Yr Allt |
Thankfully underfoot
conditions were relatively dry and a good path soon led us down to its
connecting bwlch and again LIDAR led me to its critical point, and a few
moments later the Trimble was set up atop my rucksack and the allotted data
were gathered and stored.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Yr Allt |
Away to our south the
quarried face of Cefn yr Ystrad was giving a little detail against the morning
haze and one of the gashes separating the quarried cliff could be picked
out. In a few hours we would be there
wandering around the quarry visiting the two new Uchaf hills.
Aled suggested a cunning
plan for our descent, and this meant that on our inward route toward Cefn yr
Ystrad we could visit the summit of Bryniau Gleision, surveying it now, rather
than on our outward walk. The summit
consists of a grassed knoll overlooking an attractive small crag and as Aled
investigated the flowers growing on the steep ground I set the Trimble on the high
point and stood back during data collection and peered toward Cefn yr Ystrad
which still looked quite a distance away.
As Aled wanted to visit
Trefil Du; he set off as the Trimble gathered summit data with us arranging to
meet beside the trig pillar on top of Cefn yr Ystrad. Once five minutes of data were gathered I
switched the equipment off, packed it away and headed down the broad southerly
ridge of Bryniau Gleision toward its connecting bwlch, which proved to be
beside a water course in a wild spot that if not for the occasional passing
mountain surveyor I doubt that anyone ever visits.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Bryniau Gleision |
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Bryniau Gleision |
After gathering bwlch
data I slowly made my way over the moor toward a path that led up to the quarry
track leading to the higher ground of Cefn yr Ystrad. By now the day was heating up with blue cloudless
skies overhead. Following the main
quarry track I soon arrived at where a corner of an adjacent barb wired fence
gives access on to open hillside and proceeded to slowly plod uphill to one of
the large ancient cairns that adorn the summit area of this hill. I proceeded to gather data from two
positions; one at the high point of a large embedded rock on the eastern side
of the ancient cairn and the other on its western side on the highest bit of
grass at the base of the cairn. As I was
setting the Trimble up for the second of these surveys Aled appeared having
made his way back from the easterly outlier of Trefil Du.
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| The Cwar yr Ystrad quarry from the ascent of Cefn yr Ystrad |
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| The first of two surveys beside the ancient cairn on Cefn yr Ystrad |
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| The second of two surveys beside the ancient cairn on Cefn yr Ystrad |
Once the Trimble was packed
away we headed to the trig pillar for a sit down as another data set was
gathered on the highest rock near the base of the pillar. Once Aled’s pick and mix was devoured we set
off on a compass bearing heading westward to where access can be gained in to
the Cwar yr Ystrad quarry and the first of a series of surveys that would
occupy us for the next two hours.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Cefn yr Ystrad |
The quarry is hidden from
view from the summit of Cefn yr Ystrad but it straddles its western and
northern upper face with a flat quarry floor and attractive, steep cliffs rising
from it with the two Uchaf summits being the respective high points separated
by a gash through the cliff.
The next survey was at
the point where we accessed the quarry and is the bwlch for the lower of the
two Cwar yr Ystrad summits, from here the route toward the first summit was
easy, with a dramatic view immediately to our east down the quarried cliffs. On our way to the summit we decided to gather
another data set at where a gash through the cliff appears, and this can be
compared for bwlch position against the previous survey.
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| The first of the Cwar yr Ystrad bwlch surveys |
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| The second of the Cwar yr Ystrad bwlch surveys |
The summit of the first
of the two Cwar yr Ystrad hills has a large rock on it and soon the Trimble was
aligned to its high point gathering its all-important data. Once data were safely stored we back-tracked
to gain a track leading down to the flat quarry floor where the next bwlch was
positioned.
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| Aled at the summit of Cwar yr Ystrad (SO 082 140) |
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| Gathering data at the first of the two Cwar yr Ystrad summits (SO 082 140) |
The ten figure grid reference
produced by LIDAR led us to the critical point of the bwlch which had the sheer
cliff face of our next hill as backdrop.
As data were gathered I sat with Aled whilst a refreshing breeze
sauntered through the quarry, but the early afternoon heat was increasing and
there was a long walk ahead of us out of the quarry that would soon have to be
tackled.
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| The third of the Cwar yr Ystrad bwlch surveys |
A conveniently placed
rubbled rocky rib cascaded down from the upper cliff giving us easy access from
the quarry floor on to higher ground.
The walk around the top of the cliff was superb and led to two points
which were both Trimbled with the furthest north our chosen candidate for this
hill’s high point. Both were
dramatically placed on the very edge of the drop down to the quarry floor.
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| Gathering data at the second of the two Cwar yr Ystrad summits (SO 084 142) |
All that remained was
the long, hot walk out. However, Aled’s
cunning plan hatched earlier in the morning saw us head in different directions
once we had left the quarry and joined one of the paths leading toward the
eastern lower part of Bryniau Gleision, as I headed back on our inward route,
whilst Aled continued on the path that soon became a good track heading toward
the Pedwar of Bryn Melyn and the higher Tor y Foel, he also took the Trimble to
survey the latter’s connecting bwlch and summit.
My route out was
torturous as it involved cresting three small ridges to get back on to the main
path we had followed earlier in the day.
Each little bit of uphill made me suffer as the heat increased. However, the surroundings were to be savoured
as my only companions were wild horses grazing on the moor.
I contemplated losing
height and entering the forest to my north where a track led back toward my
car, but thought better of it and resigned myself to regaining the summit of Yr
Allt. This proved a slow process with a
few stops to regain my breath on the way.
When I reached the trig pillar I lay in the sun and munched on a banana,
and 30 minutes later I was back at my car extremely happy to get my boots off
and sit and try and recover having been on the hill for about nine hours.
I now needed to pick
Aled up who was waiting for me at the end of the paved road at the bwlch
between Bryn Melyn and Tor y Foel. It
was a 25 minute drive to get there with miles of narrow roads to negotiate. It had been another good day on the hill with
two new Uchaf hills for me and eight hills in all for Aled.
Survey Result:
Summit Height: 564.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 05633 16201
Bwlch Height: 493.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 07090 15748
Drop: 71.2m
Dominance: 12.61%
Bryniau Gleision
Summit Height: 538.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 08449 16121
Bwlch Height: 502.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08260 15254
Drop: 35.8m
Dominance: 6.65%
Cefn yr Ystrad
Summit Height: 617.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Height: 439.9m (converted to OSGM15) (from previous
Trimble survey)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 05261 17241 (from previous Trimble survey)
Drop: 177.5m
Dominance: 28.75%
Cwar yr Ystrad
Summit Height: 572.7m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 08211 14086
Bwlch Height: 555.2m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 07950 13645
Drop: 17.5m (Uchaf status confirmed)
Dominance: 3.06%
Cwar yr Ystrad
Summit Height: 579.3m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 08445 14278
Bwlch Height: 558.8m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 08376 14189
Drop: 20.5m (500m Sub-Twmpau status confirmed)
Dominance: 3.54%
Tor y Foel
Summit Height: 551.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 11457 19493
Bwlch Height: 394.0m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 10218 17757 (LIDAR)
Drop: 157.0m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 28.49% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
