07.06.17
Comins (SJ 174 282), Moel y Gwelltyn (SJ 170 277), Ffridd Fawr (SJ 166
274) and Moel Lloran (SJ 154 279)
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| Moel y Gwelltyn (SJ 170 277) |
These hills form a
compact group to the north-east of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and proved the ideal
chose for a day when rain was predicted late in the afternoon. I had my boots on and walking by 7.35am and
followed the continuation of the narrow lane east past the farm of
Oddi-ar-y-llyn before cutting up on a track that headed toward Ceunant-du. I followed the track for a short while,
leaving it to slowly plod up grassed slopes where sheep were lazing away still
asleep.
The ever present profile
of Gurn Moelfre dominated the view, a great sweep of a hill with its western
side inviting an ascent; it’s a hill that I’ve only visited once and one that I
may leave for the completion of my second round of Welsh Deweys.
As I headed up to the first
summit of the day a keen breeze whipped across the hill, I quickly put on a
thin outer shell and continued to the high point, which consists of a small grassed
area with expansive views. Judging the
position of the summit was relatively easy and once the Trimble was placed on
the ground and gathering data I looked out toward Gurn Moelfre and the
countryside beyond, all seemingly quiet and breeze blown.
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| Gathering data at the summit of the Comins |
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| Moel y Gwelltyn from the Comins |
Once five minutes of
data were stored I headed down to the connecting bwlch between this hill and
its higher neighbour of Moel y Gwelltyn, approaching this bwlch from such a
vantage point proved advantageous as it gave a view of where the valley to
valley traverse met and the probable point for the critical bwlch. As I sauntered down the slope toward the
bwlch a tractor chugged round the slope on a green track, I flagged it down and
spent a number of minutes chatting with Emyr Evans, who farms from Cefn-y-braich. Emyr is aged 81 and has lived in this area
all his life and went to school with the uncle of one of my good friends, he
told me that the hill I had just come down and which was directly above us is
known as the Comins.
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| Emyr Evans |
Leaving Emyr to head off
to cut thistles I set the Trimble up at the connecting bwlch for another data
set, before heading up to the summit of Moel y Gwelltyn; the high point of my
day. This proved a lovely hill, with its
summit enclosed with Scots Pine and radiant this morning as the sun cast warmth
after the slight wind-blown chill encountered on the summit of the Comins.
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| Gathering data at the bwlch of the Comins |
The Trimble has been
operating well over recent months and seems to be able to pick up sufficient
satellite coverage relatively quickly even when placed in an enclosed area, and
within a couple of minutes the required 0.1m accuracy level had been attained
before data should be logged and it was beeping away gathering datum points
perched on top of my rucksack, which is used as an improvised tripod to give it
elevation above its immediate surrounds.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Moel y Gwelltyn |
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| Gurn Moelfre from Moel y Gwelltyn |
The survey of the bwlch
and summit of my next planned hill would confirm its status as it is currently
listed as a Sub-Trichant having not appeared in the sub list that accompanied
the Welsh P30 hills when published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website. According to the map the critical bwlch for
this sub hill is placed on or near a track that heads toward Tyddyn Maen, I
hoped the relatively early hour would mean that this house was still quiet as
having someone pottering about with an unusual yellow and black piece of
equipment set up on top of a rucksack and left for five minutes or so whilst
the person operating it scampers off a safe distance away can sometimes look
unusual, and perhaps also unwelcome.
Thankfully all was quiet and once five minutes of data were stored I
packed the equipment away and headed up a track toward the grassed slopes
above.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Ffridd Fawr |
The track soon gave out
and as I headed up the continuation of a grazing field toward its high point a
quad bike whizzed about in front, I waved and headed over for a chat; Edgar
Williams farms from Bronheulog and told me that the hill is known as Ffridd
Fawr, and it is as its name suggests; a large upland pasture. We chatted for a number of minutes and I
thought how lucky I’d been as with four hills planned to visit and with two of
these unnamed on the map, the two farmers who I’d met were both on these
unnamed map hills.
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| Edgar Williams |
As Edgar sped off I
headed toward where the 335m spot height appears on the map and proceeded to
gather another five minute data set, I then back tracked across the summit ridge
to another high point amongst gorse bushes to gather a second data set. As the Trimble gathered data from these two
points Moel y Gwelltyn stood sublime above, with its great wooded conical
shaped profile on grand display.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Ffridd Fawr |
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| Gathering data at the second high point of Ffridd Fawr |
By now the warmth of the
late morning had dispersed the chilled breeze and I followed the track down
from Tyddyn Maen to the narrow lane that I’d driven down earlier in the
morning. Following this lane south
brought me to a T-junction and soon afterward a gate which gave access to the
lower slopes of my last hill of the day; Moel Lloran.
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| The view west |
I slowly plodded up the
greened and grazed slopes toward the summit of Moel Lloran and soon had the
Trimble set up gathering data as the breeze blew and the world below shot down
steeply toward a seemingly ever expanding view of hill after hill, a beautiful
site within quiet and peaceful surrounds.
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| The south-eastern slopes of Moel Lloran |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Moel Lloran |
Leaving the summit I
encountered barbed wire fences and steep Hawthorne hedges before finding an
access gate that took me over another narrow lane to a public footpath
positioned near to the critical bwlch of Moel Lloran, as a number of cattle
were inquisitively looking my way I approached this bwlch slowly and proceeded
to assess the lay of ground before placing the Trimble atop my rucksack for its
five minutes of allotted data, during this I remained still and quiet as did
the cows.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Moel Lloran |
Just one data set
remained and that was placed close to where I had parked my car, getting there
involved finding a public footpath through long grass, a farm yard and across a
couple of fields, once there I assessed the lay of land and placed the Trimble
on top of my rucksack beside a hedge and waited for the last of the day’s data
sets to be gathered.
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Moel y Gwelltyn |
When combined these four
hills had proved an ideal way to spend a few hours amongst quiet surrounds,
with the added bonus of meeting two farmers and recording names for the two
hills that remain unnamed on current Ordnance Survey maps.
Survey Result:
Summit Height: 376.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 17476 28210 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 341.2m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SJ 17373 27995 (LIDAR)
Dominance: 9.26% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Moel y Gwelltyn
Summit Height: 382.8m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 17036 27782
Bwlch Height: 238.8m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SJ 16396 28185
Drop: 144.0m
Dominance: 37.62%
Summit Height: 335.1m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 16688 27439
Bwlch Height: 312.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SJ 17003 27548
Dominance: 6.77%
Moel Lloran
Summit Height: 297.2m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 15401 27907
Bwlch Height: 257.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SJ 15676 28447
Drop: 39.7m
Dominance: 13.37%
