07.04.23 Pt. 501.5m (SN 776 629), Pt. 503.9m (SN 776
625) and Esgair Llyn Du (SN 769 620)
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| Pt. 501.5m (SN 776 629) |
Today involved unfinished
business with a forested top positioned in the great swathe of conifer
plantation that makes up the Tywi Forest.
I had visited this area once before in 2009, hence the unfinished
business, and on that occasion I did a relatively long walk from one forested
top to another, without the aid of knowing where the forest rides were
positioned and with an Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map that did not show
the continuation of the main forest track that I used between the hills. That day was particularly adventurous as I
did not know whether each hill on my route could be joined without hours of
conifer bashing.
During the walk in 2009
I visited Esgair Llyn Du, whose summit consists of a ridge aligned north to
south. I had the high point of this hill
marked on the southern periphery of the ridge, which my map indicated had five
separate 530m upper contour rings, with two of these relatively small. I remember being surprised when I saw the
southern section of the upper part of this hill devoid of conifers. Or more precisely devoid of upright conifers
as this section of forest had recently been felled; I quickly stumbled my way
to what I thought the high point, reversed my route and continued on the main
forest track to my next hill. A few
years later and a 534m spot height appeared on an online map on the next
northerly 530m ring contour, necessitating a re-visit to make sure I had
visited the high point of the hill. Such
re-visits are probably only the concern of a hill bagger.
The route toward Esgair
Llyn Du gives options to include a number of other 500m P15 summits, all of
which are included in the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru list. And so it was appropriate that this walk was
conducted in the company of Aled Williams; the co-author of this list, who
being much younger and enthusiastic than me could shoot off to visit all near hills,
whilst I could leisurely concentrate on the one summit; Esgair Llyn Du.
We met at Mallwyd where
I left my car, with Aled driving onward toward Strata Florida and the minor
road heading south-eastward that gives access to this part of the forest. The day was set fine with fair weather cloud
predicted to bubble up, but it was going to be dry and not too warm, which for
the purposes of this walk was ideal.
The main forest track
continued heading south-eastward, gaining height as it did so. We stopped once or twice on our way up to Bwlch
Rhyd y Meirch. I hadn’t been out on the
hill in a while and I was struck with the quietness of the land, this was only
pierced by a myriad of distant bird song that gently echoed through the trees.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 501.5m (SN 776 629). (Photo Aled Williams) |
It was at the bwlch that
Aled left me to visit his first hill, this is marked with a 502m summit spot
height and is as it was in 2009; still free of conifers with them having been felled. As Aled visited this first hill I looked
farther north-east in to some of the most remote land in Wales, with much of
the immediate foreground consisting of acres of conifers, but beyond were open
hills, with light and shade empathising the lay of land. It was good to be out after having a winter
break from the hills.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pt. 503.9m (SN 776 625). (Photo: Aled Williams) |
Aled had taken the
Trimble to survey the summit and after re-joining me he kept it for the next
hill which positioned just to the south has a 504m map summit spot height. I’d visited both of these hills in 2009 and
was happy enough to watch Aled disappear up their slopes heading toward another
Trimble summit survey.
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| The second hill of five that Aled visited during the day |
Having waited for Aled as
he ascended the first hill; this second hill gave me opportunity to slowly walk
up the continuation of the forest track, which I did, with Aled catching me up
near to where the summit of Esgair Llyn Du came in to view.
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| Aled on the forestry track quickly catching me up |
Aled had come prepared
with aerial images of these hills on his mobile phone and therefore we were
aware of the forest ride that follows the summit ridge of Esgair Llyn Du, all
we had to do was find it and this would hopefully then give us relatively easy
access to this hill’s high point.
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| Esgair Llyn Du |
The aerial image showed
the forest ride joining the main track at a corner, however we could save a
little distance by cutting the corner and stomping over ground now felled of
trees, but still with the usual pitfalls of gauged out peaty channels and
uneven ground. I slowly followed Aled as
he confidently strode out to find the forest ride. Once found, we veered rightward and followed
it to the first top on the ridge, this is the point I had reached in 2009. We judged the high point to be free of trees
and I proceeded to set the Trimble up to gather allotted data.
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| The Trimble set-up position at the first of the Esgair Llyn Du tops |
From inside of the
conifers we had a good view looking at the continuation of the forest ride to
where the online map indicates the 534m spot height to be positioned. The land farther on looked higher and
therefore after the customary five minutes of data collection, the equipment
was closed down and we continued northward on the forest ride.
The second top proved
problematic for the Trimble and although data were attempted to be gathered the
equipment beeped in frenzy when activated and soon closed itself down. The position was enclosed, but one never
knows whether accurate data will be collected as the Trimble had certainly
gathered data from more enclosed positions in the past.
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| The Trimble set-up position at the second of the Esgair Llyn Du tops |
We debated retracing our
inward route back to the main forest track, or continuing in our northward
direction on the forest ride over the last of the 530m map contour rings. Thankfully Aled persuaded me to do the latter
as when on its high point we both thought this higher than the previous two. However, each was not directly visible from
the other, so we will have to wait for LIDAR to confirm which is the
higher. But 14 years after my previous
visit I was happy in the knowledge I had now stood on the top of Esgair Llyn Du. I then followed Aled as he took a direct course
down through the mature conifers, aiming for the main forest track. Such routes can become deceptive with any onward
view just confined to the immediate conifers, but such routes also have a
perverse beauty as few people must come such ways, and with the trees mature
they at least allowed dappled light to cast light and shade down to the moss
encrusted land below.
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| Aled at the third of the Esgair Llyn Du tops |
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| Heading through the trees back toward the main forest track |
After making it back on
to the main forest track we stopped beside a quarried pool, sat on a rock, and
rested. A few minutes later and we were
back at Bwlch Rhyd y Meirch. This was
decision time for me, as two potential hills remained to visit, one of which I
had not been up on my 2009 extended foray.
However, I already knew that I was content with just visiting Esgair
Llyn Du and so as Aled headed farther eastward to visit the summit of Graig Wen
before heading out of the forest and doubling back to the summit of Pen y
Bwlch, I continued down our inward route.
I stopped occasionally
to listen to the sounds of the forest, the tranquillity of which was only
disturbed by three off road vehicles which were hunting out the narrower bog laden
tracks.
At the junction where a
green track joins the main forest track I followed it upward to the edge of the
forest. This was the route down from Pen
y Bwlch; the last hill for Aled to visit.
I contemplated having a slow plod up to its summit to survey it and wait
for Aled to join me, but I could remember when in 2009 this hill was my first
of the day and then thinking that it had a bit more uphill than expected. I looked up to it and thought that my
continued slow wander back down the track was the order of the day.
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| Pen y Bwlch |
Having turned my back to
the hill I continued down the forest track and was suddenly confronted by a
flash of orange; a fox. It immediately
heard me and turned; I stopped and automatically reached for my camera. It soon scampered farther down the track out
of sight. When I reached the next corner
there it was, still on the track, but seeing me it soon disappeared off again
and this time in to the undergrowth.
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| Handsome creature |
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| Lichen on fence post |
I continued down,
resting on logs at one point where we had done likewise on our ascent. I was in no rush and more than happy with my
one summit of the day. Arriving at Aled’s
car I changed and waited for him to appear, thirty minutes later and there he
was, he had made good time over the other two hills.
Survey Result:
Pt. 501.5m
Summit Height: 501.5m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 77686 62986 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 486m (spot height)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 77925 63540 (spot height)
Drop: 16m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and spot
height bwlch)
Dominance: 3.10% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and spot
height bwlch)
Pt. 503.9m
Summit Height: 503.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 77606 62581 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: c 487m (interpolation)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 77492 62497 (interpolation)
Drop: c 17m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and
interpolated bwlch)
Dominance: 3.35% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and
interpolated bwlch)
Esgair Llyn Du
Summit Height: 532.8m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 76930 62044 (LIDAR) (summit relocation)
Bwlch Height: 513.8m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 76942 61196 (LIDAR)
Drop: 19.0m (LIDAR) (500m Sub-Twmpau deletion)
Dominance: 3.57% (LIDAR)
For further details please
consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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