19.10.16
Foel y Groes (SH 918 235), Moel y Cerrig Duon (SH 923 241), Pt. 605.7m (SH
918 257), Cefn Coch (SH 923 266), Foel y Geifr (SH 937 275), Trum y Gwragedd
(SH 941 284, bwlch only) and Foel Cedig (SH 981 283, bwlch only [SH 944 273])
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| Moel y Cerrig Duon (SH 923 241) |
Parts of the Berwyn have
a reputation as being pathless heather bound wonders of torture, whilst other
parts are just heather bound. Today we
encountered the former as tussocks; moor grass and heather stretched away in a
sea of wilderness which is probably seldom visited except for the occasional
sheep gatherer and peak bagger.
The land we visited stretches
between Bwlch y Groes and Cwm Hirnant and consists of a number of 500m and 600m
hills, all are bulbous affairs of heather and moor where solitude and pathless
wandering is the order of the day.
I was out with Alan and
we planned to survey everything we could, I met him at the high point of the
road that heads from the northern extremity of Llyn Efyrnwy (Lake Vyrnwy) to Y
Bala, leaving one car here we continued to Bwlch y Groes, which was where my interest
in mountain surveying first cast its hold over me many a year ago when I met
Dewi Jones in the car park and he told me that the Nuttall’s had missed a hill
from their listing of Welsh mountains, and that he’d surveyed it as having over
15m of drop. This chance meeting was in
the late 1990’s and it led me down a rather unusual but very fulfilling
surveying route that was totally unexpected.
As Alan got his autumnal
wellies on I positioned the Trimble on top of my rucksack on the edge of the
road beside the entrance to the large gravelled and rocky parking area at the
top of Bwlch y Groes for the first of what proved to be 14 surveys of the day,
this was for the critical bwlch of Moel y Cerrig Duon.
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| Surveying the critical bwlch of Moel y Cerrig Duon on the edge of the road at Bwlch y Groes |
Once data were collected
I headed up beside a fence on a narrow path which led toward the summit of Moel
y Cerrig Duon, on the way is an Uchaf; Foel Groes, which is also the watershed
summit of Wales, as drainage to its south flows into the Afon Dyfi (River
Dovey) and Cardigan Bay, whilst drainage to its east flows into the Afon Hafren
(River Severn) and the Bristol Channel and drainage to its north flows into the
Afon Dyfrdwy (River Dee) and Liverpool Bay.
By the time the Trimble
was being set up on the first of two potential summit positions for Foel y
Groes, Alan had caught up, and as the second summit position was surveyed he
headed off toward the higher summit of Moel y Cerrig Duon leaving me to survey
the bwlch between. This was the start of
a system that worked extremely well with Alan heading off to find the next
position to survey, leaving me to gather data with the Trimble where he had
just surveyed with his Leica; this system remained with us all day.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Foel y Groes with (L-R) Pt. 605.7m and Moel y Cerrig Duon in the background |
To our north and west
the sky massed an ominous grey as dark showers broke out on the higher hills,
and although the morning’s rain has ceased the thread of showers remained with
us for the remainder of the walk. The overhead
conditions gave us an occasional flash of autumnal colour as deep greys of sky
were highlighted by flashes of sunlight brightening an otherwise featureless
and monochrome scene of mountain and moor.
When I joined Alan on
the summit of Moer y Cerrig Duon his Leica was already gathering data beside
the summit cairn, and once 22 minutes of data were collected he set off
north-west toward a wilderness of open land that is pathless. After the Trimble had gathered its customary
five minutes of data I followed. The
going was uneven and a little tough in places, but just being there was
compensation enough as I’d only joined the hills of Moel y Cerrig Duon with
Foel y Geifr once before; with my Mother and her second husband; Barry, many a
year ago, my memories from that day was of a great swathe of featureless tough
moorland heather bashing, and the course of time has not diminished the nature
of this land.
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| Alan beside the Leica RX1250 at the summit of Moel y Cerrig Duon |
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| Gathering data with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 at the summit of Moel y Cerrig Duon |
As I slowly stumbled my
way down toward Alan who was assessing the lay of land and choosing his spot
for Leica placement at the critical bwlch of Foel y Geifr, I looked toward the
west as a great mass of blackened cloud enveloped the Arennig, being high when
showers are breaking out is somewhat fulfilling as one can watch their course,
this can sometimes be disconcerting as showers are prone to head the same way
that you are going, and the going can then get rather wet, but on occasion
showers can follow the course of valleys and break out either side of the hill
you are on, leaving a pleasing feeling of dryness.
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| Alan beside the Leica RX1250 at the critical bwlch of Foel y Geifr |
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| Foel y Geifr from its critical bwlch |
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| Gathering data with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 at the critical bwlch of Foel y Geifr |
As I joined Alan we had
a quick chat before his Leica was packed away and my Trimble assembled over the
same spot, next stop was the summit of a 606m map heighted Simm and Dewey, I
followed Alan up the hill on pathless moor that developed in to a bed of wet
peat toward the summit. Once Alan’s
Leica had gathered the customary 20 minutes of data he headed down to the next
bwlch and I positioned the Trimble over the same spot and gathered five minutes
of data, and then proceeded down to the next bwlch where the Leica was already in
position.
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| Nearing the summit of Pt. 605.7m (SH 918 257) |
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| Approaching the summit of Pt. 605.7m (SH 918 257) |
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| The Leica RX1250 gathering data at the summit of Pt. 605.7m |
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| Pt. 605.7m (SH 918 257) |
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Pt. 605.7m |
The bwlch of the 606m
map heighted hill was soon surveyed before I joined Alan on the summit of Cefn
Coch which is listed as a Dewey with 31m of drop, this drop value is based on a
rudimentary survey I conducted with Rob Woodall on the 28th October
2001, the result was sent to Michael Dewey who then promoted Cefn Coch to his
500m list of English and Welsh hills.
Since then the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping on the Geograoh website
has become available and shows a 565m spot height at this hill’s bwlch and when
coupled with its 594m summit spot height, only gives this hill 29m of map drop,
which is insufficient for Dewey qualification, it will be good to finally
confirm this hill’s drop value and status, as well as having another comparison
of data between my old rudimentary staff and the Trimble.
Once on the summit area
Alan set his Leica up on what looked like the high point and suggested that I
could Trimble this point and another which looked close in height, each was
separated by a small cleft of land, Alan used a Disto to sight from one to the
other and confirmed that the further westerly point, where his Leica was now
gathering data, was just higher. The same procedure then took place with the
Leica set up first and gathering around 20 minutes of data, and after the Trimble
had gathered one set of data at the slightly lower point it was positioned at
the same point as the Leica and gathered a further five minutes data set.
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| Alan's Leica gathering data at the summit of Cefn Coch whilst the Trimble gathers data at what proved to be a lower point |
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Cefn Coch |
The bwlch for Cefn Coch proved
another wondrous affair of featureless and wild moor where few must
wander. However featureless it proved
the critical point was relatively easy to pinpoint and as I joined Alan he had
already assembled his Leica RX1250 and it was gathering another 20 minute data
set.
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| Somewhere down there is Alan setting up the Leica RX1250 |
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| The Leica RX1250 gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cefn Coch |
As the Trimble gathered
data at the bwlch, Alan set off toward the summit of Foel y Geifr, the ground
looked pathless and we hoped that a semblance of path may exist adjacent to a
fence that was later joined and headed toward the last summit of the day. It was unusual but also pleasing to be left
on my own in such landscape, a rather unforgiving place of nothingness except
for lingering late afternoon light, a cooling breeze and the chill of solitude
and empty moor.
I found the going to the
summit of Foel y Geifr to be tough, but thankfully a form of path did exist
beside the fence line which strode confidentially up and across the hill. By the time I reached the summit all I wanted
to do was smile and sit down. This
summit has a trig pillar perched at its top with a number of small embedded
rocks around its base, one to its north proved the highest and Leica and
Trimble data were gathered.
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| The Leica RX1250 gathering data at the summit of Foel y Geifr |
All that remained were
two bylchau, the first being that of Trum y Gwragedd and the last being that of Foel Cedig. The former was Leicaed and
Trimbled and the latter just Trimbled.
The first bwlch proved another peat laden affair amongst copious amounts
of moor grass and heather, and I joined Alan as the Leica gathered another data
set. As I positioned the Trimble on top
of my rucksack to give it elevation above its immediate surrounds the light
faded to dusk as the sun cast out from behind cloud beyond Aran Benllyn and the
high Aran, giving a dramatic display of late evening light.
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| The high Aran |
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| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the critical bwlch of Trum y Gwragedd |
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| Last burst of sunlight |
Just one survey remained
and we stumbled our way down the hill to pinpoint the critical bwlch of Foel Cedig, which proved another heather and bog bound beauty. From here it was no more than a few minutes
plod up to join the high point of the road above Cwm Hirnant where my car
awaited, it had been an excellent day on the hill.
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| The last survey of the day, the fourteenth, at the critical bwlch of Foel Cedig |
Survey Result:
Foel y Groes
Summit Height: 580.9m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 91835 23507
Bwlch Height: 560.5m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 92028 23791
Drop: 20.4m (500m Sub-Twmpau status confirmed)
Dominance: 3.51%
Moel y Cerrig Duon
Summit Height: 624.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 624.5m (Leica RX1250)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 92349 24147
Bwlch Height: 545.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 91331 23270
Drop: 79.1m (Leica RX1250 summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)
Dominance: 12.66% (Leica RX1250 summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)
Pt. 605.7m
Summit Height: 605.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 605.7m (Leica RX1250)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 91857 25730
Bwlch Height: 558.5m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 558.9m (Leica RX1250)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 92168 26319
Drop: 46.7m (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 46.8m (Leica RX1250)
Dominance: 7.73% (Leica RX1250 summit and bwlch)
Cefn Coch
Summit Height: 592.6m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 592.9m (Leica RX1250)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 92310 26675
Bwlch Height: 561.4m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 561.7m (Leica RX1250)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 92501 26927
Drop: 31.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 31.3m (Leica RX1250) (Dewey and 500m Twmpau status
confirmed)
Dominance: 5.27% (Leica RX1250 summit and bwlch)
Foel y Geifr
Summit Height: 626.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 626.2m (Leica RX1250)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 93710 27525
Bwlch Height: 514.7m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 515.0m (Leica RX1250)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 91823 24620
Drop: 111.3m (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 111.2m (Leica RX1250)
Dominance: 17.76% (Leica RX1250 summit and bwlch)
Trum y Gwragedd
Summit Height: 611.2m (converted to OSGM15, Leica 530)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 94114 28400
Bwlch Height: 586.4m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 586.7m (Leica RX1250)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 93945 27889
Drop: 24.5m (converted to OSGM15, Leica 530 summit and Leica RX1250 bwlch)
Dominance: 4.00%
Foel Cedig
Bwlch Height: 487.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 94458 27324
Drop: 180.0m
