30.07.20 Fridd Bryn Mawr (SH 981 065), Pen Coed (SH
985 090) and Moel Ddolwen (SH 988 078)
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| Moel Ddolwen (SH 988 078) |
These three hills are
positioned to the west of Llanerfyl and had been on my radar for a number of
years, but until today I had not visited.
Each summit and connecting bwlch is covered by LIDAR and an image of
each will appear adjoined to this post.
I contemplated surveying two of the bylchau, with the third bwlch which
is connected to Ffridd Bryn Mawr, just in, or on the edge of forestry. I’m finding that bwlch surveys are usually a
pleasure, as many take you off the beaten track to places that otherwise would
not be visited, but the conditions today proved warm and as I laboured up the
lower slopes of the second hill of the day; Pen Coed, I decided that the
diversion to its bwlch was one bwlch survey too many.
The early morning proved
as forecast, with an overcast greyness to the sky. As I set off at 8.30am walking up the lane
leading toward the farms of Sychtyn and Hafod the conditions were still
pleasant, however the sun would all too soon break through the greyness and
bring excessive warmth to proceedings.
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| LIDAR image of Ffridd Bryn Mawr |
My planned route toward
the first hill of the day; Ffridd Bryn Mawr, was on a footpath avoiding the
farmyard at Hafod and continuing up a track toward its summit. If the footpath was signed, I missed it, and found
myself in the farmyard.
I was soon chatting with
John Cadwalader Jones whose family had farmed from Hafod since 1918. John was very helpful naming a number of
Ffriddoedd higher on the hill and confirming that the field where the summit of
my first hill of the day is situated is named Ffridd Bryn Mawr, which
substantiates information on the Tithe.
He was concerned about my planned route as he had cattle and calves in a
number of fields and advised I take a route further up the lane and then following
the edge of forestry, he even offered to give me a walking staff to use just in
case I was approached by any frisky cow, a kind gesture indeed.
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| John Cadwalader Jones of Hafod farm |
Thanking John I left
Hafod, walked further up the lane and accessed a field through a gate and then
aimed for the edge of a small conifer plantation. By now the grey early morning skies had been
replaced by a warming blue and what at times was a fierce sun. The plod toward the summit of Ffridd Bryn
Mawr proved slow, but as ever progress was made. I soon lapsed in to the usual mentality of just
putting my head down and doing a little bit more, followed by more of the same,
however it was becoming increasingly warm and the onward route from this hill
to my next; Pen Coed, looked wearisome, and I knew I was going to suffer.
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| The lower slopes of Pen Coed |
The summit of Ffridd
Bryn Mawr comprises grassed over rocks with a small depression in their centre. This looks like the remains of an ancient
cairn, although it isn’t marked as such on the map. Soon the Trimble was set up and the allotted
data gathered and stored.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Ffridd Bryn Mawr |
I used part of my ascent
route on my way down and side-tracked from the remainder on a greened path
through fern down to a track that entered the near forestry. From here I needed to get back on to the lane
which at this point conveniently crosses the Afon Gam. I was tempted by a vehicle track on the opposing
bank and wondered if this indicated a ford, thankfully I contoured further on
the hill and found a way down on to the lane adjacent to another small conifer
plantation. The warmth was quickly
sapping my energy and by the time I reached the entrance to Dolwen farm I sat
and rested.
Blue skies and sunshine
are to be enjoyed, but I’ve learnt over many years of hill walking what
excessive heat does to my body, but I’ve also learnt how to manage it and had
come prepared with extra water for today’s little foray.
Part of Glyndwr’s Way
goes through the farm of Dolwen and as I headed out on it the calling of cows
reverberated across the stream valley.
Almost in harmony they called out, one followed by another, and with the
hum of a tractor working in a near field and the all-pervading greenish
emanating from hedgerow, field and hillside, it was a summer scene that would
not go amiss in a country more used to warmer conditions than ours.
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| Ffridd Bryn Mawr from just beyond the farm of Dolwen |
I left Glyndwr’s Way and
followed a green track gaining height above the lower reaches of the Nant
Ffridd y Castell, by now I needed frequent rests as the going was steep and the
heat was sapping. I gasped as I rested
bent over with a hand on my knee until I recovered and then did a little bit
more of what was proving torturous uphill.
Eventually I reached a track that makes its way around the southern
perimeter of Pen Coed, following this for a short way I then headed toward a
gate that gave access to the common land of the hill. I now sat, rested, ate a cereal bar, took on
water and rested again. It was ever so
pleasant to sit and recover with the sun beating down and a heat-induced
quietness across the land.
The land leading toward the
summit of Pen Coed looked uninviting with copious amounts of tussocks and moor
grass between me and its summit, I hoped a path existed otherwise I may have had
to collapse. As I gathered myself after
my rest I found a sheep track that joined a path and this could be seen across
the moor heading confidently toward the eastern end of the hill’s summit
area. I was ever so thankful that a path
existed.
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| Pen Coed from my rest spot |
Approaching the summit
of Pen Coed I looked at my watch and it had taken two hours to get here from
Ffridd Bryn Mawr, I smiled and thought that gone are the days when it took the
same amount of time to get from the summit of Pen yr Ole Wen in the Carneddau
to the summit of Tryfan in the Glyderau during my successful attempt on the
Welsh 3’s in under 24 hours. Oh how the
passage of time ages!
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| LIDAR image of Pen Coed |
I took three data sets
from the summit area of Pen Coed, this gave me more time to rest and recover, and
as the Trimble quietly beeped away collecting its individual data I stood and
peered out across a sun scorched land down valley toward the Breiddin. It was good to be here, a point that looked
an awful long way away from earlier in the morning and a point I had wondered
may be too far to reach in the warming conditions. However, now I was here, I was glad of it. My route onward was heading back toward my
car and I knew that I just had to do a little bit at a time and eventually I
would get there.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Pen Coed |
Packing the Trimble away
after its third data set was gathered and stored I reversed part of my inward
route and then opted for the continuation of the good green track I was on,
this soon disappeared as it entered a reed infested wet area. However, a few sheep paths headed through the
reeds and soon I was back on a part of Glyndwr’s Way and sitting on a large
rock beside the vehicle track that makes its way up from the farm of Dolwen. This gave me another needed rest.
My last hill of the day;
Moel Ddolwen rose in a steepened profile, greened in summer growth which was
being happily harvested by numerous white dots of sheep. Below me on the field comprising the hill’s
bwlch was a tractor, working its way this way and that. I had hoped to survey this bwlch as it was
the only one of the three connecting to each of the hills I planned on visiting
that was on my direct route. However, with
the land being worked and the bwlch having been LIDARed I decided to aim
directly for the summit.
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| LIDAR image of Moel Ddolwen |
This proved another slow
plod on steepening grass with views opening up as I crested its westerly
ridge. As I set the Trimble up and
waited for it to achieve its 0.1m accuracy level before data should be logged I
looked out across the moor toward the summit of Pen Coed, a fine area squeezed
against the grazing fields of Ffridd Bryn Mawr and Moel Ddolwen.
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| Ffridd Bryn Mawr from the westerly ridge of Moel Ddolwen |
I took two data sets
from the summit area of Moel Ddolwen each about 30 metres apart. I favoured the first position as the
highest. As data were being gathered and
stored I stood 100 metres or so away from the equipment and looked at my route
from earlier in the day and even if the walk only amounted to seven miles I wondered
why I had done this, as I had promised myself on many an occasion that when
conditions are unduly warm just stick to one small hill and savour the
experience.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Moel Ddolwen |
Even though I had
savoured today’s experience I had found it uncomfortably warm and at times my
energy levels were on freefall. Leaving
the summit of Moel Ddolwen I wandered down its eastern ridge and then steeply
down its southern flank to join a track leading through the farm of
Moel-Ddolwen, before joining a narrow lane that took me back to my car,
accompanied on the way by a friendly farm dog who until I wandered past was
happily snoozing in the afternoon heat.
Survey Result:
Summit Height: 372.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 98152 06576 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 303.8m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 97875 05991 (LIDAR)
Drop: 69.1m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 18.53% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Pen Coed
Summit Height: 359.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 98566 09088 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 303.2m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 97703 09141 (LIDAR)
Drop: 56.1m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 15.62% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Moel Ddolwen
Summit Height: 323.6m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SH 98894 07825 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 282.3m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SH 98669 07967 (LIDAR)
Drop: 41.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 12.74% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
