Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Mynydd Preseli

14.05.16  Carn Trefeiddan (SM 729 250)

Carn Trefeiddan (SM 729 250)

Having been deposited safely on dry land after visiting The Smalls, Emsger (South Bishop) and Daufraich with Venture Jet, we wandered up the steps leading from the RNLI Lifeboat station at St Justinian’s west of St David’s to our awaiting cars, the weather had improved since the still but grey skied conditions of this morning, as the sun now shone down with a pleasant cooling slight northerly breeze bringing welcome vividness to the colour on the surrounding land.

People immediately laid plans for the remainder of the day and an obvious objective was Carn Trefeiddan, which at a map heighted 72m is a P30 just to the east south-east of where our cars were parked.  Remarkably Rob hadn’t visited this small hill, and neither had Adrian, it had also been on my wanted list for the weekend, so as Rob and Adrian wandered up the road to their cars, I quickly converted my walking trousers to shorts and gathered all necessary equipment and a few minutes later we were walking up the road with Ayako deciding to stay at the car until Adrian’s return from the hill.

After only a short distance up the road we took to a field directly below the summit of the hill.  Ahead was a good looking summit with grass and gorse interspersed amongst good Pembrokeshire rock.  On our way toward the bottom bit of rock we came across a memorial stone with an interesting inscription, one that no doubt was heart-felt, but still rather unusual in its chose of words.

Memorial on the north-western slopes of Carn Trefeiddan - it's worth reading it

Beyond the memorial bluebells sprang out of a carpet of grass, their blues matching well with the greens.  A bit of hand on rock was needed to clamber up and on to the ridge crest of the hill, and from here it was only a short walk to the high point which consisted of rock.

Rob and Adrian on the way up Carn Trefeiddan

Once at the summit I aligned the internal antenna within the Trimble to the high point of the hill and balanced its back end on my rucksack to give the equipment a semblance of being horizontal, and off it went collecting its allotted five minutes of data.

Adrian and Rob at the summit of Carn Trefeiddan

The Trimble set-up position at the summit of Carn Trefeiddan

Afterward we retraced our inward route to the memorial stone where I headed toward the hill’s connecting bwlch and Rob and Adrian headed back to their cars, having arranged to meet at 5.30pm in Porthgain as Rob quite fancied investigating a tidal island named Ynys Fach, this proved rather exciting and will be detailed in the next blog post.

As we’d looked out from the summit of Carn Trefeiddan we followed the lay of land from Pwll Trefeiddan; a substantial lake to the east of the summit, as its reed infested and no doubt boggy adjacent land headed up the hill to hill traverse to meet its high point somewhere near a meeting of road and track close to where a 39m spot height appears on Ordnance Survey maps.  It was here that I headed.

Once beside the road and tracks I assessed the lay of land and decided that the best and most convenient place to set the Trimble up was on top of a milk churn which was positioned on top of a white washed platform beside the minor road, this appealed to my sense of fun as I’d never surveyed the top of a milk churn before.

As the Trimble gathered its data Rob drew up in his car, we chatted for a few minutes before he sped off to visit Carn Llidi, which is an impressive looking hill situated just to the north.

Gathering data at the top of a milk churn at the bwlch of Carn Trefeiddan

All that remained was for the last of the Trimble’s 300 data points to be stored and for the equipment to be switched off, packed away and for the pleasant walk back to my car in the afternoon sunshine.  Next stop Porthgain and the excitement of a scramble down a cliff to a tidal island.

Survey Result:

Carn Trefeiddan

Summit Height:  73.7m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SM 72930 25042

Bwlch Height:  38.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SM 73054 25388

Drop:  35.5m (30-99m Twmpau status confirmed)

Dominance:  48.20% (Lesser Dominant status confirmed)

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Mynydd Preseli

12.09.15  Foel Cwmcerwyn (SN 094 311) and Foel Eryr (SN 065 320)  

Foel Cwmcerwyn (SN 094 311)

The hills of Foel Cwmcerwyn and Foel Eryr are best combined on a ridge traverse, but having just one car at my disposal I’d decided on a there and back for each hill from the convenience of the car park at the top of the B4329 which bisects one from another as it speeds its way north toward Aberteifi (Cardigan).

As I headed out from the car park it was already attracting a number of cars, with a few walkers heading up the Pedwar of Foel Eryr which would be my last hill of the afternoon before the planned Ynys Aberteifi (Cardigan Island) trip this evening.

The route from the high car park follows the edge of a conifer plantation which smothers the western side of Foel Cwmcerwyn.  Today this path was awash in mud and puddles as the heavy overnight rain had taken its toll.  I’d visited this hill once before and had wanted to re-visit for a number of years as one of my goals is a second round of the Welsh Deweys, with my total still ever creeping upward but it seems to have been slumbering for a number of years, partly due to the Trimbling that is now taking priority.

Foel Eryr from the ascent of Foel Cwmcerwyn

The slosh laden path leaves the forest edge and heads straight over the moor taking a direct route toward the upper fence where a right, southward turn, takes you to the summit of the hill.  It was in this slosh laden wetness that I met two walkers heading in the opposite direction, we stopped and chatted, they were full of smiles even though their trainers and feet were absolutely wet through, these were the same couple of walkers that I’d spotted when on the summit of Carn Siân earlier in the morning.  They were on a 20 mile hike across the summits and ending in Abergwaun (Fishguard).  As they sloshed off toward the coast I continued back toward the path thinking that wellies are a marvellous invention.

The view east from the edge of the forest

As I rounded the forest edge and headed southward the sun cast down upon the lower slopes with the summit in shadow, giving depth and contrast to the view.  Ahead the summit trig pillar quickly gained prominence until I popped out on top, I placed the Trimble on the top of the trig and switched it on and stood back waiting for it to log into the satellite almanac, as I looked down the southern slopes I saw two people approaching with one waving at me, I waved back and recognised the friendly face of John Mackay, the last time we had seen one another was earlier in the year on Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island), following John was George Morl, who I’d last seen on the Ynys Tudwal Fach and Fawr trip.

The shadowed summit slopes of Foel Cwmcerwyn

It was good to see John and George and once we’d said our hello’s and had our welcoming hand-shakes they explained that Alan Holmes was waiting in his car and that he’d recommended this southern route as the approach to the summit.  It wasn’t surprising to bump into John and George as I wondered if I’d see other baggers on the hills today as with 12 booked on the island trip later in the afternoon they would be off on all manner of P30 hills during the day.

George and John just below the summit of Foel Cwmcerwyn

As the Trimble gathered its data we stood and chatted and then they were gone, and so was I once the customary five minutes of data were gathered and the equipment packed away.  Down I went, back through the slosh to the high car park and over the road to the connecting bwlch with Foel Eryr, listed as a 64m drop Pedwar with a 468m map heighted summit.

Gathering data at the summit of Foel Cwmcerwyn

The critical bwlch was relatively easy to pinpoint and I placed the Trimble down on the ground on the driest patch of moor that I could find.  As it beeped its way to its 300 points of gathered data I stood back and admired the continuation of the path up the north-eastern flank of Foel Eryr.  This hill has a distinctive conically shaped profile and proved a popular ascent as a number of people were heading up it as I had left my car to visit Foel Cwmcerwyn, another couple were descending from the summit as the Trimble was packed away and later on my descent I met a small group of people heading up.

Foel Eryr from its puddle laden bwlch

Once past the puddles at the bwlch I slowly made my way to the summit and chose an embedded rock close to the hill’s panoramic viewfinder for the first of what proved to be three summit data points.

The second point surveyed was on the top of what I judged to be the highest embedded rock at the base of the large and ancient summit cairn that sprawls its way across the summit area of the hill.

Before taking these two data sets I had clambered up the cairn and noticed that there was solid ground and patches of grass about ¾ of the way up it, this of course could just be a part of the ancient cairn with the solid ground constituting the settlement of individual rocks over the millennia that it has stood on the hill.  But I thought I’d get a third data set from this point and placed the Trimble on top of my rucksack to give it a semblance of elevation above the remainder of the cairn.

The third data set at the summit was taken on solid ground approximately ¾ of the way up the cairn

As I left the summit I looked back and wondered if I would ever visit again, this is doubtful but I’ve learnt that one should never say never, as life has a funny twist to it sometimes.  Once back at the car I sorted my gear out and headed toward our planned meeting spot for our visit to Ynys Aberteifi (Cardigan Island).

Survey Result:

Foel Cwmcerwyn

Summit Height:  536.5m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 09407 31158

Bwlch Height:  c 191m (interpolation)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 25455 31770 (interpolation)

Drop:  c 346m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and interpolated bwlch)

Dominance:  64.40% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and interpolated bwlch)

Foel Eryr (significant name change)

Summit Height:  467.4m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 06586 32079

Bwlch Height:  403.8m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 07406 32185

Drop:  63.6m

Dominance:  13.60%

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Mynydd Preseli

12.09.15  Carn Siân (SN 127 321)  

Carn Siân (SN 127 321)

My first time to the hills of Mynydd Preseli for a number of years, my memories from previous visits were of open hills with relatively easy ascents and distant coastal views, and all under big skies. 

A busy couple of days were planned with a late afternoon visit to Ynys Aberteifi (Cardigan Island) and tomorrow’s trip to Ynysoedd y Moelrhoniaid (The Skerries) having been organised by Adrian Rayner.  As one island is almost the full western length of Wales from the other it would mean many car miles were to be covered and as with trips such as these, when travelling a relatively great distance, it’s always beneficial to try and visit a few other hills on the way.

During the night the rain battered the countryside which was in contrast to the last nine days of settled weather, and as I left my bungalow at 6.40am and drove west towards Aberystwyth the rain continued and hammered down as I made my way over Eisteddfa Gurig.  By the time I’d driven past Aberteifi (Cardigan) the first semblance of white cloud and blue sky had poked its way through the mass of overcast grey.

I parked on the south side of the Mynydd Preseli hills in a small parking spot adequate for two or three cars at SN 127 307.  My plan was to visit Carn Siân which is listed as a c 63m drop Pedwar with a map summit height of 402m.  Thankfully I’d brought my wellies as I suspected island trips way prove a wee bit wet and with heavy overnight rain the hills may be a wee bit soggy.

A green track heads northward from the parking place and gains steady height around the western bulk of Carn Siân, as I walked on it patched sunlight struck the eastern face of the higher Foel Cwmcerwyn with its greened slopes disguising its moorland appeal.

The green track soon petered out to a path which proved wet and boggy in places, but it enabled me to gain height relatively quickly and I was soon at the area of the bwlch which connects Carn Siân to Foel Cwmcerwyn.  The bwlch consisted of long moor grass interspersed with purple heather; within its realm were a number of soggy puddles and very soon also a rucksack which had a Trimble sitting on its top.

As the Trimble gathered data I watched another shower develop to the west and slowly push my way, and as the first rain drops fell I turned my back to the shower and waited for the allotted five minutes of data to be gathered.  By the time the Trimble had gathered the last of its 300 points the shower had passed and I soon packed the equipment away and headed up toward the summit.

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Carn Siân with Foel Cwmcerwyn in the background

The Trimble set-up position at the bwlch with Carn Siân in the background

I followed the path on the hillside that aims toward the east and the 300m tops of Carn Menyn and Foel Drygarn, reaching its high point I marched over tussock grass toward the upright stones at the summit of Carn Siân, these are a good indicator where the highest ground is placed but as I contemplated trying to balance the Trimble on the highest part of the narrow rock of one of the upright stones, I gave them a wiggle and each moved, so I looked for the highest ground at their base.

Within a few minutes the Trimble was set up on my rucksack gathering another data set.  During this process I stood quite a distance away and watched a couple walking up from the east, although the weather looked as if it was slowly improving there were still masses of grey murk accumulating out to the west with their showers spraying down on the land.  The bulk of these were just south from where I stood, with intermittent blue patches appearing in the sky to the north.

Using my rucksack as an improvised tripod next to the upright rocks at the summit of Carn Siân

The view east from the summit of Carn Siân

The Trimble set-up position at the summit of Carn Siân

Once the Trimble was packed way I set off down the hill on a path that aimed the way I wanted to go, off to the west a rainbow cast its magic colours across the northern part of Foel Cwmcerwyn with its bow highlighting the continued grey, showery weather still lingering across the land.

Still bathed in grey - Foel Cwmcerwyn and its rainbow

The path shot me down to my car and soon I was driving back to the high point of the A4329 road for my next walk of the day.  On the way the murk descended and rain spat out from the sky.  I wondered how long it would last and had decided that the comforts of the car were too appealing to venture out into it.  However, as I pulled into the car park at the top of the road the last spots of rain withered away and the sky brightened, excellent stuff!

Survey Result:

Carn Siân

Summit Height:  401.5m (converted to OSGM15) (Pedwar status confirmed)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 12774 32142

Bwlch Height:  340.0m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 12140 32340

Drop:  61.5m

Dominance:  15.32%

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}