27.09.15
Long Hill (SJ 202 190)
Long Hill is just one of
a number of hills that spreads its welcoming profile out above the Afon Efyrnwy
(River Vyrnwy) as it meanders past the small town of Llansanffraid-ym-Mechain. This countryside is predominantly pastoral
with the landscape rising toward higher hills to the west. However, height is not everything and these
hills around Llansanffraid have a welcoming beauty.
This evening I had the
pleasure of meeting Charles and Jamie Everett who were having a stopover for
the night before heading south to surprise and celebrate Charles’ mother’s 86th
birthday in Cheltenham.
We met around 6.00pm and
drove to a small pull-in spot on the narrow lane to the north-east of this hill’s
summit. The weather was set fine with a
large high pressure system firmly embedded over the country giving blue skied
warmth during the day and peaceful chilly nights.
As we left the car and
walked down the lane toward the public footpath that crosses the southern flank
of the hill, father and son grinned at the camera. Charles and Jamie seem to have a special
relationship, partly based on older sibling – younger sibling, more so than that
of father and son, this gives a lot of banter and some competiveness which adds
to the hilarity that is often found when they are together.
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| Charles and Jamie |
As we branched off the
footpath and walked up the higher part of the hill a herd of sheep were set
against the brightness of the sinking sun.
We had timed our ascent to watch the sun set and as we arrived on the
summit the orange glow ebbed behind a line of cloud out to the west.
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| Just beyond the trees is the summit of Long Hill |
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| Charles and Jamie on the ascent of Long Hill |
By now I started to
accustom myself to the Everett’s need to social mediarise when on the move as
both seemed glued to their mobile phones, especially so Charles, whose mobile
phone seemed to be an added appendage and one that was becoming increasingly
apparent as the evening progressed. Life
on the move where it is broadcast into the public domain is now part of the
norm, however when on show it can take a little while to get accustomed to.
Once we’d assessed the
ground at the summit of Long Hill I placed the Trimble on what we judged to be
the highpoint and waited for it to gather its customary five minutes of
data. It was then packed away for the
remainder of the evening.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Long Hill |
As the orange glow of a
disappeared sun slowly started to cast out pink and golden hues the super moon
rose to our east, a large bright and illuminating light, we stood and watched
as the colour to our west intensified with streaks of scarlet edged cloud
adding depth to the scene.
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| Jamie and Charles at sunset on Long Hill |
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| The super moon rising |
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| Are they having a pee, admiring the sunset or fiddling on their mobiles and posting on Facebook - yep, it's the latter |
The scene to our west
kept us transfixed until the colour ebbed and the night and its dusk shadow
fell upon us, it was then that the brightness from the super moon took over;
this led us down the hill and back onto the narrow lane to the car, the walk
had been a lovely way to spend an evening.
Survey Result:
Long Hill
Summit Height: 196.6m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 20264 19081
Drop: 60m
Dominance: 30.52%
Dominance: 30.52%
For further details please consult
the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}
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