Monday 19 February 2018

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Carnedd Wen


07.01.18  Upper Park (SJ 189 052) and Cromwell Hill (SJ 182 048)

Upper Park (SJ 189 052)

Ever since getting the Trimble I’ve wanted to visit Upper Park and survey its high point.  This hill has a certain reputation in the hill bagging community as some in the past have been asked to leave by irate estate workers; because of its reputation many ascents are clandestine.  This saddens me as the grounds where Upper Park is situated are beautiful and ideally the estate should open the hill up, even if only for selected weekends where ascents could be managed.

Realising that an ascent of this hill is frowned upon by the estate I waited my time, as the high point is in a deciduous wood surveying this hill would have to wait for the winter months when lack of leaf coverage on trees would enable a greater opportunity for satellite reception, I also wanted to visit the hill early on a Sunday morning, hopefully when few in the estate were working, there were other periphery ideals such as clear visibility and little wind.  The forecast for the 7th January was ideal and I packed all necessary gear having noted all grid references.

I locked my front door and quietly walked up the road at 7.10am, I’d had a fitful night’s sleep and felt as if I was coming down with the dreaded lurgy, so my pace was slow and plodding. 

I’d visited Upper Park twice before, and had wanted to re-visit the hill via its north-east ridge, this ridge heads toward the summit from the confines of the Maes Gwastad cemetery.  As I left the cemetery through a small wooden gate giving access to open hillside the conditions were perfect.  All I could hear was the crispness of touch as my wellies slowly plodded upward across a frost encrusted and steepening field, across the valley Cefn Digoll stretched northward as the first glimmer of orange hue materialised beyond its high point.

Heading to the top of Maes Gwastad

I knew I wasn’t feeling good as all I could hear when breathing was a rattling wheeziness from my chest which sounded like an old bubbling dysfunctional radiator.  At the top of Maes Gwastad I entered Lloyd’s Bank wood to pay my respects to my father as when a child he lived in Park Cottage, with his father then a gamekeeper at the estate, the cottage is now no more than a forgotten ruin, I still find it amazing that my dad once lived there, it is also where I scattered a part of my father’s ashes.

Somewhat unwelcoming

The access to the higher part of Upper Park was via a wooded track, I’d visited the gate giving this access a few weeks ago when wandering the park in stunning snow conditions.  Once on the track in the wood I thought I probably wouldn’t encounter any estate workings, and I wanted to reach this point before sunrise.

The gate giving access to the wood and muddied track that leads to the summit

The wood proved beautiful, I slowly plodded on the muddied track with occasional bird call and stillness pervading, and everything seemed at peace.  The sun crested the high point of Cefn Digoll and cast its spell through the mature trees, its rays dancing as I made slow progress up the hill.

In the wood

Sunrise

I broke out of the wooded confines beside Umbrella Wood and the Dark Nursery, names given two of the many plantations in the park.  Rounding what I was later told was referred to as Windy Corner I had my first view of Crown Wood; it is this wood where the summit of Upper Park is situated.

Approaching Windy Corner

Crown Wood where the summit of Upper Park is situated

The continuation of the track from the forestry headed toward the wood and within a few minutes I’d assessed the lay of land and assembled the tripod and attached the Trimble.  I’d brought the tripod as this gives over a metre elevation when compared to approximately 0.44m when the Trimble is set up on my rucksack, it also looks much sexier.

As I patiently waited for the 0.1m accuracy level to be attained before data should be logged the north-easterly breeze chilled my fingers, it took about ten minutes for the accuracy level to be attained and once the 0.1m mark showed on the screen I pressed ‘Log’ and wandered back to stand behind one of the mature trees on the leeward side out of the chilled breeze.

Gathering data at the summit of Upper Park

It was beautiful in the wood, very peaceful, with winter colour highlighting the trees, just below the wood is the renovated old summer house of Lady Powis and beyond is the Breiddin, again all was quiet as I took a few photos and waited for data to be gathered.

Lady Powis' old summer house

I decided to gather ten minutes of data and therefore occasionally left my sheltered position next to the mature tree and wandered in the wood, when it was time to store the data and close the Trimble down it felt as if I should stay in the wood and immerse myself in its beauty and peacefulness, but other surveys were planned.

The Trimble set-up position at the summit of Upper Park

I next wanted to gather a data set at the high point of the adjacent field where the Ordnance Survey 352m spot height appears on the 1:25,000 Explorer map, it took a relatively long time for the Trimble to attain the desired accuracy level before I pressed ‘Log’, once it was beeping away gathering its individual data points I stood beside a fence next to a felled tree that gave a little protection against the chilled breeze.

Gathering data at the high point of the field where the 352m spot height appears on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps

My next port of call was the summit of Cromwell Hill which is the adjacent P30 to Upper Park, on the way I passed over its critical bwlch and quickly assessed the land for the return journey.  The summit of Cromwell Hill is a few metres north-east of a small covered reservoir and as the Trimble gathered five minutes of data I looked out toward the snow bound Aran and Berwyn.

Cromwell Hill (SJ 182 048)

Gathering data at the summit of Cromwell Hill

Retracing my steps to the bwlch I quickly assembled the Trimble atop my rucksack and gathered another five minute data set, I now wanted to visit Pan-y-parc which is the large house situated just under the bwlch between these two hills.  Within a couple of minutes of knocking on the door Tara had invited me in and I was sitting supping a large mug of tea – pure bliss!  I seldom get the opportunity to have a mug of tea whilst on a hill walk and if one is ever offered it’s hard to resist.

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Cromwell Hill

Tara and her husband are local to the area but unfortunately could not help with names for the two hills, although she did tell me that the open hillside between what is named as the Dark Nursery and Crown Wood on the map is known as Windy Corner.

It was good to meet and talk with Tara, and she kindly directed me toward the forested track that would take me all the way down toward Powis Castle.  By the time I reached the castle I felt exhausted, my chest rattled and I’d developed a stinging cough, I sat on a park bench and tried to recover with a club biscuit sandwich!

It was a slow walk back through Welshpool toward the canal tow path and my bungalow, once home I ditched the tripod and external antenna and jumped in my car and drove to Castle Caereinion, and sauntered up the road to a public footpath sign that gave access to a series of relatively flat and large waterlogged fields where the critical bwlch of Upper Park is positioned.

I’d come prepared with a number of ten figure grid references where contour interpolation suggests the critical point may lie.  I took four data sets in all and ended up on a track leading to Pen-y-bryn farm.

One of four data sets taken for the position of the critical bwlch of Upper Park

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Upper Park

When at the farm I chatted with Steve Smith who was out in the farm yard, Steve proved very helpful and as ever with the farming community was only too pleased to impart the knowledge he has built up in relation to place-names.

Steve Smith

Upper Park (centre of photo behind trees) and Cromwell Hill on the right

It had been a magical day on the hill and Upper Park had finally been surveyed, I headed home happy in this knowledge and then spent the best part of the next three days in bed feeling completely washed out as the dreaded lurgy got the better of me.



Survey Result:



Upper Park

Summit Height:  354.0m (converted to OSGM15) (significant height revision)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 18980 05270 (summit relocation confirmed)

Bwlch Height:  177.0m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 16792 05090

Drop:  177.0m

Dominance:  49.99% (Lesser Dominant status retained)






Summit Height:  343.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 18222 04885

Bwlch Height:  303.8m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 18565 05114

Drop:  39.3m

Dominance:  11.47%














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