Cambrian Mountains Observatory- Progress so far

[laser_jock99]

Starting to make some progress this year so I though I'd share some of my labours....

1) Location: the observatory is being constructed in our garden some 1400 feet up in the Cambrian Mountains (hence the observatory name!). We are roughly 20 miles inland of Aberystwyth in an isolated rural community. The setting in the landscape can be seen in the photo below.

Looking south from the site there are nothing but hills and moorland. If you started walking due south you would not hit a road for 20 miles.

The skies are fairly dark- but even here not entirely light pollution free. Long exposures looking due East pick up the glow from Newtown (25 miles) and Welspool (40 miles). But at least the Milky Way is plainly visible on a clear night. The big plus for astronomy at our house is there are no visible outside lights and no street lights for a few miles.

2) The Site: My garden is not flat but sits on a Southerly facing hill-as seen in this view fron the West.

It was clear from the start a considerable amount of groundwork engineering would have to in before we even thought about building the observatory. So the ground was cleared of a few rasberry bushes and a five larch trees....

3) Construction: After site clearance we began to construct the lower retaining wall. The walls purpose was to hold back the infill later digging higher up the site and thus create a terrace. The lower retaining was contructed on a concrete foundation. Six blocks high and 11m along the leading edge.

Digging the first turves!

Mixing concrete for the wall foundation.

[astroimpulse]

Ah, you are going to get some cracking views from there! I'm so envious.

I'll be glued to this thread from now on

[laser_jock99]

The finished lower retaining wall.

Once the lower wall was finished we could commence digging into the hillside to create the terrace as we now had somewhere to dump the infill. Although first a row of old tramway lines from nearby abandoned mines was hammered into the ground just behind the blocks to give added strength! Digging was much harder work than I had imagined. It wasn't very deep before we hit the bedrock.......

Progress was very slow and took 8 months on and off to complete. Bad weather in the winter didn't help and the deeper we dug the more solid the rock became. Some rocks we levered out were nearly as big as the barrow....

[laser_jock99]

Eventualy we had a level surface from which to work on- so the cement mixer was carried up there and also 2 tonnes of concrete ballast (hand carried- in buckets that is) from the end of the bridleway which is as close as the builders merchants lorry can get....

Next job was build a retaining wall at the back of the terrace to hold back the hillside we had dug out. First a heavy duty SDS hammer drill was used to bore holes into the bed rock. Next some 15mm dia re-bar was banged into the holes. Concrete re-inforcing mesh was wired to the upright rods.

With wire mesh in place we could then arrange some wooden shuttering to hold back the wet concrete. Note the use of large rocks within the concrete. These will help bond the next layer of concrete to the one below (and it gets rid of a few more rocks!)

Mixing all that concrete was hard work - but we took advantage of the recent good weather at Easter to make fair progress. So we now have a level site that hopefully won't slide down the mountain. We have reached the point where most people start from! I can't say I'm looking forward to digging the hole for the concrete pier base though. I had planed on a 1m deep hole- at this rate I can envisage the pier being bolted directly to the bedrock.....

More updates to follow in the coming months.

[astroimpulse]

Just built a 154ft (total length) retaining wall around part of my garden (4" shorter than yours - based on your 4 blocks) so I can completely relate to the hard work in your project.

Looks like you've made VERY fast progress. I'm impressed

[iwatkins]

That is a lot of hard work, well done. Have you considered blasting rather than digging

My sister is about to get their new place in the Black Mountains. So a dark site with a proper bed is on the cards for me too

Cheers

Ian

[astroimpulse]

A little off topic but what's the average house price around those parts? We were looking at moving to certain parts of wales a while back.

Is it just the same average UK weather or do you get more rain etc?

[Psychobilly]

Nice work... lovely location

It never rains in Wales honest....

[Gina]

WOW! That sure was a lot of work and will make a BIG obsy. Should be good when it's all finished

[Steep]

There's a man who knows the proper use for a greenhouse!

I'm very jealous of your site there, though I expect it can get a bit breezy!

[laser_jock99]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. Hopefully this summer will see much more progress.

A little off topic but what's the average house price around those parts? We were looking at moving to certain parts of wales a while back.

Is it just the same average UK weather or do you get more rain etc?

House prices aren't that cheap in this part of Wales any longer compared to say 20-30 years ago. The price difference margin compared to other parts of the UK has narrowed a lot.

Rain- yes this part of Wales is reknowned for its rainfall. On two occasions this year already I have recorded 4" in 48 hours! In such conditions the little trickle on the cliffs opposite the obsy site rapidly becomes a raging waterfall. Weather proofing will be an issue.

[msinclairinork]

WOW superb build so far!!

Think i'm looking forward to seeing the finished article as much as you!

Keep up the good work!!

Michael

[Dangerous-Dave]

What a cracking location, good work with the landscaping. Any trouble with planning permission?

[RogerTheDodger]

Awesome location, really jealous

[laser_jock99]

What a cracking location, good work with the landscaping. Any trouble with planning permission?

Planning permission not required as it will be classed as a temporary wooden structure, less than 2.5m high, more than 5m from nearest highway and only a fraction of the garden area. Had we been living in a National Park area (eg Snowdonia) then it would be a different story.

[michael8554]

Congratulations on your work so far, not your usual "easy" flat garden lawn project.

Just a thought - I seem to remember one of those televised renovations of a welsh farmhouse on a site notched into the hillside - they had serious issues with rainwater coming down the hillside and had to have drainage ditches where the retaining walls were to divert the water around the house.

Good luck and please keep the piccies coming.

Michael

[Beulah]

Wow, Laserjock, I am going to enjoy following this thread - you live in my favourite part of Wales. Those Cambrian mountains are majestic to say the least.

PM sent.

[badgerchap]

Just stumbled across this old thread - how did it ever get on?

I'm luckier with rain - on the Welsh coast, so probably miss out on anout 1 in 5 rainstorms on account of being on the good side of the mountains. Still rains A LOT though!

[Euan]

Wow that is a pretty serious build!

Looks like it will be superb, great location as well

[laser_jock99]

Just stumbled across this old thread - how did it ever get on?

I'm luckier with rain - on the Welsh coast, so probably miss out on anout 1 in 5 rainstorms on account of being on the good side of the mountains. Still rains A LOT though!

All finished now- still raining up here though!

[badgerchap]

Ah that looks great! You had much of a chance to test it out yet?

[Gra]

Excellent obs you got there and wonderfully dark skies.

[laser_jock99]

Ah that looks great! You had much of a chance to test it out yet?

Yes- the obsy has been operational since last September. Just getting the equipment together to do some guided imaging when the nights start to get darker.

[Beulah]

An epic project...great to read this again!!

[faulksy]

lovely that laser, you must be made up. realy looks great