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Sunday 15 December 2013

GW/MW-004 & 005


Summit Information for GW/MW-004
Pen y Garn - 610m, 4 points
Association: Wales  Region: Mid Wales   
Latitude: 52 22 43 N, Longitude: 3 46 2 W
Grid Reference: SN 798771, QTH Locator: IO82CJ 
Today's Sunrise: 08:17 UTC, Today's Sunset: 16:03 UTC


Today I am revisiting Pen Y Garn (GW/MW-004) and wanted to try a different  route to the summit. Starting from the very narrow B road at SN 791-753 I headed north east for a short distance then soon after passing the derelict buildings I headed north west following the fence line for a few hundred meters.
I joined the main track at SN 788-757 and followed this all the way to the summit, some 3 kilometers away.
Its quite a gradual climb most for the most part, as the track zigzags  its way up the mountain following the eastern edge of the forestry.
At the summit there is a well constructed cairn where I set up and sheltered from the very strong winds. 
Visibility had been fairly good until now but it wasn't long before the mist closed in and it was hard to see more than 20 meters.  After struggling for quite some time trying to get the mast up in between the strong gusts, I eventually settled down for my first activation of the day.  



























Date:15/Dec/2013 Summit:GW/MW-004 (Pen y Garn) Call Used:GW6OVD/P 
TimeCallBandModeNotes
11:00zGW8LJJ5MHzSSBDerek
11:04zG6LUZ5MHzSSBSteve
11:05zM0MDA5MHzSSBMick
11:06zG6ODU5MHzSSBRob
11:07zG3YPQ5MHzSSBPhil
11:08zG0RQL5MHzSSBDon
11:10zMRW6LMI5MHzSSBRichard
11:10zM0JLA5MHzSSBRod
11:12zG8VNW5MHzSSBNick
11:13zGW1YQM5MHzSSBRichard
11:14zG0LGS5MHzSSBStewart





Summit Information for GW/MW-005
Llan Ddu Fawr - 594m, 2 points
Association: Wales  Region: Mid Wales   
Latitude: 52 19 5 N, Longitude: 3 46 36 W
Grid Reference: SN 790704, QTH Locator: IO82CH 
Today's Sunrise: 08:16 UTC, Today's Sunset: 16:04 UTC 


For my second activation activation I drove to SN 784-683 which is less than 7 kilometers as the crow flies, but by road took around 35 minutes.  I parked by the cattle grid overlooking Llyn Teifi res. and could see the vehicle track slightly further along the road heading in the right direction.  After followed the track for a few hundred meters it became very vague so I then followed the fence for a kilometer or so until it headed west.  I continued on north towards the summit but soon found myself trudging through ankle deep mud and progress slowed considerably. On the horizon I could could just about make out the silhouette of what I thought might be the trig point, but it turned out to be one of the many concrete post dotted around this area.
The actual trig point I was to discover, lies inside the dry stone cairn at the summit.
Soon after I had set up and made my first contact it started to rain heavily and combined with the strong wind, keeping the radio and log dry became very difficult.  This was to be my 100th SOTA activation, and there was no way I was leaving that summit until I had enough contacts in the log to qualify.  After making a further six I decider to call it a day.  All in all, an odd sort of day, one minute you could see for miles, the next, just a few meters.  Its at times like this GPS comes into its own, and if I ever revisit this one, I'll certainly be digging out my wellies!  By the time I got back to the car I was a little damp to say the least, and after a nice hot cup of coffee started the long drive home.  
73, and  thanks to everyone who helped with today's activation's of  Pen y Garn and Llan Ddu Fawr

Mal (GW6OVD/P)






Date:15/Dec/2013 Summit:GW/MW-005 (Llan Ddu Fawr) Call Used:GW6OVD/P 

TimeCallBandModeNotes
13:19zG0TDM5MHzSSBJohn
13:40zG0BNJ5MHzSSBBernard
13:42zG8VNW5MHzSSBNick
13:43zG6ODU5MHzSSBRob
13:48zM0MDA5MHzSSBMick
13:48zG6OUZ5MHzSSBSteve
13:50zG0SUF5MHzSSBSimon

1 comment:

  1. Hi Mal

    Congratulations on your 100th activation achieved on Llan Ddu Fawr today. Wet one today for sure :)

    Allan GW4VPX

    ReplyDelete