GW/MW-007 Banc Llechwedd-mawr GW/MW-008 Drosgol

Doing the double

GW/MW-007 Banc Llechwedd-mawr

GW/MW-008 Drosgol

10/03/2015

The end of the SOTA winter bonus was drawing ever so close so these two were targeted as a double for a total of 10 activation points. Mal GW6OVD and I had exhausted the majority of our winter bonus summits which were within easy access so with these two being the last on the list we joined forces for a joint activation. These two summits are situated in the middle of the two arms of Nant y Moch reservoir. 

Mal and I left our cars just above Maesnant SN775880 and headed NNE up the track towards the derelict building at SN783890 where we picked the faint outline of the Quad bike trail which leads NW to the new bridge at SN77958915 immediately below Banc Llechwedd Mawr (East side).

On our way

We crossed the bridge and followed the river upstream nearly to the first bend as it’s a little drier and following a few sheep tracks we made it to the bottom of the climb having avoided the really wet stuff.  A zig- zag approach uphill (steep) until we reached the two cairns that grace the summit.

Steep :)

We were not alone on the hills today as across the other side of Nant y Moch reservoir Rod MW0JLA/p and Viki MW6BWA/p were making their way up on to Drosgol from SN736887.  Mal and I decided to set up only one station and quickly qualified the summit on 60m. As soon as Rod and Viki arrived we quickly helped them to qualify their summit with a little help from Jim EI9GLB and others. Great fun and we had quite a few laughs as we all shared the same frequency no doubt causing confusion to a few other chasers :)

We all quickly packed up and arranged to meet at the bridge which is between Drosgol and Banc Llechwedd Mawr at SN766888 (South side). You should leave the summit of Banc Llechwedd Mawr  heading SW and on arrival at the bridge cross the boggy bit to the sharp uphill section and then follow the ridge to the summit of Drosgol.

Mal...Drosgol on the right

Bridge below

Follow ridge to summit of Drosgol

After the meeting at the bridge we set off and arrived on our respective summits at the same time. After we had all set up we exchanged reports and started the activation with 2m s2s contacts including one with Peter G1FOA/p on G/WB-002 and then Martyn  M1MAJ/p on G/NP-001 Cross Fell (60m).  Both summits qualified in minutes and both Mal and I made sure that Viki had her 70cms contacts as well. Later in the activation another s2s with Caroline on G/NP-001 ended our activation so we notified Rod and Viki that we were heading down and back to the bridge.

The meeting

We all met up once again commenting that it had been a real ‘fun day’ and really nice to have met up for a ‘face to face’ contact and a little bit of a ‘ragchew’ :)  Mal and I crossed the bridge and walked back along the East side of Banc Llechwedd Mawr keeping well above the boggy bit as much as possible before heading down towards the first bridge and the road back to Maesnant.  I believe that our approach to the activation involves far less walking but do look at both routes and draw your own conclusions as to the best approach.

Thanks everybody for all the contacts.

73 Allan GW4VPX and Mal GW6OVD