Coity Mountain, GW/SW-012 - 581m ASL - SO 231 080 - OS Explorer OL13 - 2 SOTA points            

South Wales SOTA Trip - Day 1 (part 2) - Sunday 24th May 2015

From Myarth GW/SW-035, we drove south on the A467 through Blaenau before turning back north through Cwmtillery.  We parked close to the end of the cul-de-sac ahead of the Cwmtillery Reservoir.  Our walk began climbing the stony track up the valley in an easterly direction, until a large intersection of wide paths at the 504m spot height at SO232067.

Here we turned left, noting the tall white posts which would be a useful landmark on our return.  Soon we saw a less distinct trodden path angling uphill to the right, so followed this to its highest point.  As this began to drop again, we turned left and heather-hopped uphill to the summit itself, which wasn't far away.  It was a big flat and featureless summit area, with nothing at all to mark any "official" summit point.

This time, Jimmy had no difficulty on 2m FM and was into double-figures before I'd even made my first contact.  That was inhibited of course by going for the Challenge multiplier as a priority.  It was proving elusive, so it was a relief when relatively nearby Frank G3RMD (Cheltenham) worked me for a local groundwave contact.  I retuned the antenna for 40m and qualified the activation with a handful of CW contacts.

We descended and drove up to Brecon Beacons YHA, which is positioned a couple of miles East of Brecon on the main A470 road.  The hostel enjoyed a spectacular view across to Pen y Fan GW/SW-001, and was a traditional stone building in a tranquil spot down a steep driveway from the main road.  We checked in and ordered our evening meals of fish and chips, before getting a shower and making our bunk beds.  The first day of the trip had been successful, and we looked forward to Mynydd Carn y Cefn GW/SW-014 the following morning.