Foel Offrwm, GW/NW-055 - 405m ASL - SH 749 209 - OS Explorer OL18 - 1 SOTA point            

We woke up on Sunday 3rd March 2013, and cleared our hotel room at the Royal Ship Inn.  This would be our last breakfast at the pub, so we made it a good one, indulging ourselves in the buffet section ahead of the arrival of our traditional cooked breakfasts.  The pub has been fantastic with us, always happily heating our soup and putting it in the flask for us every morning.  The staff were all excellent, happy and friendly, as well as incredibly helpful, and I would readily stay there again.

From Dolgellau, it was a very short drive to the car park at SH745211.  All the signs here seemed to concern the Snowdonia Precipice Walk, which seemed to be popular.  However, the objective for Jimmy and I would be in the opposite direction.  We crossed the road and wandered along the gentle track as it wound its way around the northern end of the hill.  Now we started to look for suitable lines to follow to ascend the hill the best way we could.  This didn't work so well about two thirds of the way up when we found ourselves scrambling up some horribly steep grassy ground.

We soon veered back over to the wall that was passing to the north of the summit, and then the large summit cairn was in sight.  Our final ascent of the North Wales trip was over, and thank goodness - I don't think the soles of my feet or calves or thighs could have taken much more!  Jimmy and I set up our usual stations, but unusually close to each other as just one face of the cairn afforded any available shelter.

On 2m FM, again Jimmy could only get to the requisite four contacts and not beyond.  That was not the case on 40m CW, where I romped to 28 QSOs in 23 minutes.  And then I was keen for us both to pack away out gear, as I knew that Sunday dinner was being served at home at 5pm!

Rather than try to retrace our ascent route, we decided to basically follow the wall down for the descent.  We did veer from the wall here and there to find better ground, but basically stuck with it until the gently graded path crossed through it at SH751254.  I selected this spot for us to rest and have our lunch.

Soup of the day was steak & onion, and was very much enjoyed.  However, we did have to question exactly what the difference was between the steak & potato, steak & vegetable and steak & onion soups of the last three days.  We couldn't discern any difference whatsoever!

The drive back to Macclesfield was long, but without delay, and we were home just in time to have a shower, change and sit down for Sunday dinner.  Marianne's roast lamb with all the trimmings was stunning, and bettered all those lovely meals at the Royal Ship Inn, as good as they were.