Easter Sunday 20th April 2014 - Mynydd Dinas GW/SW-040

We kicked off as usual with the early breakfast at the hotel in Barry, this time all three of us opting for porridge, which was very pleasant and full of energy. The next job was to drive down the M4 westbound to Port Talbort, where we exited at J41 and drove up to Baglan, and the Blaen-Baglan farm at SS759925. Here there was a large concrete area opposite the path entrance, with plenty of room for cars.

After passing through the gate opposite, we walked beside the farmyard and slightly downhill before gradually contouring up and around the forest on the Welsh Coast Path. Apparently, this route goes around the side of Mynydd Dinas in order to maintain views of the sea, for the steelworks refused allowed the route to pass through its territory.  As the path continued to rise, spectacular views opened up over Port Talbort and Swansea Bay. This was quickly becoming my favourite walk of the Easter trip, a real gem of a summit. After doubling back on a zigzag, all that remained was a right turn onto a faint path up to the summit.

Jimmy, on 2m FM as usual, could only scrape together three contacts. Meanwhile, I eventually managed to answer a CW CQ call from Ivan LZ1IF in order to bag the 12m Challenge multiplier. I switched over to 40m, and made three CW contacts there to qualify the summit.  That cued the arrival of Jimmy to request some time on the HF station. He went on 40m SSB and added four G stations to his log. He returned to his station to pack away, while I worked another four G's on 40m SSB.

A most satisfying walk and activation, on a cool, calm and dry Easter Sunday morning. Heavy rain was scheduled for some point in the day so our strategy was to get what we could join before it arrived, and save a couple of trivial summits for later in the day to give us more flexibility. But next it was off to the other summit local to Port Talbort - Foel Fynyddau GW/SW-029.