Mynydd Troed, GW/SW-009 - 609m ASL - SO 166 293 - OS Explorer OL13 - 4 SOTA points           

Sunday 30th August 2009 was the last of our scheduled four days of walking and camping in South East Wales. There remained one summit to do that Jimmy needed as a catch-up to his Dad's uniques, and one right next to it that would be a new one for us both, and would make a good 'double'.

   

After collecting more goodies from the campsite shop, it was a short drive to the summit that towered above our campsite. Jimmy directed me along the country lanes to SO160283, the col between Mynydd Troed GW/SW-009 and Mynydd Llangorse GW/SW-015. The drive took only minutes from the campsite, allowing us to claw back the time expended in breaking camp and loading the car.

   

Unfortunately, and despite the gloom and drizzle of the morning, it seemed plenty of others wanted to do this pair of Marilyns as well. The surprisingly large numbers of horse-riders, mountain-bikers and hikers who had walked up the road to the saddle were not a problem. But those who had driven to this point had taken every possible parking spot, and there weren't any alternatives anywhere near on the narrow lanes up and down the hill.

   

I did notice that a chap was sat in the passenger seat of one car. I said to Jimmy that he was probably waiting for someone, and that they were unlikely to be long, if someone was waiting for them. Sure enough, a family group was shortly seen descending Mynydd Troed, after which they got into the car and drove off. We quickly nabbed the new - and only parking position.

   

Mynydd Troed is very close to the col, but a fair old vertical height must be gained. The path starts as grassy and fairly steep. It then goes steeper, and steeper still! However, the really steep bits are actually rather easy, for it has those eroded "footprint steps" which dramatically tames the climb. Just beneath the main summit ridge, a more graded path gives and option to spiral into the summit, and this option was taken.

   

On the summit, were two deep holes. Jimmy and craig were already in the bigger one, with the beam set up above them just outside the hole. I plonked Liam in there with his pastie and DS game as well, while I set up the 40m dipole and inserted myself into the smaller hole.

This was a really enjoyable 40m CW activation for me, with a steady run of 22 QSOs and 13 DXCCs in just 17 minutes. Jimmy just made the four contacts, but didn't need to struggle to complete - that would come later!  The short steep descent back to the car was completed, and the road over the saddle was even busier with hiking expedition groups, mountain bikers and horse-riders. We crossed the road and pressed on to ascend Mynydd Llangorse GW/SW-015.  Thanks to all the following stations worked by us on this activation: