Saturday 18th January 2020

The headline news at the commencement of the Saturday was that Liam was up, washed, dressed and sown at breakfast by 9am!  Something completely unheard of at home!  This little break away was already promising great things!  Also promising, was the weather forecast for the next few days.  It looked like it was going to be amazing - and it was.

A very nearby summit - and indeed a very easy summit - was Pegwn Mawr.  It is possible to drive a good way up a public tarmac road on this hill, leaving a short easy climb to the summit.  Liam and I completed this quickly and found our spots to sit and enjoy the lovely sunshine and views while indulging in our respective activities.

I set up my favourite antenna - the 30m vertical with groundplane.  Ten QSOs were made on CW, including DX into NA courtesy of WA3C.  I then tried some 2m FM with the handheld and added four contacts, three of which were summit-to-summit.  It was no surprise that SOTA activators were out on this beautiful day.

The day got more beautiful for Liam, as we drove back down into Llandrindod Wells.  We had spotted a retro pop-culture type shop there the night before, that also doubled as a local community gaming hub.  Liam was delighted with this and enjoyed a couple of hours there.  I diverted next door to the Arvon Ales bar where I enjoyed another pint of superb ale

After my session at Arvon Ales, and Liam's session at the gaming hub, we drove the five miles or so to the quiet village of Newbridge-on-Wye for a welcome return to the very friendly New Inn.  It was lovely to see the landlady Sian again, and introduce her to my other son - when I was last here, it was Jimmy M0HGY that was with me!

After checking in to our room and having a wash and change, Liam and I went down for dinner - plus of course a few pints of ale and games of pool.  Sian's dinner of Welsh faggots, chips, mushy peas and gravy was very welcome and went down an absolute treat!

We enjoyed a good night's sleep at the New Inn, and I had a plan to revisit Plynlimon-Pen Pumlomon Fawr GW/MW-001 the next morning.