Rhobell Fawr, GW/NW-021 - 734m ASL - SH 787 257 - OS Explorer OL23 - 6 SOTA points            

The weekend had arrived and with it, some rather lovely sunshine.  Having compared the maps between this one and the originally intended Y Garn GW/NW-037, this one got the nod hands down - and it was two more points as well!  That does of course mean that Y Garn is merely deferred to some point in the future, but hey, after three tough days of walking I was getting tired!

We followed the A494 north-east out of Dolgellau after another magnificent breakfast at the Royal Ship Hotel.  I had bacon, cheese and tomato omelette and it was lovely.  Turning left at SH798216, we were onto narrow minor roads with some sharp corners.  At SH796232, this became a byway according to the OS 1:25000 sheet, but on the ground just continued as a tarmac gated road.  We parked in plenty of space at the side of the road at around SH798255, and this was almost opposite an access gate into the field.

We made our way along an easy gradient to start with, interrupted briefly by a bit of a bump to walk over.  Eventually it did get steeper, and zigzag lines were picked out to continue our progress.  I was ready for a rest, so we sat down on some rocks around SH792259 and had a drink and snack.  We heard a motor.  It got louder, and louder.  Then over a bump came a farmer on a quadbike with two sheepdogs running alongside.  We feared the worst, expecting another telling-off as received on Maesglase three days earlier, and perhaps being told we shouldn't have parked where we had, even though research had revealed it to be a perfectly acceptable situation.

But we were pleasantly surprised.  The farmer simply waved at us and continued on.  Further up the hill we bumped into him again and had a good natter for ten minutes.  He was a very friendly chap, and was keen to talk about all the hills around the horizon.  It was a lovely day with clear views.  He then explained - and demonstrated how one of his dogs responds to commands in English, and the other in whistles.  He described the way to get to the summit from where we were (although Jimmy already knew) and went on his way with his dogs.

The summit was lovely and bathed in sunshine.  The radio activation was very good, with Jimmy making 13 QSOs on 2m FM, including no less than seven S2S.  Meanwhile I made a total of 56 contacts on 40m CW, including three S2S.  We packed up and got on our way at only 1.30pm, so thoughts inevitably turned to a second summit for the day.  I suggested going to Ffridd Cocyn GW/NW-063 to say hello to Ricky MW6GWR/P, and Jimmy agreed that he fancied doing this too.