SOTA CYCLING 2016
I intended to take part in the SOTA cycling week but enthusiasm waned as the temperature rose (34C) and we (M6BWA and M0JLA )were preparing for a week of orienteering (M0), sand dune visiting by bike (M6) and SOTA (both) at Porthcawl on the South Wales coast starting Saturday 23 July. It was Tuesday 26th which was the earliest possible day for some SOTA (on 2m fm and 70cm fm) cycling as he could drop me at a summit before driving off to his start near Maesteg. The weather forecast suggested I might stay dry until about 1pm, get some rain and then improve later (it didn’t).
I was dropped at Mynydd Bettws (GW/SW-020) 374m, a flat boggy summit north of Swansea with a road running over the top – not the most inspiring of summits. I set up on the verge (at that time I had dry feet!) where my fishing rod and J-pole drew some strange looks from passing cars. To my amazement my first calls were immediately answered and 4 x 2m contacts were in the log in 8 mins with 4 x 70cm in a further 5 mins (this was the life!!) and I closed down after 17 mins with 5 call signs on each frequency, mostly local with Cardigan the furthest. Down came the rig, into the panniers and, after a quick wave to M0JLA who was still struggling on HF, I wobbled down the steep unfenced road, wondered at the police car and van which were nestled at the bottom (had they been alerted to suspicious activities on a nearby road side??) and continued the first descent towards my second summit.
My training for this expedition had been my usual commute in and out of Hereford city on the town bike (about 3m round trip but laden with shopping for the uphill section) and a 6 mile almost flat spin on the Giant hybrid X-500 to remind myself how the gears worked as it hadn’t been used for a year or so (possibly since the last SOTA cycling week ??!) Also I had given myself permission, some years ago, to push the bike up hills without any shame or guilt and I found this had increased the range of my occasional expeditions considerably. Hence I was soon pushing the steed up the far side of the steep valley and remounting when the gradient eased.
I had chosen an obscure zigzag route down to the crossing of the A474 with no steep sections – and grass growing through the tarmac. The only busy part was just before the main route when the road widened and I passed the landfill site and the domestic waste tip. I had apparently travelled through the remains of a coal mine whose workings had stretched to Pontardawe but had been closed in the 1990s.
Once over the A474 I was straight into preparations for a new wind farm but, luckily, their traffic soon took off on to a brand new road on the other side of the hedge on my right. I was soon pushing again at intervals and once more on an unfenced road.
I was carrying too much gear and longed to jettison some of it but was to frightened by the ‘Dim Tipio’ notice! My route to Mynydd Uchaf (GW/SW-031) 337m was up a moorland road until the saddle and then push the bike across the vegetation (heather/marsh/tussocks – no-one had been able to tell me) up to the summit and then push again down to a black path shown on the map which changed to a ‘track’ which eventually joined another tarmac road coming in from the north after a total distance of nearly 3 miles. A request on the Reflector for information on this route had not revealed any information so I was just hoping that some of the path/track actually existed and was even cyclable. As I pushed up the road a red Parcelforce van drew level and stopped to talk to me. After greetings he said “You do realise this is a dead-end road and only goes to a farm where I am delivering a parcel, don’t you? You will have to go back the way you have come.” Rather surprised by this helpful advice I explained I was going to the (featureless) summit in front of me and was expecting to have to push the bike there. He had another go: “There is no road out from here except this one. You can’t go on to anywhere else and will have to go back down.” Perhaps I should have taken his advice (the weather was obviously getting more threatening) and immediately turned round and freewheeled back to the valley but I persisted and explained I was hoping to use a track over to the next road but realised it was I might have to push. I then added that, if things went wrong, then I would turn round and go down the road I was still staggering up. Satisfied by this comment, he then left me and continued up the hill. As I turned off the road on a faint muddy path (which I hoped was heading for the summit) he reappeared on his way down and he waved at my thumbs-up signal. I was rather impressed by his helpfulness and his attempts to head me back to civilisation.
Luckily the footpath led me through the marsh at a fairly dry spot and not only took me into the AZ but to the rather strange little ‘hut’ near the top which had featured in accounts by other activators. This was apparently erected by the Redifusion television company in the 1970s with a mast for the TV signal which was then cabled down the hillside to local subscribers. This system was long since defunct but the building provided some shelter from the brisk wind despite the lack of a roof and at least 2 walls! It also helped to prop up the fishing rod and 4 x 2m contacts were in the log in 12 minutes but 4 on 70cm took another 15 mins using the waterproof log book as the rain had started. I decided a long stay was called for so it was lunch, a long chat on 70 cm to M1JMH in Clovelly (56 both ways) and a quick scout round to see where I was going to push the bike as my obvious path had ended. I eventually decided I couldn’t spend the rest of the day in the lee of this hut so, after a 2m/70cm contact with a rather baffled gent in his car in Princetown I started the next phase of pushing. A very faint path led through the rushes and tussocks and I suddenly realised the wind farm road had reappeared not far from where my track should be so it was a ‘no-brainer’ to push a little further and join the wide hard stone path and get back to cycling. This was fine until I realised I was about to come to a dead-end where the foundations for a turbine were being excavated (!) so I turned off to the (less good but passable) farm track towards the trig point (ht 352m) at the end of the flat summit. Surprised not to see it above me, I turned onto another track and went searching.
Luckily the plate was still visible (for those who collect such things) and I continued on as the track got worse and then improved again just before a tarmac road was glimpsed some 3 hrs since leaving the previous road (and the Parcelforce van).
The next bit was supposed to be fun – a 3 mile ride gently down a spur with fine views. There were a few snags: I hadn’t noticed there were a few ups as well as downs on this route, it was into the wind and also the rain re-started in earnest as I inspected a lonely chapel with graveyard (still in use) but with no homesteads visible in any direction.
The lych-gate shelter helped the donning of waterproof trousers (again) but I had to set off with my head down. Luckily the GPS reminded me when I should turn off (no signposts on these sorts of roads) and dive down to Ynysmeudwy (glad I didn’t have to ask the way…) and 1 km on the B4603 (gosh: houses, pavements and cars).
Then, very reluctantly, I turned left and started up to the third summit very very slowly as the road into the new housing estate was the steepest I had found and my enthusiasm (?) and legs were failing. I was aiming for a kissing gate at the start of a forest track on the side of Mynydd Allt-y-Grug (GW/SW-032) 338m. As I unfurled the rucksack and emptied the panniers, Rod and the support car arrived but he declined the offer to accompany me to the summit as he preferred to help me by chasing me from the comfort of the car!!
As the cloud was down and it was raining this was no surprise but I felt I couldn’t get much wetter but I did take the opportunity of changing my lighter shoes for my walking boots. This was wise as I soon left the path and was following a mountain bike track steeply up the hill looking for the promised gap in the barbed wire on the perimeter fence. This I didn’t find (was I too high?) so I plodded up and up checking the fence as I went. I was soon out of the trees and into shoulder-high wet bracken which wasn’t an improvement. Luckily others had also embarked on this quest so I had a narrow path to follow until I arrived at another (the same?) track amongst fire-blackened trees alongside the fence. Just as I was about to give up, an old piece of fence was spotted with loose barbed wire at the top and I wriggled (as many others had done) through and with GPS clutched in my hand, strode towards the top of this cloud-covered featureless summit (what WAS I doing here??) Choosing a large wet tussock I lowered my sack and talked (2m/70cm) to MW0JLA in the car on the stick aerial and also 2W0RKF before erecting the mast, attaching the VX-7 and calling into the mist… (A good thing that a VX-7R is reckoned to be waterproof!)
Three stations replied instantly and 5 more 2m were speedily in the log followed by 4 x 70cm and yet another 2m! Thus I had 7 x 2m and 6 x 70m contacts from one of the most notorious VHF summits in South Wales in 30 mins including time to erect the mast – what a wonderful band of local chasers I had acquired! As quickly as possible the station was packed up, the GPS guided me to the loose wire and I was through and walking down the forest track which returned me to the car in 20 mins (the ascent took 50 mins).
All this for 3 points!
Statistics
3 summits activated on both 2m fm and 70cm fm
Total contacts – 19 x 2m, 16 x 70cm
Height gained (cycling and pushing) – 570m
Distance travelled by (or with) the bike - 16 miles
Cycling and pushing – 4 hours, Sunbathing – nil,
Ascending and descending last summit (on foot) – 1 hr 20 min
Activating, setting up and dismantling – 3 hrs 10 min,
Total time – 8½ hours
Weather – British 2016 Summer (ie overcast, brisk wind, drizzle, bouts of rain, low cloud later)
PS I know that this activation was 2 days too late to count for the challenge but I was struggling to get the account finished ‘by 1 Aug’ as instructed but I now find the judging has been done and I’m too late (as ever). Too bad, but after all this effort I am going to post it. Thanks for the incentive to get out on the bike again and congrats to the winner for a well deserved victory.
Viki M6BWA
