Hi All,
A brief activation report of my activation of this infrequently visited summit.
I’ve been SOTAing since 2023, but only infrequently until December last year when a climbing trip to El Chorro reminded me that I thrive when I get outside so I determined to do more. I realised in late Feb that I could potentially bag all SW >2 pointers during the winter bonus period and with a burst of activity towards the end achieved that goal.
I was in need of a new target to keep me going for the rest of the year. I have therefore set myself the new goal of ticking the rest of SW land this year. I’ve also recently started working a 9 day fortnight to facilitate more outdoor adventures, and today was the first day off I’d earned.
Tirchrug looked like a interesting summit and the wx reports were great so I started planning the route taking advantage of the reports other’s had left, but sadly missed the excellent report from Allan GW4VPX.
I didn’t fancy doing the short approach others had used, given the wx was good I thought I should do a proper and longer walk. The Beacons and Heart of Wales Line recreational footpaths went past the summit. I’d never visited Carreg Cennen Castle and that seemed like an excellent place to park and start from. I planned to get a well earned late lunch there and tour the grounds on my return. A late start and a compromised activation put paid to that, but I’ll definitely be back.
The walk was on road and farm track for the first miles, I had a moment of uncertainty at Cilmaenllwyd farm. The OS map shows the FP going through their yard, but there was a homemade sign indicating the path was diverted to the left down and around the farm. I needn’t have worried, the path joined back up to the route quickly enough. I continued on to the linear quarry following a good and well signposted path until I intercepted the road. Plenty of young lambs in the fields this time of year.
I don’t like walking on roads for obvious reasons, but there was only one vehicle encountered both ways and it was tree lined and quite pleasant most of the way. At the start of the gentle climb around the side of Carn Powell some birds of prey eluded my attempts at photographing them, but the views in to the Afon Tywi valley were superb.
The route then wound through the Carreglwyd plantation, which was more pleasant than the standard conifer fare as the path was lined with some other trees. Exiting that wood to Bwlch Y Gors was a little confusing, the standard FP doesn’t exist on the ground, and following green diamond symbols was the right way, the path was obvious in hindsight.
I then climbed the side of Trichrug, which felt steep after such a gentle approach, and I also felt the sudden gale force wind that was constantly ripping across the top! The pole went up ok using the wind and dipole legs to guy it, but I was not satisfied with that and wanted to get the base guyed as well. This was a mistake, in my attempts to untangle and sort the guys from the gordian knot that had formed around them and the rusty fence I had not realised that the once almost vertical pole had now bent horizontal. No sooner had I looked up and spotted the danger it promptly snapped.
It may have failed anyway, but in case anyone else makes the same mistake, choose your replacement sections carefully. There are two models of Tactical pole, mine was a mini, but I bought a section from the 7000hds. The larger section fitted, but didn’t have as much contact area as the correct one, I was waiting to need other bits from SOTAbeams to save postage and it had worked well until today. Lesson learnt, in very high wind try only putting up half the pole! So with a much shortened antenna I gave up on 2m, and proceed to work 40m hunkered down behind the wall. The wind was strong enough to feel through the wall, but fortunately I was able to work enough contacts to qualify.
The walk back was equally pleasant, with good views of the castle as I got closer and a lookback to the sunlit top of the summit itself.
I only just got back in time to grab a beef wellington (made with the castle farm’s own Longhorn beef) in the Barn tea room and the tour of the castle will have to wait for another trip, but that is no bad thing.
The history of the 13th century castle is a fascinating read, particularly the fact the farm ended up with ownership of the castle through a legal mistake! It is no wonder J.W.M. Turner painted Carreg Cennen, it is a Sublime place, my amateur photos don’t come close doing it justice. I also met a couple of walkers who were doing a linear walk on the Heart of Wales line route, so that might be a nice option for a return trip.
Many thanks to all the chasers today, was very glad to get 9 QSOs all considered!
Ed MW0KEC.