I’m sure this one qualifies as a SOTA dog, even though he is not mine!
Today I activated Gyrn Moelfre GW/NW-049, parking near the start of the path close to the church and phone box.
As I set off, a small black and white dog joined me, trotting along beside, and politely refusing to be sent back. I didn’t encourage him, but he stayed with me right up to the summit.
I thought he would get bored once I set up, and return home. No, he was very interested and sat quietly beside me watching as I worked through 28 stations on 40m SSB.
Time to pack up. I wound one half of the 80/60/40 linked dipole onto its kite winder, and walked off to do the same with the other half. At this point, he decided to help by biting through the wire close to the T piece, and running off with the full winder. I foresaw a lengthy game of catch-me-if-you can, and let out an ungentlemanly expletive, which he correctly interpreted as meaning “please put that down”, which he did immediately.
Having packed up and forgiven him (it will be an easy fix), we set off along the ridge and over the style (I lifted him over this time, rather than leaving him to scrabble through the wire fence). At this point, we saw a couple of walkers coming up from a different direction, and accompanied by a young black labradour - also off the lead.
They became best friends straight away, and it was clearly going to be almost impossible to seperate them. I explained the circumstance, and as the couple were on a circular walk and would be following me down the same way, I left the four of them to head for the summit.
Back at the car, eating my lunch, the small dog reappeared, and was delighted to see me again - until his black lab friend arrived too, of course.
After exchanging pleasantries again, the four of them walked on down the road. Just then, a tractor came down the lane from behind me and the lady with the dogs flagged it down and explained about the dog. I saw the tractor driver pointing over to a farm, and the lady lifted the dog and handed him in to the driver, who continued on his way, turning in towards the farm.
A busy day for a small dog - a long walk, a SOTA activation, practical experience with an aerial wire, a new doggy friend, and a lift home!
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