Holyhead Mountain, GW/NW-069 - 220m ASL - SH 788 829 - OS Explorer 262 - 1 SOTA point        

April Fool's Day, 1st April 2007, and a family day out was decreed, with Marianne initially wanting to walk up Great Orme GW/NW-070 from Llandudno, taking a route up on the Marine Drive side with good sea views. This was acceptable, but I reasoned with her that Holyhead Mountain GW/NW-069 was a much more spectacular and rewarding walk, and that "it's only another half-an-hour's drive after Llandudno" (cue slight lengthening of nose).

Agreement was forthcoming, and with not having prepared anything the night before, or even bothered to get up early, we made a latish start out from Macclesfield. Breakfast was at the Lymm Truck Stop, a first time for Marianne here. She really enjoyed it!

        

We made good time on the roads, reaching Holyhead in only about 2.25 hours driving time. Following the signs for the country park, we reached the parking spot and commenced the ascent. The weather was clear and sunny, but with a brisk cold wind. Marianne, as I hoped and expected, was taken with the wonderful views, especially on the second half of this ascent. Holyhead Mountain might only be small, but it is a mountain and looks like one. We looked down on the ferries and catamarans sailing out of Holyhead across the Irish Sea.

Being a family day out and all that, we did not prioritise the radio side, and performed a quick and easy 2m FM handheld activation. Nonetheless, an activation that included two summit-to-summit contacts (Eleri MW3NYR on Yr Aran NW-019 and Mick 2E0HJD on Great Gable LD-005), three DXCCs and two IOTAs!

                       

On the descent, we were met by a lovely old golden labrador who enjoyed our company for a few minutes before trotting off on its own around the mountain. It seemed to know what it was doing.  Jimmy had just completed his 99th SOTA activation, so there was a sense of anticipation.

In Holyhead, we had a quick pint before driving across to Mynydd Bodafon GW/NW-071.  Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 5 watts: