GB-0995 Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park POTA Activation

Jump to BOTA Black Rock Sands Details of Activation and Map & Logbook

Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park

Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park is Wales’ largest national park and the fourth largest in the UK. It covers a total of 823 square miles and contains fifteen mountains that are more than 3,000 feet high. It’s highest mountain, Yr Wyddva (Snowdon), rises to 1,085M (3,560′) and is the highest peak in England and Wales.

It is located in North West Wales and stretches from the coast of Conwy in the north, down to the banks of the River Dovey in the South. The area was designated a national park in October 1951, just months after the Peak District and Lake District. In November 2022 the national park authority announced that the Welsh name for the park would be used instead of the English name that had been used until then. After a transition period, the Snowdonia National Park became the Eryri National Park in November 2024.

For those of us that love to get out into the open, Eryri is one of the wettest parts of the UK – in fact, Crib Goch is the wettest spot. Rivers drain the area into the Irish Sea, which quite a bit of the western park boundary borders. Eryri is also home to most of Wales’ natural lakes and two man-made. One of these is Llyn Trawsfynydd which is larger than the largest natural lake. It was created to supply water to the hydro-electric Maentwrog Power Station. In 1965, it started to be used to cool the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station which is now in the process of being decommissioned.

Shell Island

Situated on the coast of the Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park, just south of Harlech, is Shell Island – Mochras in Welsh. This is where this activation of the national park took place.

It’s not actually an island as it is permanently attached to the rest of Wales, but parts of it do flood twice a day with a few exceptions every month. This flooding cuts off the ‘island’ to motor vehicles that cross the causeway to gain access to it.

The peninsula was formed when the Earl of Winchilsea diverted the River Artro in the early 1800s. Shell Island is so called because of the wide variety of sea shells that wash up on its shores.

The island’s farm is recorded as being in existence in the Doomsday Book of 1086. From then on the ‘island’ was farmed with visitors starting to arrive once the trains had made their way to the area in the 1880s.

In 1958 the area was transformed into a camping area and it grew to come the largest campsite in Europe at one time. The farm buildings have been preserved and now form a major part of the island’s attraction.

Shell Island is one of our favourite campsites as there are over 300 acres of land to camp on – even when full you can usually find a corner to camp in with a bit of privacy.

Details of this GB-0995 Activation

How did the activation go?

We arrived on Shell Island on the evening of the 15th (Wednesday) for a short break. Having set up camp, we headed off to the on-site bar for some food and to watch England get beaten by Argentina in the World Cup. The weather was nice and warm, though there was a distinct smell of smoke from the fires on the mountains behind Llanbedr.

On the Thursday I headed off across to the Llyn Peninsula to activate the SOTA summit GW/NW-064 Mynydd Rhiw. The activation was very easy and went well.

Friday was a lounging around day in the great weather before my wife and dog (Duke) joined me and my daughter in the evening. For lunch we’d walked the length of the ‘island’ to the Coffee on the Quay takeaway cafe. It’s highly recommended if you come here to stay. Our friend MW0GSR also joined us on Friday evening.

Having explored the island some more on the Saturday I settled down to duo some operating of the radio. We had a pretty steady flow of contacts on FT8 with several breaks to eat and go for a walk. By the end of the evening fifty-seven contacts had been made. A further forty-three contacts were made on the Sunday (19th July) for a separate activation.

Pros and cons

Nothing really to mention on this activation. It was an easy activation, with low QRM and good conditions.

Observations and lessons learned

Conditions were quiet and the operating environment ideal during the day. It did get a bit cool once the sun went down, though, so I was glad I had bought my new winter jacket from Alpkit at a massive discount on Wednesday, whilst en-route to Shell Island. Unfortunately, I do suffer from Raynaud’s, so I do suffer in the cold. Hence the photograph of me looking like I’m operating in the depths of winter.

GB-0995 Map & Logbook