Tom Read - click to email meBDXC ISWL WAB SOTA RSGB IOTA - see my radio page for more detailsLiam & Jimmy

Burrow WB-014

 

Burrow, G/WB-014 - 358m ASL - SO 381 831 - OS Explorer 217 - 1 SOTA point         Map & summit information from SOTAwatch

We had never visited the true summit of Burrow before.  We got fed up of ploughing endlessly through deep heather on a long slope on our last activation, and satisfied we were easily within the 25m vertical criteria, I activated from that point.  Jimmy and I intended bagging the summit this time, and seeing as a matter of interest just how far it was from the point we reached in 2003.  Like three years ago, we parked outside the church in Hopesay village after a 25 minute drive south from Bridges Youth Hostel where we were staying.

It was a damp morning with a slight chill in the air, although this was nothing compared with what was to follow later!  We followed the Shropshire Way up the grassy slopes, curving around from the east to the north of our objective.  Then we cut southwards to the hillfort summit and the wood which conceals it.  Being at the outer of the concentric earthwork ramparts, feeling fresh and energised in the early morning was a huge contrast to our last visit, when I had reached this point at gone 6pm in the evening, exhausted, and with a 10 year old and a 6 year old in tow.  Jimmy and I proceeded with vigour along the crest of this earthwork, sticking to our strategy of following this medieval defence anticlockwise in order to locate the actual summit.

Jimmy M3EYP/P on Burrow G/WB-014    Tom M1EYP/P on Burrow G/WB-014    Jimmy with the SOTA Beam

We reached what clearly was the highest point, and set up there, in increasing fine drizzle.  Five stations were worked, and we were packed up and commncing our descent by 9.40am BST.  Only a few steps into this descent, and we stumbled across the point from where I had activated three years ago.  This spot, where I had fallen to the ground in an exhausted heap, refusing to ascend any further - was about twenty yards from, and only a metre or two lower than the summit true!  Back to the car, and it was off northwestwards to Heath Mynd G/WB-007.

Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts:

G6NWT Dawley Bill T, J
G0ASP Wellington Norman T, J
G0KHK/M near Ludlow Paul T, J
G4WUH Newent Ian T, J
G4NMG Gornal Wood Beryl T

Burrow 2003