Wendover Woods, G/CE-005 - 267m ASL - SP 890 089 - OS Explorer 181 - 1 SOTA point       

Since our last visit three years ago, this hill had been renamed by the Relative Hills of Britain people that maintain the Marilyns list (it used to be called Haddington Hill).  After breakfast at the B&B in Twickenham, we got away before 9am local. We drove out on the M4 then up the M25, before heading out towards Aylesbury on the A41. Again here, our turnings were conveniently signposted "Wendover Woods" and we followed the roads uphill to the Forestry Commission site.

We parked on a lay-by a short distance along the access road and followed the public footpaths out onto Aston Hill and the trig point there. This is a short distance away from the true summit in busy woodland, and only a few metres lower.

       

First up, yet again was Graham G4JZF, as we launched our activation on 2m SSB. M0JDK and G4MOP followed before we hit the wall of silence. We were in no rush, so I decided to deploy the 40m dipole and the paddle for the first time in the weekend. Only one station was worked on 40m CW before the crowded band and QRM got the better of me, but it was GW0DSP, hence completing his G/CE region for summits chased, as well as me getting my 4th contact.

By now Marc G0AZS had arrived, and he captured the moment on his camera in between setting up his own station. That left Jimmy with one contact to find, so he went hunting on 2m FM while Marc got cracking on 5MHz. I overheard Mike GW0DSP working Marc; he must have been making doubly sure that he got his elusive summit! "Got one Dad!" came the excited cry from Jimmy as he successfully broke a QSO on 2m to get his fourth contact.

       

By now, Jimmy and I were suffering very badly with hayfever in this field of long grass surrounded by tall trees. We packed up and drove down to the central Wendover Woods car park, and made for "The Cafe In The Woods", a relatively new establishment. The first item on the agenda had to be an ice cream each to freeze out the insides of our mouths. That done, we now treated ourselves to a lovely toasted brie and bacon sandwich for lunch. Marc joined us in the cafe after completing his own activation, and we had a chat over a mug of tea, before Jimmy and I hit the road for Bardon Hill G/CE-004.

Thanks to the following stations, all worked using 5 watts of power: