Cleeve Hill, G/CE-001 - 330m ASL - SO 997 246 - OS Explorer 179 - 1 SOTA point       

The drive down through Bishops Cleeve and Cheltenham was not as frutsrating as I recalled it on my previous visits, and we were driving up the long straight tarmac cul-de-sac up Cleeve Hill barely an hour after departing Bredon Hill G/CE-003. There were a couple of parking spots remaining, so we bagged on and set off for the summit.

Cleeve Common, atop this ridge, is a long wide and flat expanse of grass, with an unusually firm surface, and hence the area is almost always in use by hobbyists of many different pursuits. Today, there were cyclists, quad-bikers, kite-surfers, horse-riders, kite flyers, plane spotters, bird watchers as well as us radio amateurs. At the trig point, a chap with a pair of binoculars was trying to watch a nearby Red Arrows display, but was being nudged by two adoring attention-seeking big fat cows. The didn't adore Jimmy and I though, and soon scarpered when we started to set up.

               

The trig point here is very useful, with the cap missing, allowing the pole to be inserted and hence used without guys. Ten minutes brought four contacts for Jimmy, and five for me, including G4JZF in the logs once again.  Working conditions were again 5 watts on 2m FM:

Shortly after 3pm local, we were away and driving to London.  Progress on the A40 and M40 was good, and we made good time. Several items of interest were spotted on the VHF FM broadcast band. The Oxford franchise on 107.9MHz is now identifying on air and RDS simply as the rather uninspiring "FM 107.9". A station, presumably pirate on 87.5MHz, had a scrolling RDS display on the car radio which included "www.uksfinest.org.uk". 106.6MHz from Slough, formerly Star Radio, was now "Time 1066 for Berks and South Bucks". London pirates Freeze 92.7 and Unique 101.2 were noted, and mirroring events in Manchester, London's 102.2 Jazz FM is now (unfortunately) Smooth Radio.

We dumped the car outside the B&B we had booked in Twickenham, and then walked through the town centre to the Barmy Arms on the banks of the Thames. Hand-pulled pints of Youngs, Bombardier and Fullers London Pride were enjoyed, before the group of radio enthusiasts adjourned to the Delhi Durbar restaurant for an excellent meal. More beer (and whiskey) was consumed afterwards at the Fox pub, completing a great night and a pleasing but tiring day.