This summit was activated by myself, accompanied by Jimmy
and Liam on Sunday 21st November 2004.
The "Blooper of the Day Award" goes to me for calling "CQ from the
summit of Lam-brigg Fell" - ie fully
pronouncing the 'b' in Lambrigg! It was only when Steve G1INK, exhibiting
class and etiquette not normally associated with residents of Buxton and
those with North-Eastern heritage, referred to it as 'Lam-rigg Fell' without
directly pointing out my error, that I realised I had been making a 24-carat
fool of myself.
The alarms rang at 6.00am this morning, and Jimmy, Liam and myself got up
and ready, and loaded the car with the gear prepared the night before. This
included new goodies such as a new walking jacket for Jimmy (Liam upgraded
to Jimmy's old Regatta coat), new gloves for the boys, new waterproof boots
for Liam and new overtrousers for me, to replace the ones that disintegrated
when descending Scafell Pike. I forgot to buy a replacement compass in lieu
of the one that has mysteriously disappeared from my mapcase, and this
contributed to my decision to cancel a possible second activation of the day
on Grayrigg Forest, a less than straight forward ascent.
We set off from Macc at 6.50am, and headed up the A537 and A50 to Lymm,
where McDonalds received our custom for breakfast. From there it was
straight up the M6 to J37, with signs warning us that it would be closed
from J37 to J40. That didn't mean considering any detours for our own
route, and when we arrived at J37, around 9.30am, the road was open anyway,
with what appeared to be the last recovery vehicle taking the last wreckage
from the other carriageway. These observations did not tally with the
seemingly out-of-date reports I later got back through the radio during the
activation, so maybe the carrier pigeons were nursing a hangover this
morning.
We turned left off J37 and went about 3/4 of a mile down the A684, before
pulling left into a road which is the entrance for Roan Edge Quarry. There
was ample space to park here, so we did, slung on the rucksacks and crossed the
road to go through the gate onto the bridleway SD586930. I know many grumble when the mist is in blocking the view, when it's raining or
cold, or when the terrain is not breathtakingly spectacular. Well, we all
have Hamish's famous "it's a reet bonny day" approach, so we now had a very
pleasant easy short stroll. The distance was about one mile, and the total
ascent about 60m. There are several convincing tracks heading off at angles
that look to be heading to the summit, but with the Explorer OL7 1:25000
sheet it was easy to stay on the correct route.
The first section curved around between two farms; a conventional one on the
left, and a wind farm on the right. Of the five windmills, four were
spinning, and one was still. On the descent later, the situation with each
mill was exactly reversed! The summit of this hill has been officially
moved due to resurveying, so it is at SD586941, 200m south of where it is
indicated on the OS sheet.To reach this point, we had intended to cut across
from the bridleway at SD583941. To our surprise, when we reached this
point, there were signs pointing west, indicating that the bridleway had
been rerouted along the dotty line on the map. The path on the ground was
still well-defined to the north, along the line the map indicates. In any
case, we did indeed bear right here and climb through the boggy grass and
burnt heather to the wall at the summit. The wall backed into the easterly
wind, and so provided decent shelter to all the wind, most of the rain, and
some of the cold!
We spent an hour on summit, making a leisurely 13 contacts, and, as usual,
getting stuck into the flask of soup (lentil & bacon this time), pasties and
sandwiches. Best 'DX' were Steve G1INK/M between Macclesfield and Buxton,
and Mike 2W1MWS in Colwyn Bay. All the action was on 2m FM, as conditions
did not favour SSB - not in the usual sense, more that it was too cold and
wet to be getting up and resetting the beam! At around 12.10pm, it suddenly
became significantly colder - no change in wind, but the temperature seemed
to undergo an instantaneous 1/2 degree drop. I worked the last three
contacts "contest-style", and began to pack away.
The descent was marked with a lovely conversation about the wind farm with
Liam, and a most unfortunate slanging match with Jimmy about nothing in
particular. Within a year of becoming a 'teenager', and this was a "Kevin"
I reckon. Years of it to come, I am assured by colleagues!
After rejoining the M6, I worked into the GB3LD repeater and enjoyed a short
chat with Linda G0YLM. We
stopped for a break and a drink in Leyland, and returned home bang on 5
o'clock.
Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM using 2.5 watts:
G1INK/M |
Walker Barn |
Steve |
G7WAW |
Barnoldswick |
David |
G6LKB |
Ulverston |
Dave |
G4FQW |
Clayton-le-Moors |
Brian |
2E0LMP |
Clitheroe |
Lee |
M0JFE |
Fleetwood |
John |
2W1MWS |
Colwyn Bay |
Mike |
G8YLM |
Darwen |
Mike |
M1AVV |
Dalton-in-Furness |
Simon |
2E0EDX |
Blackpool |
Ian |
G4RQJ |
Walney Island |
Rob |
M1EYO/M |
South Lakes Road |
Alan |
G0LWU |
Overton |
Andrew |
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