Cold and sunny here. Cycled to Gun wearing clothes from several sports (cycling, hillwalking, running, skateboarding). Cycled slowly so as not to overheat. The only problematic ice was on the last road section up to Gun.
Walked/wadded along the back path to Gun. Parked the bike and set up the antenna. Sat down ready to activate and realised that I had not packed the power lead for the radio. Took the antenna down and wandered across to say hello to Mickey YYY. He was on 10m FM. He asked if I would be cycling home to get the lead. Iām keen - but not that keen.
Weāve all done things like that. Of course you should have plugged your key into Mickeyās setup and started working chasers on CW using Mickeyās call. You could have caused complete chaser confusion worldwide!
Till I zoomed the picture of Mickey, I thought he was sitting at a portable barbeque. Then I saw it was an 857 on a red chair.
Talking of not packing the right gear, did you use one of your childrenās cycling helmets by mistake? That one seems to sit a little proud on your head!
Mike, are you still using that old patio heater? Iāve told you many times that a wood burning stove is far more eco-friendly and it will keep your coffee warm. I assume you forgot your 100m extension lead to connect up Richardās kit to your golf buggy battery.
Mike - take Geraldās advice but make sure when you source the wood burner you get the MORSO brand. I have one myself, cast iron but quite light for hauling up somewhere like Gun but I wouldnāt like to carry one much furtherā¦
Hmmmm, I certainly can see that a wood burning stove may well be the way forward. To fuel it, I could cut down the hawthorne tree, with the chainsaw, I carry in my rucksack!
Of course, there is a downside to this. It would mean dragging a 40ft lattice tower to the Gun trig point, to support the Antron-99
You are getting too familiar with that summit Mike. Give it some respect! Perish the thought of utilising its natural resources. Iām sure thereās a store at a local petrol station selling logs. Out with chain saw, in with 20 kilos of logs and you wonāt feel the difference on the ascentā¦
Iāve not done Gun, yet, but there is a similar but smaller support tree on the Wrekinā¦and another handy one on Beacon Batch. Perhaps we need to plant more on other popular SOTA hills and get them official protection as SOTA trees!
Mostly you find the fuel laying about on the ground. i.e. twigs, pine cones etc. Iād expect a full kettle to weigh about the same as a flask + contents. The advantage is simple, all men love playing with fire. So a portable fire that makes tea ticks so many boxes. Iām thinking of getting one, not for SOTA, but for when we go contesting. Contest tea is made in the contest kettle, you can tell that thereās a brew coming because the generator noise changes! But portable fire resulting in teaā¦ thatās wondeful
Iāll take your word for it! On the higher summits you would have to gather fuel en route, taking time to cut dead heather stalks down or find bog wood, Iām not enough of a pyromaniac to divert much from the main objective so Iāll pass! Anyway, I have a Primus EtaSolo with a small Gosystem Powersource cylinder which will work well in below freezing temperatures so I donāt need to indulge my more primitive instincts!
Ah, so that is why the Fire Brigade were called to Cleeve Hill on 26th October 2013.
I canāt say that I stay long enough on a summit to make a brew. 15 minutes set up time, 1 hour activation, 15 minutes dismantling and on to the next one. Often I forget to drink and eat between leaving the car in the morning and returning there late afternoon. Daft really, carrying around a kilo or two of water ballast. Must try harder. Of course I often carry more water than that on account of the horizontal driving sleet that seems to dog many an activation.
Ah, so you are going to tell me how to communicate with Paul without opening my mouth. Anyway, I reckon you have to take some sharp intakes of breath on many a GM ascent, even though you are no longer a lardy bucket.
I mean you could carry something to start the fire (some paper or whatever) and then supplement with foraged stuff, but if this is really wet does it matter? On long āwildernessā activations (several days) other than some bars of chocolate, flapjacks and the like, dehydrated food is the light and filling master of foods and therefore boiling water is the key to success.
I guess what Iām asking: is this 100% reliable for, say, a wet week in the Fisherfield forest???
I just need to find where I left my webbed feet!