Six weeks ago today I found myself in the trauma ward of one of the UK’s leading hospitals with what were described as serious injuries. The prospects for activating summits weren’t looking too good. I remember wondering who I could con - sorry, persuade - to revise my home antenna system for me so I could do some chasing.
That all seems a long time ago now. I still have “issues” which may or may not go with time but at least I’m out on the hills again. Here’s the moral of this story. We all know hill walking is good for you but they told me a part of the reason for my survival was my level of fitness. That’s a sobering thought ……
When I saw Viki and Rod had posted an alert for their activation of Bryn Arw and on a fine sunny morning to boot, Cleeve Hill just had to be done. Okay, so I was carrying less than half my usual load but for once, I was going to settle for a minimalist activation despite the difficulty of qualifying this summit on a H/H. Anyway, I did manage it and we made the hoped-for S2S as well. Marching back across the huge summit plateau of Cleeve Hill you’d think I’d just done a 10-pointer.
What next? Well, I’m a long way off being fit still but I’m getting there. The FT-857 and the full system is sitting in the shack here waiting and Bredon Hill is just up the road. That will be next. I am planning on getting back in the saddle this weekend – much to everyone’s horror as horse has the typical thoroughbred trait of jumping sideways at the drop of a hat. My balance was completely shot but it’s almost back to normal now. Honest.
Oh, and I’ve got a Physiotherapy session this afternoon.
Glad to read that you are on the mend, sounds dreadful. My daughter has three horses at her own livery place. One in particular ( a thoroughbred as well), ‘Jack’, has nearly disabled me twice with his very handy hind legs! Good luck and best wishes.
Mike G6TUH
Pleased to see you about again Richard,thanks for the chat the other day and hopefully not to long before we hear the 857 and the 2mtr ssb as before.
Have a good Xmas both you and Jill and a very happy new year. Don.G0RQL.
Now here’s a spooky thing about your posting.
We have a little gathering at work once a month for members of the work radio club.
I was at today’s meeting and about 1430 looked out and said “what a nice afternoon, I’m almost tempted to go up Cleeve Hill for a couple of hours before the sun goes down”
One of those gathered said, “Ah, you’re into SOTA, you might bump into Richard 4ERP”,
to which the reply from another was,
“I don’t think so, because I hear he’s not in too good a shape at the moment” (or words to that affect).
Blow me down when the first thing I saw when I logged on was your posting, which must have been made almost at the same time as we were mentioning you!
You must have sent out some telepathic waves…
Get well soon Richard.
Merry Christmas and hope to see on my local hill soon.
Pete
Marching back across the huge summit plateau of Cleeve Hill you’d think I’d just done a 10-pointer.
Hi Richard,
Really pleased to see you’ve made the intended visit to Cleeve with a radio and have enjoyed the outing. Hopefully SOTA will provide an element of therapy that will add to the speed of your recovery. At least you have a few “testers” to try out not too far from your home QTH.
All the best for the trip in the saddle at the weekend.
In reply to G4ERP:
Richard,
Sorry to keep you waiting in the cold but it really was a lovely day. I had heard you much further down the hill but barely readable so was very pleased to hear Viki making contact. Thanks very much for the s2s. Hope you didn’t do too much and that the physio went well. Look forward to catching you on Bredon Hill in due course as the recovery progresses.
Many thanks for your good wishes. Hopefully I’ll get to work you from a summit
before Christmas but if not I wish you all the best.
Rod and Viki - many thanks for the S2Ss. I wonder how you got on. I’d not been on the summit very long before you appeared and it was such a beautiful day in the warm sun. I feel the cold very much at the moment but today it wasn’t a problem.
Hi, both. Great to hear that you qualified both summits. Do you have some waypoints for your route up Bryn Arw from the East? Mind, it’s steep enough from the west
I’m thinking about Bredon Hill on Friday as the only window in some horrible weather we’re promised. I’m hoping for some seasonal bonus points after Christmas. I’m looking forward to re-visiting some old friends so-to-speak.
No, I was fine this morning thanks - until I went back to the doctors this afternoon to have another one express some surprise that I’m still around.
Hi Richard, very sorry to hear that you have been in the wars, don’t know what happened but you take take of yourself and don’t do too much and get better.
Do you have
some waypoints for your route up Bryn Arw from the East? Mind, it’s
steep enough from the west
Richard,
I think it fair to state that the only good things about the eastern route are the nice wide verge for parking and the clear and easy start to the path. There is a good sloping path through the farmland to a stile onto the access land and the path continues rising gently. We left it when it became a stream. We found no path through the bracken and bramble mixture covering the hillside and wound our way up a selection of sheep paths. Hard work; much steeper than the western path. If I thought it good I would put details on the tips page.
I’m thinking about Bredon Hill on Friday as the only window in some
IF it is dry on Friday I am thinking of Burton Hill, wb-020, late morning on 40m but will have the handy for 2m so maybe speak to you then.
73,
Rod
PS I notice that ours was the first activation of Bryn Arw in 2012!
Sorry to hear you’ve been a bit poorly Richard but it must be good to know you can get out onto a hill or two.
I see you’ve “favourited” a couple of my SOTA Flickr photos, flattery is always going to work wonders with me The funny thing is you liked that picture of the pine tree on the way to Cullardoch. When I saw it I knew at once I had to take a photo of it. I was comparing photos and notes with a fellow worker about that area and he had seen the tree and was compelled to take exactly the same photo!
Have a good Christmas, especially if you are having regular visits to the torture^W Physiotherapy Ward.
Rod (and Viki…) - after choosing a similar sounding route up Knott a couple of years back I think I’ll pass on that one Hopefully we’ll work on 2m tomorrow am. Apart from the 2m SSB I’ll also have the HH running on 2m FM for a S2S even if I don’t swap to FM with the FT-857.
Andy - my pleasure. It wasn’t just the tree which is quite remarkable in it’s own right - the composition also has to be good. I’d also have done some snapping there but how good they would have been I’ll never know. Having a bit of time on my hands I’ve been browsing back through all the hundreds of photos I’ve taken in the hills. I guess I was more intent on the activations than the photography. I suppose I’ll just have to start again Thanks for the good wishes. It’s been a pretty awful experience but things are now looking up. Cleeve was excellent therapy