Longridge Fell & Rombalds Moor

I had unfinished business in the SP region having failed on day 2 of a previous trip to activate Longridge Fell & Easington Fell due to the old problem playing up.
It was soul destroying to watch Barry M3PXW stroll up these 2 summits while I stayed at the starting spot for both summits.

Luckily we were in the company of Mick 2E0HJD and companion W1LF.
Mick and I chatted radio as we listened to Barry’s activations and he even underwent the indignity of me plugging my cw paddle into his 857 and letting me work 3 German summits while signing /M.

I must say that Mick’s hospitality was second to none, I can highly recommend his speciality Mince over chips with crusty baps. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
After the disappointment of not being able to activate the pair this time around I told Mick I would probably attempt them the following week.

Longridge Fell G/SP-014 7/9/07

It was the best wx forcast for a few days and a quick Skype message to Mick confirmed that it was worth a shot.
The gear was all charged and ready to go, Tomtom was programmed and off I went heading for the M56, then North on the M6 and across to Clitheroe, I missed Birmingham by miles.
The drive was uneventful and I arrived at the the parking spot, 74 miles later, in good time.

I thought I would be crafty and call Mick from roughly half way to the summit so as not to be under pressure going up, but my plans failed when I heard HJD & BLH on 2m and Mick was about to phone me. I saved him the call and my covert ascent was foiled.

I can see why everyone says this is an easy one, but to be honest I struggled with severe pain after the half way point, I pushed on however and had to stop for a rest at about three quarters of the way up. I had to stop one more time before going for the top.
Just into the activation zone I managed to work Mick on my handheld and gave him a chaser point.
I spotted Mick coming over the rise and he was soon with me and offered encouragement to get me well into the activation zone and just short of the trig. Thanks for your support on the day Mick.

The station was almost set up when we heard Steve G1INK/p on SP-013 but couldn’t get back to him, the sotabeam was deployed in record time and the s2s was then achieved with 59 X 2 reports, Mike G4BLH followed, thanks for the spots all day Mike, then the second s2s came after a call from Peter GW3TJE/p on MW-013. In all, 26 contacts were made with a futher 3 s2s contacts with Frank DL6UNF/p on dm/SX-030, Andy DL2DVE/p on DM/bm-040 and Vlad OK1JOC/p on OK/PL-076.

Many thanks to all stations worked especially the S2S contacts, and to Mick for his company.

after the descent I was still in terrible pain, so made the descision to leave Easington Fell for another day and to head for Rombald’s Moor, where I could drive into the activation zone. It was a pleasant drive and didn’t seem like 40 miles.

Rombald’s Moor G/NP-028

Not a lot I can say about this activation that hasn’t already been said on the reflector, except thanks to the stations who worked me for the 9 contacts.

73 Mike GW0DSP

In reply to GW0DSP:

Great to read a report of your activation Mike. Well done - Easington isn’t going anywhere, so you’ll crack that one soon.

“It was soul destroying to watch Barry M3PXW stroll up these 2 summits”

Didn’t I see somewhere that Barry is known as The Whippet? Well, if so I hope he didn’t scrap with W1LF.

“I can highly recommend his speciality Mince over chips with crusty baps. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”

You did have to post this just before meal time, didn’t you! Been there, eaten that, got the stain on the tee shirt! Hopefully I’ll get around to meet Mick in the near future so I can repeat the experience. A variation in my home town of Nottingham is a fish in batter in a big crusty bap! Smashin’.

73, Gerald

In reply to G4OIG:

Hi Gerald, If you ever witness Barry ascending a summit, you will find out why we christened him “The Whippet”.

The name came about after our joint activation of Mynydd Bodafon on Anglesey, after Barry decided to run to the trig and back, just to see what it was like, he then ran up again complete with his rucsac.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to keep up with him, at least on the shorter routes.

73 Mike