I had signed up for the Big Black Mountain Challenge back in January. It is a fund raiser for Longtown mountain rescue team. http://www.longtownmrt.org.uk/bbmc.html
As I studied the 50km route I realised that it included two sota summits, GW/SW-002 Waun Fach & GW/SW-041 Black Mountain. I thought about the required kit and time limits for the event and decided to give it a go. I would allow only 15 minutes for activation and carry a Yaesu FT-70D and MFD centre fed dipole.
I camped at Llanthony Priory the night before. This was great at only £3, with the Priory and Half Moon pub nearby for food.
I started walking at 7am and reached Waun Fach only 15 minutes late of my planned activation time. Not bad after 6 hours walking. First I called on 144.6125MHz C4FM but got no response, a call on 145.500 FM brought a quick flurry of activity and I soon had the summit qualified, thanks to the great chasers, I was soon packed up and back on the trail. I even caught Helen on View Edge, G/WB-018, for a lucky S2S! When on the summit one group saw the radio and antenna and offered their route cards to me, thinking I was another mountain rescue check point!
Three hours later and I arrived at Black Mountain, a very flat summit, but good for VHF I found. Another quick activation, once I got going. Again no luck down at 144.6125 C4FM, but 145FM got the required chasers in the log.
Thanks to all the chasers, very grateful for the quick contacts, as I had such limited time available.
The Black Mountain Challenge is a hard days walking, with some steep ups and downs, but I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it, made even better with the added bonus of SOTA.