Jimmy, Liam and myself, together with a mate of mine Steve and his lad Ben, had been camping in Essex for a boys' outing.  This we did, and a good time was had by all, with the usual quality time spent on the beach, in the arcades, pubs and curry-houses.  Despite hearing Matt 2E0XIS on two repeaters and managing to find James M0ZZO's 'phone number, we were unable to make a "good contact" and arrange a get-together with those two and Gary M0JJH.

We unpitched the tents in the rain (again) on Friday 5th August 2005, and commenced the long drive up the A14.  Instead of continuing up the M6 to Cheshire, we turned right up the M1 to junction 22, where we exited for Coalville.  We managed to refind Vercor Close, the parking spot for Bardon Hill G/CE-004, the ultimate summit to do when you're coming home from somewhere (in my experience).  The usual route gently ascending around the quarry edge was taken.  This leads to the transmitter mast, from where a couple of much more subtle grassy paths continue to the trig point and dramatic quarry edge. Despite having a team of five on the case, the geocache up here remained unfound, making it four out of four failures in this pastime for me to date!  

Four contacts were made on 2m FM with 2.5 watts, using MX1SWL/P, and there were no further takers, so we descended and completed our return to Macclesfield.  Thanks to the following stations worked: