This summit was activated by me in a late solo expedition on Wednesday 25th June 2003, and is another in my famous "Nightmares" series!   

! set off from Stoke-on-Trent at 3.30pm, and made good progress down the A53 and A49. I was on target to commence my walk up WB-001 about 6pm - then things started to go wrong. I guessed I had gone wrong on my directions when I was almost upon Llandrindod Wells. So back I turned, and 30 or 40 minutes later reached Hay-on-Wye, easy from here - no, wrong again. This time it was the curse of the dreaded Welsh Country Lanes - always changing direction, going on for miles and I got lost again. Very careful studying of the map led me up to the parking area on the North end of Black Mountain at SO 239 373.  It was 8pm, but a beautiful, very warm and sunny evening, so off I set.  Twice I had to retreat 200 yards back to the car to collect things I had forgotten - such as my walking pole!

The first part of the ascent up Hay Bluff was steep and tiring. On the plateau at the top, I opted to follow the tracks through the heather across to the other side of the ridge instead of taking the long route round via the trig point. Yet another mistake as the going became quite difficult.  Still it wasn't too long before I was back on track and making rapid progress. A further small ascent led me onto the summit plateau of WB-001, from which I set up and operated from the North end (SO 255 356, 701m ASL), around 9.20pm, just as it clouded over and started to rain, requiring a quick retrieval and wearing of SOTA sweatshirt and coat!  First contact was with 1 watt into Derby - M0APK, then followed G0NOE, G4PFN and M1FHI.

I descended rapidly via the trig point and reached the car at 10.25pm. I drove back into Hay-on-Wye to find a 'phone box, where I called the Travel Inn in Birmingham where I had booked a room for that night (I was on business in Birmingham on the Thursday), to verify that check-in was available through the night - it was! Although it was at last getting dark, I still remained open-minded about activating the Worcestershire Beacon WB-009 that night. It would be a very short walk, I had a torch with me, I had read of regular night-time walkers on the RHB reflector, and fancied the idea of a midnight SOTA activation!  I decided that I would start it at least, and if I felt in any way uncomfortable, just to abandon it and continue onto Birmingham and my bed.

Once in the Great Malvern area, I found it difficult to marry up things I was seeing by the road with things noted on my map - a downside of darkness I guess. When I did find the appropriate car park, I got my sac, equipment and torch out of the car (about 12.30am by this time), but couldn't find my logbook - not my proper logbook which I write-up neatly into, but a school exercise book with my initial notes in. I turned the car upside down trying to find this, but no joy. I was concerned, because it contained a good week's worth of loggings that hadn't been written up, including 3 SOTA activations - one of which being my earlier WB-001 - 6 points worth and not written or copied anywhere else! I considered where I last had the book - in the telephone box 50 miles back down in Hay-on-Wye where I had the hotel number written on it! After weighing up the value of this book to me, against the improbability of it still being there over 3 hours later, I took the depressing decision to drive all the way back to Hay-on-Wye on the chance it might be still in the 'phone-box. It wasn't. But it was lying there on the pavement outside it! Joy on the one hand, but now a long drive to Brum for bed.  I arrived at the hotel and got to bed at 4am, just in time for 4.5 hours kip before getting up for work!

Callsign today was MX1SWL/P, club callsign of the International Short Wave League (ISWL) - see my radio page for more details.  Thanks to the following stations worked, all on 2m FM with 1 watt: