Thursday 16th February 2012 - Day 2 (continued)

We now drove down into Hay-on-Wye, where we paused for a steak & kidney pie from the butchers, and a photo by one of the many bookshops. The next objective, according to Liam, was Kington. I decided to ignore Hergest Ridge G/WB-008, but have a look at Bradnor Hill G/WB-011. I made use of the public road that runs up to and beyond Kington Golf Club, and gains quite a bit of height to a parking area, marked as "no public vehicles beyond this point".

       

We walked on the allowable pathways between the greens and fairways and found the collection of rocks that marks the summit. The daylight was ebbing away and a cold icy wind was blasting across the golf course. A few feet away from the summit was a wooden shelter with a bench inside it. With no golfers out on the course, I reckoned it could be our shack. I set up the 40m dipole accordingly so that the feeder could connect to the FT817 inside the shelter, and enjoyed the opportunity to activate out of the wind. The only disruption was the eerie racket being made by the wind outside!

       

15 QSOs were made, and there was no response to a call on 2m FM. We walked back to the car in the last shreds of daylight and drove down to Kington. One more driving leg was completed into Knighton, where I found a twin room over a pub - the George & Dragon Inn. We walked down the road to a nearby curry house for our supper, which was excellent, before returning to the pub for sleep.

       

I reflected that I had now done four SOTA activations in two days of Liam's Road Trip, and he was still really happy and enjoying himself. What a marvellous design concept the Nintendo 3DS is!  The following morning would kick off with View Edge G/WB-018.