.jpg)
|
|
|
Friday 6th July 2017, and the final day of our Northern Ireland SOTA trip. We had completed the association the previous day on Sawel Mountain GI/SM-001. On the Friday morning, we packed up and left the lovely Pat Larry's cottage, and did an easy activation of Carrigatuke GI/CA-003. We then accepted an invitation to visit the home QTH of Dave GI4SNA. Finally, before making our way to Belfast port for the overnight ferry, we squeezed in an activation of Cairngaver GI/MM-017.
Cairngaver is another "drive-to-the-top" summit, so very low effort required from a physical perspective. We only had about 30 yards to carry our kit from the car to the trig point! I really wanted to try some HF JT65 from this summit, but found my 20m antenna had broken. I attempted to repair it, but it was difficult without a screwdriver! We were in plenty of time for the ferry (unlike last time we were here), but I wasted much of that faffing around. I was then busy responding to Facebook messages, texts and calls about new gig bookings. It was great that I was quickly filling my diary, even while still on holiday - but I'd now been on the summit nearly two hours and hadn't made a single contact!
I admitted defeat and accepted Jimmy's offer to use his VHF station. I then got my four contacts quickly and easily. We still had a bit of time to spare, but we both agreed to use that to get a better position in the queue at the ferry terminal, resulting in getting in our cabin earlier. The longer wait in the vehicle queue was mitigated by quaffing another bottle of Guinness each in the car - Jimmy had bought a 4-pack ready for the GI Completion celebration! On board, we checked into our cabin, took our turns in the shower then went down to the ferry's bar & grill for food and beer. This is always an enjoyable way to round off a Northern Ireland trip, and I find the cabin bunk beds perfectly comfortable for a night's sleep. Which was important, as I had taken on a dep gig with Liverpool band Kikosi, in Chester the following night. So after disembarking at Birkenhead, I drove home and spent the next few hours scoring bass guitar parts in the shack, before driving back out to Liverpool yet again, to meet the band.
|
|
|
