Cheriton Hill, G/SE-015 - 188m ASL - TR 197 396 - OS Explorer 138 - 1 SOTA point            

Friday 11th October 2019 -  Cheriton Hill G/SE-015 & Cliffe Hill G/SE-014

Gig: Simon Faulkner Band

Venue:  Tom Brown's Brasserie, Gunthorpe

Previous activations of Cheriton Hill have been from "unsatisfactory" locations - where you felt it was unwise / inconsiderate to "outstay one's welcome"!  A bit of prior research revealed to me some surprising alternative options - and the news to me that the official summit location has changed, and no longer at the trig point beside the covered reservoir.

I drove to the top of the hill and parked in the pub car park - "The Cat & Custard Pot" in Paddlesworth.  From here it was a very short and almost level walk in light early morning drizzle.  In the largely featureless field, I edged along to a fence corner which was just about at the "summit" and took a few boring photographs.  I could see the covered reservoir on the other side of the field.  I backtracked to the public footpath and passed through a kissing gate.

The was one bit of company to greet me at this early hour - a horse with its inquisitive head poking over the stable door.  I briefly said "hello" then went into the adjacent field to set up.  I could now see the rear of the house adjacent to the covered reservoir and trig point.  The owners of this house allowed me to activate from their front garden last time!

Setting up and sitting down was quite tricky because it appeared that quite a lot of fine manure had recently been spread on the field!  I'm not certain it was manure - but there was a lot of "stuff" that you didn't want to be touching or getting on your clothes or shoes!  Anyway, 30m CW was not too lively, but four QSOs were made.  From this point I should have driven directly to my gig in Nottinghamshire - but I couldn't just leave Cliffe Hill G/SE-014 there alone and unactivated (by me) in 2019...