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Cracoe Fell NP-032

 

Cracoe Fell, G/NP-032 - 508m ASL - SD 993 588  - OS Explorer OL2 - 2 SOTA points        Map & summit information from SOTAwatch    Click to return to summit index

Friday 10th December 2021

Gig:  Christmas Live!

Venue:  Doncaster Racecourse

I was up around 0730 and went down to join the stable staff for a cooked breakfast in the lodge. It was a raceday at Doncaster but I wasn’t hanging around.

Starting out from Doncaster Racecourse on a serene morning        Track between Rylstone and Cracoe

I set the satnav for the usual lay-by in Rylstone, and made the 90 minute drive north.  I’ve always done this circuit anti-clockwise previously, but at the last moment I decided to reverse that. I walked the Chapel Lane track from Rylstone to Cracoe village before turning right onto the Fell Lane track towards the hillside.

Looking up towards Cracoe Fell        Zooming in on the summit obelisk

I started to pick up the pace as the ascent became steeper, conscious that Friday afternoon traffic back through Bradford might not be as optimistic as my satnav prediction. Little did I know what I was in for!

Arrival at the summit        Cracoe Fell summit

I managed to get my four contacts to qualify on 2m FM on the handheld, but I clearly wasn’t hearing everything. One of my callers suggested I might be suffering some local desense. I heard Nick G4OOE/P calling CQ SOTA so called back for the S2S - only to find he (and Dave G3TQQ/P) were also on Cracoe Fell - just a few yards from me! I hadn’t spotted the vertical poking up from behind the drystone wall!

A surprise to find two activator already here!        Tom M1EYP, with Nick G4OOE and Dave G3TQQ behind

I completed the descent (working Dave and Nick for the chaser points as I did so?) and set off back to Doncaster with plenty of slack time in the bank ahead of the 5pm soundcheck.  Or so I thought.  Nobody had told me about the three hours it takes to drive a couple of miles down the A1 at Pontefract, where roadworks funnel four lanes down to one.  That was pretty stressful, and I eventually pulled into the racecourse at 1705.  Fortunately, the bandleader was still outside smoking a fag and hadn’t summoned the start of the band’s soundcheck - so I made it by the skin of my teeth!

Rylstone Cross        Stage set for the show

Time

Callsign

Band

Mode

S2S

12:19

M1PAC/M

144MHz

FM

 

12:21

G4TGJ/P

144MHz

FM

G/NP-009

12:23

M0ALA

144MHz

FM

 

12:25

G6XBF

144MHz

FM

 

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