From Cliffe Hill G/SE-014, we drove into the town of Lewes hunting for food.  It was the evening of Thursday 29th May 2008, and we found a chippy and went in. Jimmy and I both ordered fish & chips, while Liam went for steak pie and chips. All was well until Liam reported that his pie filling was stone cold. It was promptly returned, and ten minutes later we received one in edible condition in its place - and a complimentary bag of prawn crackers! I tried a few phone calls to Youth Hostels, but all viable locations were full for the evening. I resigned myself to having to hunt for a Travelodge or Travel Inn on the road later.

           

Fed and watered, I turned the JimNav back on, to be directed out of Lewes on the A27, and then right up a minor road. The summit car park appeared on the left, and was quite busy, even approaching 8pm. The summit area and trig point was only 200 yards further up the path, so we left Liam in the car listening to the radio and made the final ascent.

   

A few calls on the 2m FM calling channel with the VX-7R and RSS came to nothing, but there was other activity on the band. I invited myself into the local nets and explained the SOTA activation I was doing. This was enough to gain more than enough contacts for Jimmy and myself, as the locals were all very interested in our activity. It also provided for a crucially speedy activation so Liam wasn't on his own for too long, and I could resume the core business of finding somewhere for us to sleep.  Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 5 watts:

Finding accommodation for the night now became the real challenge. I drove for miles and miles along the A27, surprised not to see any roadside motels. Not wanting to go much further west beyond the next morning's target of Chanctonbury Ring G/SE-009, I turned south towards Worthing. Still no cheap motels here, but loads of seaside hotels. Most had no vacancies, but one that could accommodate us quoted £130 for the night - not what I had in mind. Still, the young lady on reception directed me towards Littlehampton where there was a Travelodge, she assured me. On the way there, I first came across a Travel Inn. Pleasing was the sight of the sign that read "All rooms £65". Not so pleasing was the sign that read "No vacancies". Still, we hadn't reached the Travelodge yet.

Soon we did, and there was no room at the inn here either. However, the kind gentleman on reception started ringing around for us. Very quickly, he had located a triple-bedded en suite room at the Comfort Inn in nearby Arundel. Result. I thanked him for his kind help and made my way there. When booking in, I was informed that breakfast was included - another result!  And it had a bar!  The results just kept coming in!  I had a pleasant evening, what remained of it, and a very comfortable night's sleep.