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So by early afternoon on Saturday 31st May 2008, we were on our way home -
sort of. The first priority after Nine
Barrow Down G/SC-013 was to find some lunch, and a bakery in the town of
Wareham granted that wish. Dorest pasties, chicken curry pasties and spicy green
lentil and vegetable pasties were accompanied by bottles of Buxton mineral
water, and devoured in the sunshine in the town car park. The best route we could see for our itinerary, was A352 to Dorchester, A37 to
Yeovil, and A37 again into South Bristol. From here, the JimNav took me on the
B3130 through Chew Magna and up to the village of Dundry. We couldn't see
anywhere reasonable to park for the footpath into the site from the south, so we
drove anticlockwise around the summit area and into the edge of the village. At
ST556668 there was a large parking area, and we accessed the summit area via the
bridleway. Another new radio station logged was "Bristol's Original 106.5". We looked at the area around the transmitter compound, and then wandered over to
the mound upon which stood the trig point. This was a surreal summit location,
surrounded by wasteland, a small farm, a large car breakers yard and a landfill
site. Jimmy proposed that it was the worst SOTA summit ever, but I asked him to
bear in mind Billinge Hill G/SP-017,
Hensbarrow Beacon G/DC-004, and
Carnmenellis G/DC-006 before reaching a
final decision! I was confident of a short 2m HH RSS activation from the trig point, such was the proximity to Bristol and South Wales, but silenced reigned on S20. Instead, we returned to the flat grassy area nearer to the transmitter compound, sent a SPOTlite and set up for 80m. The CW/SSB combo did the trick again, and completed our 15th and final activation of the tour. Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 80m with 5 watts:
"Can we go home now?" asked Liam as we loaded everything back into the car
boot. "Yes son, we're going home" I replied, and we set off in search of the M5.
This resulted in a marvellous surprise, the spectacle of driving through the
dramatic cliff-lined Avon valley beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
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