This summit was activated by me, Jimmy & Liam as the first of two (before Longridge Fell SP-014) in an expedition on Sunday 22nd June 2003.

An ambitious schedule was dreamed up by ever-optimistic me, to include an ISWL club call sked, plus three summit activations in deepest Lancashire.  Time beat us before we could seriously consider moving onto Easington Fell SP-012 for the day's third summit, but then again three out of four ain't bad as Meat Loaf would say (or was that two out of three?). I had got back from my gig the night before at 3.20am, but with my wife out to work at 7.50am, and the kids up, washed, dressed and breakfasted by 8.30am, my thoughts turned to summits and the plan mentioned above was hatched.  First it was up to the other side of town, and one of my regular chasing haunts to make the sked with Geoff M0BAU (Ellesmere Port), operating as GX4BJC/P, club callsign of the ISWL, and me operating as MX1SWL/P - the other club callsign of the ISWL!  It is thought that this is the very first QSO between the two, and hence why we set it up.  We kept things brief, with my SOTA plans to attend to and Geoff's trip out to the Chelford Steam Rally, but one other station did join the frequency to work the stations - and guess who?   It was that ubiquitous G0OXV - who else?

A little under two hours later, and we had driven to the end of the road at SD 599 445 (Fell Foot) - M6 to J32, A6 towards Garstang and right following signs for Bleasdale and Chipping.  The parking is marked on the map the start of the road to Fell Foot, but we were able to park right up at the end, as did a number of others, who seemed to be mainly gilders and paragliders using the Parlick end of the ridge.  This bit was a beast of a climb (and descent), very steep and tiring, but at least it made the rest of the walk - about 2 miles each way - seem a breeze.  We declined the option of heading to the true summit cairn at SD 597 472, plumping instead for the more interesting and nearer cairn, shelter and trig point at SD 591 468. The HB9CV beam - out for its first outing since the midweek exploratory and corrective surgery administered by G3CWI - was tied to the top of the walking pole, which was jammed into one of the several summit cairns.  It worked a treat, showing even better SWR than Richard had got to, and enabling me to achieve excellent coverage and get out to all callers with just 500mW. First station up was GB1MLR from Southport Marine Lake - operated by Keith G0OXV.   The four were completed very quickly, with no further chasers coming up for the points.  SOTA-to-SOTA featured in the second contact, which was with G4ZRZ/P, Russell, on LD-029 Illgill Head.  Thanks also to M3CKN (caught just ahead of his walk up Whitfell) and G4HCS. Following descent, and the general concensus of the 3 Read boys that it had been an excellent and enjoyable walk in fine weather, we drove into the village of Chipping in search of food.  We were not disappointed at The Talbort pub, and I would make two recommendations.  Firstly, the Plate Meat Pie with chips and mushy peas - a real walkers lunch!  Secondly, there was a bitter by Tetley's on tap that I had not heard of - Excalibur or Exhibition or something - but it was absolutely gorgeous, and the one pint I enjoyed was somewhat less than the 7 or 8 I actually fancied after drinking it!

Callsign today was MX1SWL/P, club callsign of the International Short Wave League (ISWL) - see my radio page for more details.  Thanks to the following stations worked, all on 2m FM with 500mW: