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Friday 23rd February 2018 - North-East Wales The late start was mainly as a result of needing to drop Liam off at the hospital for his Friday volunteering he does every week with the dementia patients. He was certainly giving lots of himself to community stuff while out of work - Sunday night at 10pm he had his radio programme on Upload Radio (online and on DAB in NW England at the time, but now defunct) - then on Monday at 11pm, he was due to begin his weekly “Late Night Liam” show on Canalside Community Radio (Macclesfield & Bollington) 102.8MHz FM.
Then I had to chase up why the mechanic instructed by the 3rd party insurers to fix the damage done to me car in Shropshire three days ago - was not actually doing anything. So at least five hours later than I would normally choose to commence a SOTA day out by the time I got going! I could make the time back with the correctly programmed satnav, familiar hills and a host of other shortcuts. These were: Walking in trainers - not bothering to change into boots. Not carrying a rucksack - eat and drink in the car between summits. Just use handheld & rubber duck - so no radio equipment or antenna to “set up”.
To be honest, all this was fine throughout the day. It made me think that I’ve been making this SOTA business harder and more complicated than it need be over the past 16 years! I paid my £1.50 to park at Bwlch Penbarrass then set off up Foel Fenlli. I’m sure it gets steeper every year! Not bothering to take my trekking poles was a mistake and hampered my rhythm going uphill, but the descent was fine, surprisingly. Mind you, it was absolutely bone dry with no slippery sections.
The weather was bright and dry, but deathly cold. At the summit I made just five QSOs, 4 on 2m FM and one on 2m C4FM (Fusion). Then it was back down to the car for a warm-up and some Royal Game soup, before the longer walk up Moel Famau GW/NW-044.
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