Thursday 1st August 2013 was the morning I woke up realising that I no longer seem to be waking up with splitting headaches!  This put me in a very good mood and full of optimism regarding my long and slow recovery from brain surgery.  The weather forecast for the day promised a scorcher, and with both Marianne and Jimmy out at work, Liam and I decided to continue my return to fitness with a walk.  Liam has been helping me get fitter, accompanying me on walks and visits to the swimming pool, where we tend to do 20 to 30 lengths each.

We left Macclesfield around 7.30am and headed north up the A34, M60, M66 and A56.  Breakfast was sourced at "Snack Stop" in Stacksteads, where we would return later.  In the meantime, we continued along the road through Bacup and parked at the usual lay-by on the A681.  When I shortlisted a choice of SOTA outings, Liam had chosen this one for the dry underfoot track conditions, as he didn't fancy a boggy walk.  So off we strode along the Limers Gate Path, in shirt sleeves, sun hats and generous buttery layers of sunblock.

There is a wall on the summit of Freeholds Top that Liam and I always sit at for our shelter.  And on this occasion it was backed perfectly into the light breeze, affording maximum comfort.  Up went the 12m groundplane antenna as I sought to add a couple more multipliers in the 12m SOTA Challenge.  This came courtesy of a PSK31 QSO with Steve G6LUZ, leader of the 12m Challenge chaser section.  Just seven QSOs were recorded from this activation, all on the 12m band.  These were two on PSK31, three on CW (including a S2S) and two on SSB.  Calls were made on 2m FM using the VX7R prior to descent, but remained unanswered.

It occurred to me on the return walk to the car that the summits and routes today were Liam's choice, but yet he had chosen quite a lot of walking!  We now drove back through Bacup to Stacksteads, where a left turn by the earlier breakfast cafe took us onto the roads up to the start point for Hail Storm Hill G/SP-009.  Thanks to all the following stations: