Great Whernside, G/NP-008 - 704m ASL - SE 001 739 - OS Explorer OL30 - 6 SOTA points           

Saturday 20th July 2019 - Great Whernside G/NP-008

Gig:  Joe Longthorne

Venue:  Middlesbrough Theatre

It made have been more logical to aim for the Cleveland Hills summits on the North Yorkshire Moors, just south of Teesside, but I really fancied Great Whernside for some reason - and the easy six points on offer!  I loaded the car with the gear for the gig and followed the satnav, which took me up the A34, M60, M66 and M65 to Colne, then into the Yorkshire Dales.  The road out of Kettlewell up to the parking spot is incredibly steep (1:3) in a couple of sections on tight bends.  I parked in the usual spot beside the road and footpath sign.

After "getting away with it" the previous day, it appeared the rain had finally caught up with me.  I booted up in heavy rain, and set off walking in full waterproofs.  In actual fact, I got away with it yet again.  By the time I had climbed up the couple of steep sections and was at the stile, there was no more rain, just thick mist, and so it remained.  The walk from here is on a very easy and graded path, angling gently up the shoulder of the hill.  A couple of rocky outcrops and stone shelters just above you to the left give you a gentle tease, but soon you are at the trig point.

I had time to set up for HF if required, but I hoped to avoid it in very windy conditions.  I called CQ SOTA once on the 2m FM handheld, and immediately back came a very big signal from Dom M0BLF/P who was on Longridge Fell G/SP-014 - so the perfect start!  He was soon followed by three other callers, so I had my qualification and could get off to work.

There was plenty of slack time, but still plenty of miles to drive, so I wanted to keep that in reserve.  I arrived in good time for soundcheck, and a walk down the high street to the nearest Wetherspoons.  "Manager's Special - chicken vindaloo - £3.99".  That would do for me, ahead of playing the show.  I was pretty tired that night and needed to take a nap in the car only as far as Harrogate.  Given that, I was relatively satisfied to be home by 3am.