This summit was activated by myself, accompanied by Jimmy and Liam on Saturday 10th July 2004. 

Left Macc at 7.45am BST with no breakfast.  This was consumed around one   hour later - three full Englishes in Rawtenstall Asda after a run up the A34, M60 & M66!  From Rawtenstall we continued on the A681 Bacup road to Waterfoot, and turned right for Cowpe which needed a bit of map reading and asking passers-by as there are no signposts to this hamlet.  We followed the road as long as we could, but parked by the mill/factory as it got rough and steep near the end.

The path continues as a green lane in the same direction as the road, through a cluttered scrapyard watched over by barking dogs as Richard G3CWI reported on here last year.   This route was a change from last year, when I walked straight up Rooley Moor Road (green lane) from Stacksteads (see below).  The objective remained the same, Top of Leach 474m, 3m lower than the true summit of Hail Storm Hill 477m, no more than 5m drop in between, but marked by a trig, on much drier gound and a mile closer along the ridge!   Anyway, after the scrapyard, the path approached Cowpe Tank reservoir and you can go straight on, or gain some height more quickly by turning left up the hill, which we did.  We joined up with Rooley Moor Road, and by this time I was in QSO with Myke G6DDQ on the handy.  Amongst other things, we arranged to meet later at 1.30pm BST for the stroll to Freeholds Top G/SP-011.

After reaching the summit of Rooley Moor Road, we diverted left up the grassy bank to reveal the trig point and shelter on Top of Leach.  The SOTA Beam was erected, and 5 contacts were made, including Dave M0DFA/P on Buckden Pike G/NP-009.  For descent, we elected to take another path that dropped directly down to Cowpe Tank before rejoining the green lane on which we started.  We drove up to Bacup and had a pleasant lunch in "The Coffee Pot".

Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 0.5 watts: