Hoove, G/NP-024 - 554m ASL - NZ 003 071  - OS Explorer OL30 - 2 SOTA points           

Wednesday 6th November 2019 - Hoove G/NP-024

Gig: 60s Gold - The Mindbenders & Steve Ellis

Venue: The Sage, Gateshead

This was good!  A run of tour dates, kicking off in the North-East, then into Scotland.  I absolutely love being on the road doing shows in Scotland - it was always my favourite part of any year with Joe Longthorne.  Plus, a bit of a new experience for me, for this was a gig where I wasn't to be reading sheet music from my iPad, but up at the front of the stage, at the microphone, and all songs committed to memory.  Normal for many bands of course, but something of a departure from all the gigs I'd done previously in my career.

Kicking off in Gateshead, I decided upon Hoove as a summit to activate en route.  Other more obvious candidates had already been activated by me earlier in 2019.  I parked on the North Yorkshire - County Durham border as usual and set off into the bleak boggy moorland.  It's only a fairly short distance to cover, with not much height gain to negotiate, but it is boggy, spongy and slow going.  I remembered to take a nice wide angle around to the higher part of the fell in order to avoid a steep deep muddy ditch near the saddle, before the final ascent to the summit.

Well, not the actual summit, but the trig point which is much closer and only a couple of metres lower.  That would do!  A quick six QSOs on 20m CW were recorded, which was plenty as I didn't have time to be hanging around.  Soundcheck times were on the early side on this particular tour.  I reached the venue on the south bank of the River Tyne in good time, and had the unique experience of being asked for my autograph at the stage door - a first in my career!  Soundcheck complete, and straight down to catering for the performers' buffet - another welcome feature of the 60d Gold Tour routine!

Being involved in only the first two acts on the bill meant that I could typically be packed down and away from the venues by 8.30pm!  I drove to the theatre digs I had booked in a little village called Dipton in County Durham.  The landlady wasn't in due to being out performing on a show herself that night - but she provided me with full instructions for the property, which was a lovely little cottage and very comfortable.  I was greeted on arrival by two incredibly friendly cats who seemed delighted with the company!  As usual, I'd made myself pretty tired through the day and was ready for an early night, followed by an early morning, when I would begin my day by heading for Ros Castle G/SB-009.