A pleasant and productive weekend in Westmorland drew to a close with a superb cooked breakfast at The Strickland Arms, Great Strickland. Now the day - Sunday 11th July 2010 - was my own, so it was SOTA time! Jimmy wasn't with me, so my choice was restricted to a repeat of one we had both done previously.

       

I selected Hutton Roof Crags G/LD-052, so headed south down the M6 from Shap to J36, where I diverted down through Burton-in-Kendal and across to the Plain Quarry car park.  Each time I visit this one, there appears to be an even greater labyrinth of paths and trails than before, but they all seem to lead up to the summit or down to the car park - which is handy!

At the top, I opened up on 2m FM with the VX-7R handheld, quickly getting four contacts including S2S with Ian 2E0EDX/P on Helvellyn G/LD-003. I tried 17m CW with the FT-817 and MM17 vertical with groundplane, but attracted only a long ragchew with a YO station and a poor report of 229 from HB9BIN. It wasn't good at all. Absolutely bobbins in fact.  Back on 2m FM, I logged three more, including S2S with Sam M0SJJ/P on Gummer's How G/LD-050.  After a pleasant easy stroll down to the car, I put my foot down and sped back to Macc.