Friday 14th September 2018 - Botley Hill G/SE-005, Leith Hill G/SE-002 & Crowborough G/SE-007

Gig: Joe Longthorne

Venue: Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea

Having completed an activation of Botley Hill G/SE-005, I drove further west for my next summit.  Last time I satnaved (is that a real verb yet?) to Leith Hill, it landed me with a much steeper ascent than I’d recollected a few years earlier when Jimmy was my guide.  This time I continued to follow the road round and found the main car park from where the main easy track heads up to the summit. 

At the summit, I was pleased to see that the snack bar and tower were open. I hadn’t had any breakfast yet, so I ordered a beef & ale pasty and coffee before thinking about activating.  The pasty was delicious - locally made by an artisan butcher.  I overheard the lady at the snack bar inform the next customer that the sausage rolls had just been baked.  I bought a ticket to enter the tower, and climbed the spiral staircase to the top.  This was most unenjoyable for me, what with my dislike of heights.  I wanted to see if a 2m handheld activation was going to be possible though. 

I was slightly more comfortable at the top of the tower than on the spiral staircase - but only slightly!  The plan worked though.  Inside 20 minutes, I made four distinct QSOs on 2m FM just with the handheld and rubber duck.  Next came the unpleasant task of going down the spiral staircase.  Slightly less enjoyable than going up had proved to be.  At this point, temptation really did get the better of me, and I couldn’t resist sampling one of those sausage rolls from the snack bar.  And I was very glad I did - it was quite simply the best sausage roll I’ve ever had!

I was joined on my descent by a friendly chap who’d been helping out in the snack bar and was very interested in the work I was doing.  It was an enjoyable chat and the short walk passed by in a flash.  I was now well ahead of schedule, and I was confident of squeezing one more activation in, possibly even two.  I decided to head for Crowborough G/SE-007 next, and then Detling Hill G/SE-013 if time allowed.