This was the ideal last summit of our Lake District expedition. It was a quick and easy (allegedly) summit to do, plus it was the only one remaining in G/LD that I had activated but Jimmy hadn't. Of course, he had climbed it with me before, but that was before he gained his amateur radio licence. So it had to be done!

   

From Great Mell Fell G/LD-035, Jimmy directed me onto the A592, which saw us drive up and over Kirkstone Pass, pssing the inn where we stayed four nights previously. We passed through Bowness-on-Windermere, which seemed to be absolutely heaving on this Saturday 26th July 2008, perhaps something to do with that afternoon's air show.  We continued along by the lake, until Jimmy directed me to turn left sharply uphill. This turning, at Fell Foot, was actually signposted "Gummer's How", and we were soon up to the high car park, which was pretty busy.

   

The humidity that was in the air on Great Mell Fell G/LD-035 earlier had now burned right away, and it was a scorcher of an afternoon. Jimmy and I set off along the good path to the summit, but really laboured on the steep sections. This is a really easy hill, but we were really on our last legs by now!

       

Rather than scramble straight up the front of the summit area, we walked around to the right hand side and followed the graded path to the top. I set up the SOTA Beam and WASP, but found that I only had one guy string in my rucksack. I must have been a little over-zealous when reducing pack weight for the earlier days of the expedition! I managed to improvise a structure with my other walking pole, plus Jimmy's two poles, which maintained the SOTA Beam in an upright position throughout the activation.

   

Initially, I mounted the beam horizontally for 2m CW. I wanted to see if I could qualify for the points on 2m CW alone, without needing to supplement it with contacts from 2m SSB or 2m FM. Well, I could! With a little help from SPOTlite, I managed to record five 2m CW QSOs in just over half-an-hour, to claim my activator point. I then switched to 2m FM for a S2S with new activator Dave MW3VSG/P on Moel Famau GW/NW-044.

   

Jimmy then took over, worked Dave for his own S2S, and then went on to work five more on 2m FM. Many people had walked to the summit of Gummer's How to gain a good vantage point for that afternoon's upcoming airshow, but little seemed to be happening in the skies. I was continually asked what the latest was, with everyone assuming I was an airband enthusiast, or even part of the communications network for the event! I did at one point switch to the airband on the 817 for some interested passers-by, but received only a passenger 'plane over High Wycombe!

With the 2m band very quiet, we packed up and returned to the car. The journey down the M6 was swift and unimpeded, and we were home fairly soon after 6pm. Marianne and Liam were up for an evening out, so I booked us a table at the Viceroy Indian Restaurant in Bollington for a satisfying end to the day.  Many thanks to the following stations, all worked using 5 watts: