"What shall we do today then, it looks a lovely day?" was the enquiry from Marianne as we woke up on Sunday morning, 6th April 2008.  Half-asleep, and unimaginative, I tried my luck with "We could go for a walk on Raw Head and have the carvery in the Bickerton Poacher". "Yeah, alright" she replied, and a bonus surprise SOTA day was created from nothing!  Jimmy was lazing in bed enjoying his lie-in, Marianne turned back over and continued hers. Liam was already up glued to his Sunday fix of Scrapheap Challenge on More 4, and I got up to go down and type the rest of my GI reports into SOTAwatch. Some three hours, some chuckie eggs, buttered toast and frothy coffees later, we set off in Marianne's car. Jimmy and I improvised the directions to get around the road closures on both the A534 and the A556/A51. Usefully, we had a 'dry run' yesterday having headed out this way to watch Macclesfield Town away at Wrexham in League Two. Marianne pulled into the car park at the Bickerton Poacher, and a debate began between her and the lads about whether to do the long circular route from the pub, or just do a short walk. I kept out of it! Liam, and uncharacteristically Jimmy, both preferred a short walk, so Marianne conceded to this, got back in the car and drove us up to the top of Coppermines Lane.     Fifteen minutes along the Sandstone Trail later, and we were at the summit trig of Raw Head, and highest point of the trail, now with a new sign celebrating this fact. We were not carrying rucksacks, poles or any of the usual walking gear. In fact, only Liam had his walking boots on, the rest of us in our trainers. Jimmy and I carried handheld transceivers, pencils and logbook in our pockets, as Marianne had pre-warned there was to be no 'bedding down' for any amount of time on the summit!     21 minutes on air on 2m FM brought 4 contacts for Jimmy followed by 6 for myself. Marianne and Liam had left the summit during Jimmy's activation, who himself left at the start of mine. Nine minutes and six contacts later, I was on my way too. The family were reunited at the car on Coppermines Lane, and five minutes later in the Bickerton Poacher. The Sunday carvery at this pub is always very good, and today was no exception with delicious roast ham, turkey and beef and all the possible trimmings there could be. A pint of John Smith's Winner's Tipple proved to be a dark and tasty real ale that accompanied the food well. Somewhat stuffed, we drove back to Macc, accompanied by heavy snow.  Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 5 watts: GW7AAV Connahs Quay Steve J M0BZZ Birkenhead Bob J G4ZRP Wirral Brian J M3VUO Widnes Graham T, J 2E0RXX Macclesfield Greg T GW0DSP Connahs Quay Mike T GW1LDY Broughton Arthur T GW7AAU Connahs Quay Helen T M3OGH/M M53 Graham T