This was my third time up here, but a first for Jimmy and Liam.  We headed out of Skipton on the A65 towards Ilkley, then turned right (south) to get to Silsden.  From here, it was just a case of following my nose and memory, and without too many false leads we found the road signed "No vehicle access after 1.75 miles" or words to that effect.  We parked here in the large space bny the transmitters, and set off through the gate and over the moor to the trig point.  This was the only boggy one of the day, with the earlier two being refreshingly bone dry.  Still, it was an easy 20 minute horizontal walk in, and we were soon at the large cairn and trig point.  This was the only summit of the day without shelter, but thankfully the wind had considerably dropped by now.

It was pretty late for SOTA - gone 5pm - but the first contact was Andrew G0LWU/P on Whernside G/NP-004.  6 further contacts on 2m FM ensued in the next 25 minutes, and we retreated to the car.  We drove along to Shipley, where we pulled in for fishcake and chips x 3 (they do proper fishcakes in Yorkshire, not them awful mushy ones we get over here), but they only had two left.  I had to, reluctantly, have a large haddock instead, and remarkably the whole lot cost me little over a fiver.  Finishing here meant that it was an easy M606 - M62 - M60 - A34 route home, and we were back by 8.15pm.  An excellent day in nice weather.

Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM, the first three with 2.5 watts, and the rest on the full 5 watts:

On Sunday, Marianne suggested a family day out in Castleton. Great idea, we all agreed.  Winding up the Hurdsfield road towards Whaley Bridge, I worked Carl G0TQM/P on Raw Head G/SP-016, and then had a chat with Richard G3CWI.  Dropping into Whaley Bridge, I noted a sign for Taxal village, and the email identity of one of our number suddenly made sense! We continued through Chapel-en-le-Frith and took the old A625 road down past Blue John Cavern to the parking areas just above the landslip.  This road was finally closed in 1979 as a result of major landslips from 1977 onwards, and the remains of the tarmac A625 main road are quite spectacular in their own way.  We walked down this road winding down towards Castleton, taking a little peek in Odin Mine on the way.  Once in Castleton, tummies were rumbling, and we had a good lunch in the beer garden at the Castle pub.

Afterwards, we strolled around the town and stocked up on some moreish cakes from a local shop.  We followed the roads, tracks and then the ascending path up to Hollins Cross.  At this point, Marianne was shattered, and Liam pretended to be so in order to stay with his mum.  They took the track directly down from Hollins Cross to climb back up the battered road, while Jimmy and myself aimed for the summit of Mam Tor 517m - not a Marilyn, but a fine hill nonetheless.  The ridge walk was splendid with good views on both sides (including of the route up Kinder), lovely sunshine, no wind and a slabbed path.  We were at the summit in no time, where we paused for a drink and cakes, before heading down the steep southern flank of the hill. We were back at the car before Marianne and Liam, and it was great to stretch the legs and get the heart pumping.  I had been up Mam Tor once before, 22 years ago on a school field trip.  It was great, definitely the best hill of the weekend; add it to the list of Fantastic non-Marilyns. (FNMOTA anyone?).