I activated this summit on Tuesday 27th May 2003 with Liam.   

Taking the M6 to J15, then the A53 via Market Drayton, we then followed the A5 ring road around the south of Shrewsbury, exiting on the A488. The first pub we reached was closed for lunch (!), but the next one - The Nag's Head, on the right - was open. We had a very pleasant lunch - 2 courses for £4.95 (I had the roast followed by blackcurrant cheesecake), and children's meal (including ice cream) for £3.95 - and Old Speckled Hen on draught (just the one if you're driving!). It turned out that this was at the top edge of the village of Pontesbury, and there were plenty more cafes, pubs etc in the village. Continuing on the A488, we then turned left towards Church Stretton and passed through the small village of Pennerley, past "The Bog" car park on the right, around some sharp bends and into the car park on the left - SO 369 977. From here we followed the none-too-steep well marked path to the summit, although the stones and rocks underfoot near to and on the summit were quite hard work. At the summit, the trig point is located atop a high bit of jagged rock. It was climbable, but I didn't really fancy it with Liam in tow. However, I reckoned it to be about 30 feet high, or in other words, less than 25m!

I set up the HB9CV beam on the walking pole with an air elastic, so far so good. I had been struggling to tune the HB9CV at home, until in the end I dispensed with the variable capacitor and appeared to get much better results. However, today on the summit, I only got high or very high SWR, so perhaps my trials at home in my garden were inadequate - probably too close to other things. Nonetheless, the rubber duck was in the rucksack as usual, so out it came, and had no problems in making the contacts.

Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts:

I subsequently activated this summit, alone, in the dark, on the evening of Tuesday 30th December 2003:  This was to claim the 3 point winter bonus for the hill, even though its 2 points could not be reclaimed within the same calendar year.

I descended Mynydd-y-briw GW/NW-006 and set-off in the direction of the Youth Hostel at Bridges, between Stiperstones and Long Mynd. As I got near to Stiperstones G/WB-003, it was completely dark, but I couldn't help considering activating "Riley-style" - in the dark after nightfall!  I had my headtorch and a spare torch, and had done this summit before, so I thought "why not?" and pulled into the parking area.  I had already activated Stiperstones in 2003, but the 3 winter bonus points were still up for grabs.  I quite enjoyed walking to the summit by torchlight.  The bands were less busy than usual at this time, but I still managed to get the four contacts after half-an-hour, although I did have to ask to break into two exisitng QSOs and exchange reports with the stations, as no-one came back to my CQ calls. Thankfully, I was made to feel very welcome by the helpful amateurs who worked me in this fashion. I drove down to Bridges, booked in at the Youth Hostel, took out a family membership while I was at it, got a shower and change and adjourned to the nearby Horseshoe Inn for dinner.  I devoured white bait followed by King Prawn Balti & Naan bread, with a couple of pints of Spitfire.  It was all absolutely excellent, and I swiftly booked myself a table there for the following night.

Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts: