Hi everyone,
I’ve not done much walking since I broke my hip in May last year, other than Woodhead Hill in Feb. That 9km walk left me struggling to get about for about 3 weeks. This time I deliberately chose a very short walk. Luke was mountain biking around Pooley Bridge, so I chose to walk up Dunmallet.
We were all parked at the £4/day car park in Pooley Bridge, so a short walk to the bridge past all the pubs and shops with my 2m Flower Pot antenna reaching for the sky draw a great deal of amusement from locals and visitors alike. I crossed the bridge and was greeted with the most pointless gate I’ve seen in a while.
Being a rebel, I avoided the gate and headed to the right and up the hill. Although this hill his very woody, there were only a few occasions where I had to duck to avoid loosing the antenna in a branch.
It did not take me very long at all to reach the summit. It is a wood I guess, so the views were very local as it were.
I threw my antenna into a nearby tree…
Unpacked my gear…
And called on 144.6125Mhz - only to be greeted by stunned silence. I called a few more times, then gave up and moved to 145.500Mhz to be greeted by John @G0TDM in Penrith. John, who’s name and QTH had to battle through significant dense grey matter to reach my lips, sorry John, also sent Geoff @GM4WHA a message, who, as I understand it, jumped in the car to get me.
Tony, GM1VLA, was second in line (not really a line tbh!) and we have a good chat too. Tony had to work quite hard to connect me with Geoff, but we eventually got sorted, 41 reports both ways.
I had a little scan about the bands, and the UK Business Lite frequencies, well specifically (hence the two raidos - see photo later) channel 1 - I was the home base coordinator if anything went wrong with the Mountain Biking Club, and then heard Malcolm, M6MOS, calling on 2m and we eventually headed down wot 145.325 for a natter.
I headed down the other side of the hill, passed what could have been used to build a shelter, and then headed back over the bridge back to the car.
I’m pleased to report no hip pain, the walk was only about 2 miles. I now need to pick an equally challenging hill for my next walk!
73 all.
.