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Caer Caradoc Hill, G/WB-006 - 459m ASL - SO 477 953 - OS Explorer 217 - 1 SOTA
point
From Long Mynd-Pole Bank G/WB-005, the first task was to safely negotiate the death-defying and slightly terrifying precipitous edge road down to Church Stretton. Breathing somewhat more easily, I then turned the car northwards to drive up the A49, but only the kilometre or so to the junction at SO 464 949, where I was able to park the car on a grassy verge. Opposite here was the start of the public footpath we had targeted; a different approach to our only previous visit to this hill in 2003. This time, we contoured gently around the steep south end of the hill before following the bridleway around its eastern face as far as SO 480 949. Now we turned left on good paths and made our way steeply up the side of the hill to just south of the summit, before finally turning north for the final climb.
The cold wind still needed evasion, so we found a sheltered spot with a north-facing view, which we considered would be suitable for working a few stations. It was with a little difficulty that we erected the aerial on this uneven rocky spot and in strong wind. Once this was achieved, we got out our flask of hot water to make the Southern Fried Chicken flavour Pot Noodles we had brought for lunch. Stations worked were all in the RSGB contests, and included a couple of summit-to-summit contacts.
After packing away, we tried a different route back, walking along the summit ridge right to its southern tip, then descending the steep southern flank. It was not too bad at all, and we were making good time to fit in the last summit required for the Welsh Borders 24. Off up to Telford for The Wrekin G/WB-010! Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m SSB with 5 watts - except the first on 2.5 watts:
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