Slieve Croob, GI/MM-010 - 534m ASL - J 318 453 - OSNI Discoverer 20 - 4 SOTA points        

It was another 5am get-up on the morning of Friday 29th October 2010.  Breakfast was ready, clothes set out and everything else packed and waiting by the front door of the holiday cottage in Louth.  So again, we were able to be driving away in darkness on another moonlight early morning, this time for the final time from the holiday accommodation.  Jimmy again called out the directions and took me into County Down and the B7 road between Rathfriland and Dromara.  We turned right at the crossroads at before Finnis hill (note - not Finnis village which is 2km further up), and then second left and first right into the Slieve Croob car park.  We wondered if the gate would be open for the road to the transmitter station on summit, as we had heard that others had been able to drive up there for contesting.  It was locked though, but we weren't necessarily disappointed, looking forward to another early morning headtorch walk.

We kitted up with boots, poles, rucksacks and headlamps and commenced the ascent in darkness at around 7am local.  An easy walk along a well maintained tarmac road with only ever a slight gradient took around 50 minutes for its 2km length.  Day broke just as we arrived at the transmitter compounds, and the true summit was up a grass bank and over a stile to their rear.  Jimmy strode off ahead to inspect the summit features, while Liam and myself followed close behind.  A cold north-easterly wind was breezing in off the Irish Sea, so we were pleased to be able to hunker down in a deep summit shelter cairn after erecting our aerials.

It was 2m FM for Jimmy and 40m CW for myself again, and typical of earlier activations that week, Jimmy completed his four contacts in approximately the same time that I cleared my pile-up which numbered 26 QSOs this morning.  It was a very satisfying closing act to the GI SOTA trip, and we enjoyed the descent with a sense of satisfaction.

Jimmy continued in navigation mode, directing a route through Belfast back up to Larne, where we were reunited with Marianne and her dad Jimmy back at his house.  After saying our farewells, and hearing the good news from Grandad Jimmy's eye consultant appointment that morning, we adjourned to a cafe in Larne town for a family Ulster Fry breakfast to set up the return journey.  The crossing was rather bumpy on a choppy sea, causing the on-board bar to strap everything down a couple of times, and myself to agonise about whether I had remembered to leave the car in gear on the vehicle deck!  Road progress was good on the other side with Marianne and myself sharing the driving either side of dinner in Westmorland Farm Shops (Tebay) services.  Our journey that began in Omeath, County Louth at 5am, was finally completed at 10.30pm at home in Macclesfield, Cheshire.

Many thanks to all the following stations that called in to our activation of Slieve Croob early that morning: