It’s A Light, Jim, But Knot As We Know It
It was a dark and stormy
night. All right, it wasn’t dark, it wasn’t night and it wasn’t
particularly stormy… but the sea was rough enough to put us off our
tea!
Someone (who shall remain nameless) came up with the bright idea of
activating a couple of lighthouses/navigational aids every day of
our holiday to encourage some activity on the net. …Seemed like a
good idea at the time. Hey, who wants to do ‘normal’ things anyway?
On the Sunday after we arrived we went for a walk (almost forgotten
how to do that) around the pretty harbour town of St. Aubin.
Afterwards, we went to admire a light on a pole with a bit of a box
at the bottom (St. Aubin Harbour Light) and took some photos of it.
Almost certain that nobody would be around because 40 metres “has
not been good” (that was the quote, wasn’t it John?); we were amazed
when we heard G4CDD/P. Had to call them! It was the start of
something wonderful!
On Monday, spurred on by the success of the previous day, we
discovered Greve D’Azette Lighthouse (pretending to be a bus stop)
and Mont Ube (a metal tower with a red light on it, in the middle of
a field on top of a hill). Sadly we didn’t make the smart decision
to turn around at Mont Ube, we went forward and nearly got stuck
between a house and a wall. After a combination of prayer and blue
air, we made it past the obstacle course and back to civilisation!
Tuesday saw us climbing up and down cliff tops at Corbiere (again
not typical behaviour, I can assure you). Our next ‘light’ target
was Noirmont – not easy to find, especially when you climb the wrong
hill! More David Bailey moments; at least it looked like a
lighthouse! In the afternoon we activated Albert Pier Elbow (an
orange pole) and Elizabeth Harbour Leading Light (a smaller orange
pole). That evening we visited Gorey, trying to find the leading
lights for the next day. We found the one on the pier, fine, but
couldn’t locate the source of the rear light, a strange red flash
suspended in midair!
On Wednesday we returned
to Gorey to find that the rear light was on the side of a hill, with
a huge orange and white board behind it! We had walked behind it the
night before, but because it was pointing out to sea, we had missed
it. This was the day when the nets really seemed to take off – 47
contacts between the two lights.
We visited Noirmont on
Thursday, (a black & white stripy number). We had ‘lost’ it on
Tuesday, but today we knew what we were doing (Yeah!). Dave thought
it would be a good idea to test out the mobile whip as a portable
aerial. Bad idea! We nearly got blown away because it was so windy
and we lost the hammer. Oh well, plans of mice and men and all that!
As we were in the area, we returned to St. Aubin’s Harbour (again),
because it was easy.
It was off to St. Helier
Harbour on Friday. It had been a bit stressful when were trying to
locate them, but the ‘treasure hunt’ had paid off and we now had
lovely pictures in the can of the front leading light (a green light
on a rusty bit of board), the rear leading light (a green light
cunningly disguised as a traffic light) and St. Catherine’s
Breakwater (Historic) (hadn’t even got a light, now a monument to
those lost in the war).
We had the brainstorm of
activating St Aubin’s Fort on Saturday morning, because the tides
were better. Unfortunately, the band conditions on 40m could be
described as ‘not good’. This is not the term that Dave used! Sadly,
it looked like a revisit job. We also revisited Noirmont in search
of the elusive hammer. In true LAB style, it duly turned up in the
boot of the car! Then back to ‘easy’ St. Aubin’s Harbour, where we
made our only 80m contacts.
On Sunday, we had a
change of pace. We knocked it up a gear. We toured the island,
putting on all the parishes and all the areas, with a few NATS
thrown in.
As Monday dawned, I was
filled with a certain sense of trepidation. We had decided to
activate La Corbiere, which involved a causeway - liable to flooding
and the carrying of poles, batteries etc. again! The last time we
had been to look at it, the wind was blowing a gale and it was
bitter cold. However, one the day, it was quite different. The
weather was calm and warm with a lovely blue sky, and the
authorities at La Corbiere (a proper lighthouse, by the way) had
been very kind and provided a bench, which served both the bottom
and the aerial well.
We had a treat on
Tuesday. We visited La Mare Vineyards, complete with wine tasting
and free samples of their other produce (yummy!). That afternoon we
went a-carrying again and activated Grosnez (Who are you calling big
nose?). That was another happy surprise because we found that the
location itself was very sheltered, the sun came out and we got
quite warm. Not what we had expected. This is the photo that was
sent to RadCom, with Dave ‘posing’. (Note: The RSGB obviously
declined to print it, perhaps Judith in a bikini next time – Dave).
On Wednesday, we had our
biggest nets of the trip. We activated Sorel Point (black & white
checker effect) and the lights at Bonne Nuit. The front leading
light was not very fetching, but the rear one was positioned
beautifully by the side of a bus stop. Very handy! We had 83
contacts on that day.
We had a lovely surprise
on Thursday. We strolled down St. Catherine’s Breakwater - rig,
batteries etc. in hand. When we reached the other end, two fishermen
had taken ‘our bench’. “Bother, blow”, I thought! “Have to make
friends with the fishermen!” It was worth it. One of them pointed
out to me that a dolphin had just swum by the end of his line. We
looked and watched three of them swim all around the breakwater – it
was magical! The fishermen were even kind enough to warn me when to
look away because their mate was about to gut a dogfish (lovely!)
On Friday we made our
debut on the internet. We visited St. Aubin’s Fort again and after
shouting, “Judith is the pink blob” several times to Steve G0SGB we
waved at all on the net with the aid of the Jersey Web Cam. (It was
a bit of fun). Then we returned to St. Aubin’s Harbour and smiled
for the camera again.
The ferry home was a
little delayed, so we came back on a ‘dark, stormy night’. It seemed
appropriate that the first sight of England was Portland Bill
flashing away at us, guiding us in. I’m sure Dave G1OCN would be
pleased!
Thanks to all who
supported us. It was really appreciated. We had a lot of fun doing
it and we are now plotting where to go next.
Next time, we’ll take
Aslam with us, but that’s another story!
73/88, Judith G4IAQ
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