Easington Fell is an easy activation, with plenty of parking and a short, relatively flat, hike in. It’s a great option if you’re not up to a challenging hike but still want to grab some SOTA points. That said, it’s still a pretty darn scenic spot too. Overall, it should have been a great activation…it was not. We parked up at SD 7187 4807 and set off on the 1.5 kilometer hike to the activation area.
The sun was out, it was nice and hot, and the summit was clear. All the ingredients for a successful and enjoyable SOTA summit! However, this was the day that I learned about “Flying Ant Day” in the UK. It turns out that around the end of July, what can only be described as apocalyptic numbers of flying ants emerge – and it seems Easington fell is a favourite spot for them. The cloud of flying ants seemed to consume the majority of the activation summit. We did find a spot where we could get set up for VHF on the very edge of the summit, but it was pretty awful. I thought my hiking partner was going to tap out and call the activation off at one point, but we stuck with it.
Thankfully I managed to grab 6 quick QSOs on 2m to complete the activation. We tried to make the most of it and grabbed one on HF and after a short break one more on 2m, but eventually we broke and ran for the truck! Overall the activation was successful and we definitely got a good laugh out of one of the chasers, who pointed out that as a chaser he was relaxing on his sofa whilst we were being eaten alive by flying ants! That’s the hobby though, summit activations come rain, shine, or insect-apocalypse.
