G4CIB and G4RHK on Lundy
30th May to 13th June 2015

It wasn't supposed to happen like this!

As many of you will know, our 2015 Lundy stay did not work out as originally planned! For some weeks before I was aware of a pain which cam and went in one of my knees. Wretched arthritis I though - but it comes and goes, so just get on with it. A few days before we were due to go to Lundy the pain came - but didn't go .... in fact it got progressively worse.

We stayed in Barnstaple for a few days before sailing to Lundy and looking back I should have gone to get it sorted. But hey - I'm a bloke and we don't seek medical assistance until we start seeing images of the Grim Reaper hovering above us. Well we made it to Lundy - a smooth crossing and on landing, the Warden seeing I was in some degree of discomfort gave Leta and myself a lift up to the village in the Land Rover. Leta was petrified - in places the track is literally inches wider that the Land Rover with a nasty drop into the sea one one side. I was in too much pain to really care. Somehow we made it to our cottage and in the evening after putting up the vertical HF antenna, I gamely struggled to the Tavern. Actually I felt ok - my appetites good, everything working as it should other than an almighty pain in the leg.

Sunday dawns a dull and dreary day and I decide that amateur radio will at least take my mind of the physical discomfort. Indeed there is a contest in full swing on CW – what better way to take your mind off other matters! In fact I have a ball on 20m, 15m and 10m working some 45 stations. We visit the island shop on the Monday to stock up with provisions and the shop manager, a fellow arthritis sufferer persuades me to dose myself up on Ibruprofin and Paracetamol at regular intervals which I'm only too pleased to do if only to dull this now constant pain. By now all thoughts of amateur radio activity has disappeared from my brain. I want to get medical help and Lundy does not have this kind of facility so in my mind I know I have to get back to the mainland. After visiting the shop we head for the Tavern to check for any messages and we were met by a small deputation consisting of the Island manager and Warden and they have obviously had a discussion about my predicament and are there to persuade me that it will be in my best interest to leave the island and seek medical assistance. I told them that I needed no persuading!!!! The island office administrator was summoned and told to arrange our departure for the following day – one slight problem though – the weather forecast is dire – there will be no ship tomorrow back to the mainland. No problem – the helicopter will be drafted in and we are assured our names will be on the flight list. Tuesday dawns – thick fog. We nevertheless attend the flight briefing in the Tavern at 10.00am. The good news – the fog will lift by mid-day. The bad news – the forecast says that the fog will then descend on Cornwall – where the helicopter is based. Small helicopters don't fly in fog.

However the fog does clear on both Lundy and at the helicopter base at Liskeard and by early afternoon the helicopter is buzzing back and forth between the island and Hartland, taking people and luggage off the island and new stayers on to the island. We are on almost the last flight and when we arrive at Hartland all the ground crew (normally the ship crew – they become the heliport ground crew when the ship doesn't sail) recognise us and immediately offer us a lift in their staff minibus and drop us off at Barnstaple A & E. Without going into the boring details, the staff there were magnificent and confirmed that I had suffered a massive arthritis flare-up. The painkillers I was taking were confirmed as being the right thing to do and soon I was heading in a taxi to Ilfracombe to join Leta where we had arranged a couple of nights in a pub on the harbour to await our return to the island on the Thursday.

Another smooth crossing and I was now anxious to make up for lost time on the radio front.

Things were settling down although my consumption of painkillers did cause the stock-control computer in the island shop to throw a wobbly – fast forward to the day we left at the end of our fortnights holiday and I was amused to hear that a large package of painkillers was included in the shop stock order for the island coming in on the ship!! The computer should have been smart enough to realise we were leaving the island!!!!! By this time NFD and the 50MHz UKSMG contest were rapidly approaching and I felt that once again some operating would at least keep my mind off the painful leg. In short I worked some 73 NFD qsos and a handful of 6m stations in the UKSMG contest. Luckily enough there were quite a few Sporadic E openings during the week so I was able to clock up some 32 squares on 6m. The total for the week was some 210 qsos, the majority on CW. Apologies for missing what should have been my normal operating times in the morning and late afternoon – most of my operating was late at night or early in the morning to take my mind off the pain. During the day I often didn't feel like operating very much. Thanks to those who did manage in a round about way to work me, in particular Martin G3ENZ for relaying to other members in particular Tom G3XMM and Les G0ULH during the Thursday Club on the Air gathering. Saturday came round all too soon and luckily enough we had a smooth return crossing.

For the record I took my IC703 (10watts output), a 6m vertical antenna (which worked very well on 20m and upwards) and an 80m dipole.

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