BOTA/POTA Donna Nook National Nature Reserve.

 I awoke at 6am as usual, Saturday, a day off, and the weather was beautiful. Already about 18 degrees C,and forecast to rise to the mid to late 20s, there was no way i was staying inside.

The band conditions didn't look promising, but that wasn't going to stop me. 

I hopped on the computer, fired up the BOTA website and looked for a Bunker/Park that would give me the edge. 

Park: GB-2232 - Donna Nook National Nature reserve.

BOTA: B/G-2154  - North Somercotes WW2 Pillbox cluster.

G90/Chelegance MC750.

A look at the location on Google maps at the location gave me two possible starting locations. a 2.8 mile walk from the donna nook seal sanctuary carpark or a 1.7 mile walk from a place called Howdens Pullover, a carpark on the saltmarsh to the south.

The shorter distance appealed. I set off and arrived at Howdens Pullover, refilled my coffee mug from my flask and set off along the grass bank that ran north. On the map I could clearly see a bridge directly across from the ground zero point of the bunker. Great i thought, not trawling through muddy salt marsh.

After the prescribed 1.7 miles I arrived and was met with a bridge that was not quite what i had imagined. 


The thought of walking back to car and trying the longer direction didn't appeal. I was hot and sweaty and just wanted to do the activation. I decided that beam 2 and 4 were the safest options. I chose 4 as it gave me options to dab my foot onto 3 and 5 should i lose balance. It was at this point i was glad i had the G90 and not the FT710. 

Balance was critical and the heavy FT710 would have probably had me in the muddy bottom, or worse.  I gingerly crossed the beam, only dibbing onto beam three twice. Phew i was across.

A quick stroll through the long grass and I had my first sight of the largest bunker. larger than I thought and as I got closer it seemed like a brilliant place to activate from and it was. 

I set up my vertical antenna to the south, about 10 meters from the building. Finding soft ground was difficult due to the underlying concrete that had only partially been reclaimed by nature. 

MY G90 was set up on the window sill along with my notebook and my coffee. 



The activation was slow, band conditions worse than I had anticipated. after 90 minutes I had my 25 contacts and it was time to go. It was a beautiful location and worthy of a picnic or a sunrise photoshoot/activation. 


Back along the grass, over the 'Bridge', which creaked more than I could remember, and into a 35 minute walk back to the car, punctuated by regular runs to retrieve my cap blown off by a strong breeze (lack of hair issues).

After topping up my coffee mug again, guzzling down a bottle of water and putting on some 80s heavy rock, it was home to a well earned shower. 

Another activation in the log,

73's


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