Werneth Low

Werneth Low really is my favourite local spot for radio and those local to it will agree. It's not far from my home QTH so is handy for a quick spot of 2m DX or for playing about on other bands. At 250m / 820ft ASL it's not the highest point in the area but the fact that it's local and easy to get to by car makes it my favourite spot.

I often throw some radio gear into the car and spend an hour or so up there calling on 2m and manage to get quite far from the top. This is mainly due to the line of sight into the Cheshire Plains, North Wales, Merseyside, Lancashire and West Yorkshire. I've managed Shropshire and Staffordshire on 5 watts from my Baofeng up here but my preferred radio of choice for up here is my Icom 207 dual bander.

The only downside it there is sometimes slight noise on 2m from the old Home Office towers that are up there but it rarely causes me any problems.

The view from Werneth Low is fantastic and on a clear day you can make out Liverpool Airport control tower, Runcorn Bridge, Daresbury Laboratory (home of GB7WC) and the hills in North Wales. 

There's a nice pub up there called The Hare & Hounds which is good for a drink on a summer's day whilst playing radio too. There used to be a pub about 1/4 of a mile down the road called Windy Harbour which was closed in 1998 and demolished in the early 2000's after vandals started a fire. 

All that remains is the customer car park, the steps and disable ramp leading to the entrance of the pub itself and the gateposts at the front of the site. Such a shame really. The site has long since sat empty, I'll post some photo's next time I'm up there.

If you live in Manchester and need a nice little spot to play some radio then go to Werneth Low.

Thanks for reading!

73's, Lewis M3HHY.

Manchester, UK.