Hi there,
Thanks a lot for those comments, they really helped!
Well, just got back from the airport after a fantastic solo nav run. Tower controller got it slightly wrong, he cleared me for a left turnout off runway 10, but I pulled it up and he contacted Warton and got my info to them. It was a slightly busy time after I turned and contacted Warton, and my first checkpoint was under me in no time. I had few problems with Warton, but as things were busy I kept drifting slightly off my heading. I adjusted it with positive fixes to make sure I was on track - I thought I identified Burscough airfield, which was my turning point, but now I'm not completley sure that I did, especially after speaking to my instructor on the ground. it's very (very) disused and, in the bright sunlight and not fantastic visibility, it looks quite a lot like a field. However, I turned there and got established on my heading towards Preston. At that point the controller kindly told me that my radio was almost unreadable. I swapped radio sets, and tried transmitting on the other one, but I didn't hear anything back at all. When I switched sets back and transmitted again, he told me that he heard me much clearer on the other set but that he didn't think I could hear him, which was true. The crackling seemed to sort itself out anyway, he said I was readbility 4 by that time. I missed my first checkpoint on the way, but it was a slightly unclear road/railway crossing which I probably shouldn't have used. However, I positively identified my next checkpoint and reached Longridge successfully. The rest went really smoothly.
Sorry for waffling on, but I'm quite pleased that I've finally done it after a fair old wait
With regards to my QXC - think I'll be doing Blackpool - Caernarfon - Hawarden - Blackpool.
Thanks again for the reply!