Activation report: Goseland Hill SS-203

This little 1pointer has been stubbornly ignored by me for ages. After yesterday jaunt up The Cheviot with Brian G4ZRP we wanted something simple to do in an afternoon. As it was it turned into something a little bigger.

We parked at NT080365 on the unnamed road from Biggar just by the Cleuch Burn, there’s space for two cars just. From there out route was diagonally across the field up to the line of Scotts Pine and the 1st fence. Over that and up the hill with the trees on the right. At the next fence it’s over that and head for the next clump of trees. At the next clump it’s (guess what) yes over the fence and follow it along the ridge. So far everything has been over improved farm land with the fields holding sheep and cattle. Now the ground starts to turn to open moorland. The fence runs down slightly to one last crossing and that is the last fence. Phew!

From there it was through ankle deep heather and grass up a moderately steep bank then along the ridge to the summit proper. There’s a trig at the top which has a number of plastic flowers permanently attached. There were a few wreaths on the ground nearby. Must have been somebody’s favourite spot. And it’s not a bad one. The WX was grey but it was quite mild. I walked to the top with just a T-shirt on top. The view encompasses many SS Marilyns: Culter Fell, Broad Law, Scald Law, Mendick Hill, Black Mount, Broomy Law, Tinto Hill, Dungavel Hill, Penvalla, Trahenna, Broughton Heights. Really quite splendid for a tiddler.

There’s a convenient fence post but no fence. So the fishing rod was tied to that. 60m played well, most people big signals. After finishing there we QSY’d to 40m having found a clear frequency. Then some broadcast AM faded up. Pah! I thought all the broadcast had gone from 7.1 to 7.2MHz? Still we worked 2 on there before a QSY to 2m SSB. Brian’s beam seemed to have a good match and peaked up nicely on GB3ANG which is a bit loud in these parts. We called for a while and only worked Alan MM0XXP in Larkhall. Not sure how much steam pressure the 817 gives on a LiPo battery, it might have only been 2.5W. It was while swapping the HF dipole for 2m that a quick shower shot in a wet everything. Not much but enough to be a pain. That’s why Brian is in his waterproofs on the photo.

We had to be away sharpish and as it was we were 20mins late leaving. The walk out was pleasant but uneventful. This is a seriously nice little hill and apart from all the fences it was a simple walk. Like many 1 point hills up here this has been ignored by most which is a shame. So it was a nice enjoyable easy activation even if my suggestion of 40mins up and 30mins down turn into 1hr15 up and 1hr5 down. Not sure what happened there!

Distance walked: 5.1kms, total ascent: 276m, distance driven: 45miles.

Thanks to everyone who spotted us, 3 bands worked and a unique for many of today’s chasers. Some pictures on Flickr and in the group.

Andy
MA0FMF (but MM0FMF today 'coz I forgot about the Nov!)

In reply to MM0FMF:

Enjoyable read as usual Andy… well I enjoyed it even if the popularity of Activation Reports seems to be on the wane. I’ve noticed many go without comment.

I might well consider this summit when I next get the chance of doing some SS’s. Looks like there are shorter routes from the south and the west.

73, Gerald