Have I got too much time on my hands?

Being unique-orientated, I turned my mind to the subject of the possibility of achieving MG on UK Uniques.

I have come to the conclusion that if you activate all mainland summits (ie omitting GI, GD, Bardsey and IoW) south of the town of Windermere, taking full advantage of the winter bonuses, you would do it with a couple of points to spare.

For what it’s worth, which is probably not a lot…

73 de Paul G4MD

In reply to G4MD: You won’t have much time on your hands if you attempt this. Have you calculated how many miles you’d have to drive to do it? It would be a hell of an achievement if you pulled it off, not least because summits are fairly well spread out in the part of the country you are considering.

It would only be for personal satisfaction, though, because the MT haven’t in the past been minded to have more awards. Mind you, they did institute the uniques award some time ago, so perhaps they would look more kindly on this than the summit-to-summit award suggested in the past. OK, I’ll get off my pedestal now before someone kicks me off.

Good luck, Dave, M0DFA/G6DTN

In reply to M0DFA:

Hi Dave,

Hope the health is improving steadily.

Hate to imagine how many miles would be involved, would depend on a number of factors. Maybe when retirement beckons I’ll set out from home one day and make the round trip. Reckon you could do it inside a year if you applied yourself!

Personal satisfaction will do for me, the thought of never having to go back to most of the hills I’ve done is what keeps me going!

Catch you from another Unique soon,

73 de Paul G4MD

the thought of never having to go back to most of the hills I’ve done is what keeps me going!

Jimmy M3EYP is forcing me to go back to all of them!

Tom M1EYP

In reply to M1EYP:

Hi Tom

I hope one day I will get similar pressure from Roxy!

73 de Paul G4MD

In reply to G4MD:

Hi Paul,

Being unique-orientated, I turned my mind to the subject of the
possibility of achieving MG on UK Uniques.

I did think of carrying out this assessment, but resisted as I knew the outcome would be much as you have it. We need to keep focussed on uniques and not get side-tracked by the goat thing, whatever that is :wink:

Surely the challenge is to get lost ascending to as many different summits as possible - if you cheat by doing the summit again, then the excuse for getting lost becomes extremely weak.

73, Gerald

In reply to G4OIG:

Surely the challenge is to get lost ascending to as many different
summits as possible

You’re right there Gerald, it is the excitement of discovering something new that keeps me doing uniques. Each one is something to be conquered, then when vanquished is of no further interest. Maybe one day when the early conquests are but dim memories, there will be a joy in rediscovery…

73 de Paul G4MD

In reply to G4OIG:

if you cheat by doing the summit again, then the excuse for getting lost becomes extremely weak.

These days with GPS it is possible to keep a record of getting lost and then come back sometime in the future and get lost again in exactly the same manner.

Hands up who followed a bad route a second time because it was stored on their GPS?

Steve GW7AAV

In reply to GW7AAV:
I take a pride in my navigation skills and will never use a satnav in the hills, so if I get lost (its never happened yet!) I will only have myself to blame!

…On the other hand my wife is so bad at navigation I may yet get one for her for when I am not beside her in the car giving guidance - don’t tell her I said so!

73

Brian G8ADD

I love to use maps, and that is part of the enjoyment of the day for me, and Jimmy is of similar mind. The Philips Navigator road atlases are excellent. They are produced in conjunction with Ordnance Survey and the reference squares in them are the 10km by 10km squares from the OS grid. This makes it really easy to plot SOTA summits on the pages, or track WAB activity.

The OS 1:25,000 Explorer maps are a joy to use and as I say, all part of my enjoyment of walking.

In reply to G8ADD:

Hi Brian,

I take a pride in my navigation skills

What comes before a fall? Actually I only use a satnav as guide (and only as a guide) in case the WX closes in while on a summit. Navigation is always by map and I too have never got lost… my original comment was very much tongue in cheek. Hi.

…On the other hand my wife is so bad at navigation I may yet get
one for her for when I am not beside her in the car giving guidance -
don’t tell her I said so!

I wish you luck Brian. My wife has rejected the TomTom as it has taken her around the houses a few times. As we all know, there are instances when strict adherence to its instructions can lead one up the proverbial garden path… or more likely farm track. If I took the instructions at M1 Junction 15 literally, I’d never find the sliproad going north. It is only a talking map - you still need to know where you are going!

I can thoroughly recommend the POI file prepared by Richard G3CWI when using a TomTom for SOTA activations. I always check where it is going to take me against the map beforehand as sometimes I wish to take a different ascent route, but that is the only issue that I have with it. It takes all the hard work out of driving on unfamiliar roads and allows me to concentrate on the task in hand.

As for using my version of a JimmyJimmy - a BevBev - unfortunately she is rarely with me on an activation and when she is, reading a map while travelling makes her feel ill. Trust me to get a disfunctional unit!

73, Gerald