The latest addition is Dodd Fell Hill, NP-016, activated on Saturday, 21st April. Pauline and I were with the Mercian Mountaineering Club meet at Low Stern near Clapham, and I wanted a summit with not too much ascent so that my XYL stood a chance of reaching it with her knee problem. From the map I saw that a road ran south from Hawes reaching a high point of 1923 feet and a gated road, High Cam Road, ran at this height over the east ridge of Dodd Fell Hill before contouring along the south side. This looked ideal with only 281 feet to gain to the summit, so we duly set off to approach Hawes from Ingleton, an impressively scenic road!
The minor road south from Hawes was narrow, a sign at the start claimed it was impassable due to snow and ice but we gambled that it was passable, and it was. At the summit we went through the gate onto Cam High Road (allegedly Roman but reasonably tarmacked!) and parked by the second gate, so that the rather impressive wall would not have to be climbed - a good decision as I saw no stiles or gates. The going turned out to be purgatorial due to a thick layer of peat in a badly eroded state, and after a few hundred metres of clambering up little cliffs of peat and a little swallow hole dodging, Pauline turned back. I toiled on to find a bleak featureless summit plateau and a trig point with its own little moat. A stride across and a balancing act was necessary to fix the pole using a couple of bungees.
I had intended to open up on 5 megs but I saw that the western horizon had vanished behind an advancing wall of white, so I hastily set up for 2 metre FM and got my first contact as soft hail started to fall. After four contacts a QRZ? got no reply, and as by now I was being shot-blasted by an intense hard hail storm that had turned the ground white - and as I found, dumped a load into the rucsac! - I decided that discretion is the sensible option and hastily packed up again. By now conditions were so bad that I had to remove my spectacles, and I bailed out on a compass bearing of southwest as the quickest way off the mountain, reasoning that I would pick up the Pennine Way and follow it to its junction with Cam High Road. As I had hoped, the peat had almost vanished on the west flank of the hill (as lack of spectacles made the route a bit of a blur) and the evacuation was cold but quick and without incident, leaving me with a couple of miles of road work to get back to the car. Continuing hail flurries dissuaded me from adding NP-017 to the days bag so we headed back to the hut - and of course, the sun came out!
For me NP-016 is so lacking in interest that it will probably not be done again, there are plenty of fine summits to be done in this intriguing corner of the Pennines.
In reply to G8ADD:
Done it three times Brian.
Easy 7 points in bonus times.
Route from parking - along pennine way until
gps points to trig point and 90 degrees to track.
Then easy yomp straight up. Fun in snow.
Don’t think is any drier in summer though 'TUB
Hi Brian - pity you didnt try the HuMP G/HNP-004 Blea Moor. Only a couple of miles from Dodd Fell and an altogether more pleasant hill. http://stigvista.co.uk/pa/walks/nyork/bleamoor/bleamoor.htm Ive done Dodd Fell & it must be one of the wettest hills in England.
I`ve done Dodd Fell & it must be one of the wettest hills in England.
I recalled rightly to mind that there is a little lake near the trig point - seems it is permanent as I activated the summit in October. I would say that I’ve found moats around trigs on quite a few summits and even a skating rink on Fan Fawr GW/SW-005.
This summit is not one that is on my “never again” list and I just wonder whether this is another case of “WX 1 - Activator 0” as is so often the case. Most summits look good when it’s 21C, sunny and has been dry for weeks… even Esgeirau Gwynion, LOL.
I always imagine that I have a “never again” list. Trouble is, when you happen to be near them again, you break your own promise!
Done Dodd Fell Hill twice, once with a very young Jimmy & Liam, using Brian’s approach, in decent weather and fairly enjoyable. And once with Jimmy as we did the Pennine Way in 2006, using Roger’s approach, and in horrible weather.
I’d probably offer Normanby Top, Crowborough and Sighty Crag as top of my “never again” summits, but know that if I was in the vicinity of any of them I would break my vow!
I know Sighty Crag is a long walk Tom, but does it have other “features” that make it a never-again summit?
Myself and Gerald know of a few in D&G to put in that list don’t we?
In reply to G1INK:
Geoff G6MZX showed me a few bonny looking Humps when I was down for Blackpool. Very appealing, especially one near a car-park and view point I believe Mike G4BLH uses for 23cms ops.
In reply to G8ADD:
You know that such bogtrotting is good for the soul Brian and makes you appreciate the better hills even more!
Sighty Crag is indeed a long old walk. It isn’t that bad really, but the slog from the edge of the forest (and end of the forest ride) up to the summit seems like it will never end! I have nothing majorly against it - it’s just that I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it again!
Crowborough, on the other hand, is vile, and I can’t think of anywhere within its vast activation zone that I would relish operating from again. But like I said above, never say never. I wouldn’t rule it out - 'cos I know what I’m like!
You know that such bogtrotting is good for the soul Brian and makes
you appreciate the better hills even more!
This may be true Andy, but I’ve trotted enough bogs for my often improved soul to dwell on thoughts of escalators!
Like Tom, I probably would do it again some time, not because of any attractiveness of the summit (it has none!) but because of the inspiring views before the hail drew a veil over them.
I’d probably offer Normanby Top, Crowborough and Sighty Crag as top of
my “never again” summits, but know that if I was in the
vicinity of any of them I would break my vow!
You can add Bishop Wilton Wold to the list Tom. Not my idea of a bundle of laughs, working from a very noisey lay-by. Only saving grace, I found some nice DX on HF.
I wholly agree Tom - on both counts. My “never again” list totals just 2 thus far: Crowborough and Billinge. Then again I can say what I want because I am interested in Uniques and going back is not an option. Speaking strictly G4 call of course.
I’d probably offer Normanby Top, Crowborough and Sighty Crag as top of
my “never again” summits, but know that if I was in the
vicinity of any of them I would break my vow!
As part of my campaign to get to MG having approached all the summits on foot
from outside the activation area, and because we like walking, we did Normanby
Top as part of a 5 mile walk, which made it reasonably interesting.
We parked on the “Ramblers” car park at TF110991, headed down the road to pick up the “Viking Way” at the S end of Nettleton, which took us through a pleasant valley, including passing the overgrown remains of Ironstone mines in a little wood. At the top of the valley we turned E and found a good spot to set up by the side of the bridleway at TF127970. The HF dipole went up in the corner of the field, and there were fenceposts to support the VHF antenna. Good views of the “golfball”. We returned W along the bridleway to the road and then back down the road.
Walking 5 miles to activate G/TW-005 deserves a special citation in my book. Difficult VHF vertical take-off, even using the white stick. Must be the only summit I failed to make a /M contact unless you count a /MM contact.
IIRC, Dave G7CNM, reckons the take-off from Nettleton Top is much better.
In reply to M1EYP:
I was contemplating this question during the descent of Esgair Ddu MW-020 just after finishing swearing due to a twisted ankle and fall. [No phone signal either so walking off was the only choice. ] I do have a never again list headed by Moel y Golfa ! I pass the damned hill on my way to lovely spots in Wales and can resist its charms and another stretcher ride with Welshpool fire brigade. I bet Tony G1JPV has similar feelings?
I have some Uniques that will stay that way - Lambrigg Fell and Mickle Fell come to mind. But otherwise I’d rather be doing a SOTA activation than designing machinery today.
and another stretcher ride with Welshpool fire brigade.
:Off topic alert:
Oh dear! Hope it wasn’t too serious?
When was that? I only ask because Welshpool is in the Operating area for NEWSAR (the Mountain Rescue team I belong to). We do get calls from Dyfed Powys Police to jobs down there (although our primary calling authority is North Wales Police).
Did you call for an Ambulance or the Police in the first instance?
The Fire and Rescue service do these types of jobs occasionally, normally at the request of the Ambulance Service as they forget about us!
If you ask for an Ambulance that is what you usually get. Then they discover they can’t get to you, or can’t evacuate you and only then call for other agencies. Which causes a delay in your evacuation.
The standing advice is that if you have an injury or medical emergency away from a road (where a two person ambulance crew is unlikely to get to you and evacuate you) then dial 999 (112) and ask for the Police. They then call all the relevant services to help you.
It is possible that Dyfed Powys Police called the Fire and Rescue service and not us. On average we do less than 5 jobs a year for Dyfed Powys.
Oh dear, looks like a classic example of the Ambulance service having problems with grids and sending a crew to what is essentially a “mountain” job. (Even if it is a small “mountain”).
