I have to be away on business for a week 23rd March to the 27th.
The 27th will be ruled out, as I’ll be traveling home that evening, but I’ll be in the Newcastle area on Monday night, Ayr on Tuesday night and near Stirling on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
I’ve not looked yet, but are there any summits that could be activated in an evening (allowing for having a meal and needing to get up in time to go to work the next day) that I might look at trying to activate?
Thanks for any thoughts.
HI Dave
Suggest you utilise the excellent Range facility that is available in the SOTA Mapping Project for possibilities on your trip, that is providng you have been able to create an SMP account… not sure if you need one to use that part of the SMP though… Coupled with OS mapping if you are in the UK it’s very good for planning activations.
Ros Hill SB-009 is easy and could be done in the dark with a torch / headlight but it is a fair way north of Newcastle. I don’t know the Ayr or Stirling area summits (apart from Ailsa Crag) so can’t comment on those parts. Again the SMP is worth studying.
73 Phil
Brown Carrick Hill is near Ayr, Dumyat is near Stirling. if you can pronounce Dumyat correctly you don’t have to climb it 
EDIT I should add that Stirling is not really in the North 
The problem with the sota hills nearest stirling are they all seem to be near 500m and many of the walks all start at near sea level. All the dead easy 200odd metre ones are in north Fife.
The walk highlands site puts the nearest to stirling, dumyat, at a 2.5 to 4 hour walk Dumyat from Blairlogie (Walkhighlands) but you can also tackle it from the west which cuts the ascent quite a bit: Dumyat by the hill path (Walkhighlands) . I’ve it on good authority that the timings that walk highland give are quite a good guide.
Benarty might be ok, Benarty Hill, near Ballingry (Walkhighlands) but depending on where you are, it can be nigh on an hour drive from Stirling
Bishop hill (just south of west lomond) might be doable from Scotlandwell in the time available. It has the advantage that there is a nice pub in Scotlandwell for after 
but again it might take too long to get there.
Well, it’s north of Derbyshire. 
When I’m in Stirling, I’ll be stopping in a hotel at FK7 0LJ. 30 mins from my job on Thursday morning and 1 hour from the job on Friday morning.
So you’ll be at the King Robert, then. which direction is your job on Thursday?
FK13 6NS on Thursday
I’ll be traveling over from Ayr on Wednesday
33 minutes to Scotlandwell for Bishop Hill or the same to the start point for Benarty.
A 2 hour hike each way is going to be out of the question any evening though. 1. I’m currently not fit enough and 2. I will need to have something to eat each evening.
If you do Benarty : Benarty Hill, near Ballingry (Walkhighlands) on Thursday its only 33 minutes drive from your job, and a max walk round trip of an hour and a half (don’t know how they spin it out that long its only 3.5k). From there it’s a few minutes drive to the pub in Scotlandwell which used to do good food and does real ale. Sorted.
That is the shortest walk you’ll get round here. We don’t do drive up hills.
That sounds do able. Thanks.
Everyone knows that “Up North” is anywhere beyond Watford Gap services on the M1.
73 Marc G0AZS
Was Ros Hill of no interest to you Dave? No comment made to my early response to your call for advice 
From what I read it looks like you are making use of the SMP now.
73 Phil
Isn’t it just as easy to look at the sota map, see where you are and see what’s around you? The range doesn’t take account of what roads there are, certainly here in Scotland something 50 miles away can be a lot nearer than something 10 miles away!
Only because you already know the scale of things up here! In the 1st instance ask for stuff in X miles of some location, then consider if time available fits the roads suggested.
This is just the same as when I said to someone “if I’m going to be in Mountain View why don’t I drive over to your place in Texas”. When he’d finished laughing he said “coz it’s 1200miles and will take you a day and a half” and I said “it’s only a few inches on the map!” 
Suggest hams try using the alternative Open Street Map option which is available as a link from the SOTA Mapping Project pages to see where the roads are. You may have missed this feature Andy (OEG) …
This mapping is especially useful in Europe where they don’t have OS mapping. Open Street Map is a fantastic community project which a lot of people are completely unaware of. I speak as a contributor to it so I am slightly biased… Open Street Map has helped me research and get around summits in 10 countries and compliments the SMP very well indeed.
73 Phil
A quick activation of GM/SS-236 - Corse Hill could be done only a 1 pointer but nice views into Glasgow in the evening of the city lights. It has the m77 and A71 near by that lead into Kilmarnock if you are travelling that way.
I parked at these coordinates 55.69566°N, 4.16849°W ( NS 63801 46823 ) took about 45mins on a snowy track to reach the activation area. It has a good gravel track to summit due to access required for the wind turbines maintenance.
If you are staying at the King Robert you might want to pop in to see Jim GM4VGR - his garden (with Moxon) is accessed from the King Robert.
Quick easy hill (15 min walk - if that) is Cairnpapple GM/SS-254.
Glyn