Some context is needed here. I moved to GM in late 2000 when I was head-hunted for a job. Roll on 10months and it was obvious my job would not last so I found another. Then we had a 2000 tech crash and in 2003 I needed another job. Finally late 2005 I got a job with the people I still work for. I was not terribly active on the radio until 2005… I spent more time doing side-hustles involved with radio to earn more cash to pay the bills.
By 2006 my late friend Brian G4ZRP was concerned I was not taking proper care of my health and persuaded to try SOTA. 18 years later I’m still involved and somewhat fitter despite being 18yrs older. Boy was it hard lugging my lardy bulk up hills at first. It’s still hard now TBH. Anyway I was now active with my contesting group and we operate from Gatehouse of Fleet, just South of plenty of GM/SS summits. If I was driving to contest, I could snaffle a summit on the way down before getting to the contest side. First was Merrick GM/SS-028. A bit of a slog but there are truly excellent paths and so you don’t find out what Galloway Ground is like.
Come October 2007 I had been SOTAing for a year and was thus a mountaincraft expert and also truly skilled in outdoor operating 
Not! I’d decided that I’d try for Craignaw GM/SS-096 and Mullwharchar GM/SS-073. Gerald G4OIG just happened to be coming up for some of his first Scottish summits and we agreed he should come along and camp with us at the contest site. I remember Gerald’s comments about my route “that looks to be a serious challenge” and my thoughts were “pah, he must be a real lightweight” as I had done 6 Munros by then. One of us was right and one of us was wrong. Guess who?
So I struggled with the ground as I made my way to Craignaw the weekend of the October UHF contest. I almost gave up. The ground exhausted me, it was a scorching hot day, 20C and I was 1hr30 late at the summit. No way could I do Mullwarchar, the re-ascent was bad enough but the ground was so bad I knew the computer suggested time of 1hr30 would be nearer 3hr. Then I’d have to get back. No, can’t be done with my fitness. In fact the ground was so bad rather than return the way I’d come, I descended to Loch Neldricken and walked the long way around that to pick up the path I’d originally followed. To say I was shattered when I got back to the car was an understatement. I learnt what Galloway Ground was the hard way.
A lardy MM0FMF in 2007 on Craignaw summit. I’ve lost at least 15kg since then. (You can see the belly trying to hide in that photo.) I’ve also lost 75% of the hair and it’s nearly all white now! Note the baggy walking pants as they had to be big to accommodate my vast backside and stomach.
At the contest site Gerald turned up and he knowingly was not surprised I couldn’t do both. He’d done Black Craig of Dee GM/SS-170 (incredibly horrible ground) and White Top of Culreoch GM/SS-245 (quite easy and a gorgeous summit). Lots of SOTA chat etc. Not longer after, Gerald teamed up with Paul G4MD and they became a quite formidable duo polishing off English and Welsh summits. I continued wondering why I kept on doing something I didn’t seem to have the fitness for
OK, so lots of SOTA happens over the years and Jack GM4COX activated all the GM/SS summits South of the Forth and Clyde and I checked my status and found I long way to go. But slowly the number came down. But I avoided the Galloway summits. Slowly there were fewer and fewer remaining and they were all the hard one… Craiglee, Kirriereoch, Lamachan and of course Mullwharchar. Mullwharchar developed quite a fearsome reputation. But as I was knocking them off I realised Gerald was in the same boat as me. I stopped putting them off and managed to get Lamachan and Craiglee bagged.
As Paul has been very poorly, Gerald was short of his walking partner and I suggested a joint activation of Kirriereoch and Mullwharchar. The Kirriereoch walk is documented on here including the great Cross Burn wade. Andrew G4VFL had posted a route to Mullwharchar that gave something to follow as the paths can be obscure. Many emails/messages and plan arose for the 5th October. We’re both getting too old to drive to Mullwharchar start, climb and activate and then drive home so I arranged accommodation in Creetown, twenty five minutes from Glen Trool car park, the start. We arrived on Friday evening, had a curry meal that couldn’t be beat and a few scoops of beer and set the plan for Saturday. Up at 6.30, wash and breakfast and out by 7.30, park up at 8.00, boots on and leave the cars by 8.30. We actually started walking about 8.50, so close. We’d been following the WX closely as we could cancel and get various levels of refund on the accommodation. The WX changed and changed… “might be a bit damp in the morning” said Gerald… “I’ve paid £15 I cannot get back… I’m going” was my reply. The WX finally changed to overcast and a bit drizzly becoming better with sunny intervals. No rain. But there 30-40mph winds predicted. Boy was it windy.
So it came to pass that exactly 17 years to the day when I first met Gerald we started the climb. Andrew VFL’s route starts by following the Merrick path. This is a good path and is easy. It’s very bouldery and they’re easy going up but harder work coming down. It was blustery and the cloud was low, about 400-500m and Mullwharchar is 690m… going to be miserable on top unless the cloud clears.
About 35mins in, about to arrive at Culshargs bothy. Even for gloomy light levels the colours are quite amazing. Benyellery is lost in the mist in the distance.
Another 10mins or so and we reached a big forest track. Now it’s easy, follow this for a few km. A large amount of the forest has been harvest and the road has been extend compared to my 2016 maps. Also there’s a really good hardcore path and even a footbridge so you can make good time. But all good things come to an end including the path. A stream needs to be crossed, lots of boulders/rocks so easy and then you are onto the path made by feet.
Bleedin’ diabolical. Long grass nearly up to your knees, soft squishy ground, heather, plants. Everything conspires to slow you down, trip you up, break your ankle, make you wet. There’s 1.5km and 180m to climb which is about 35mins for me. I take 4 diabetic drugs, Gerald takes plenty since he has had a heart attack and bypass including a Beta Blocker. This means he can walk and walk and walk but the Beta Blocker slows his maximum exertion rate, so he can’t climb hills fast any more. No problem we just had plenty of wee breaks to let his blocked Beta’s fix themselves I tried to always keep sight of him behind me… the pole and 2m beam above his bag.
Gerald crests the climb up out of the valley. I didn’t want to tell how much height we would lose shortly. The colours are stunning. And so was the wind which was howling now. Note how stunningly obvious the path is in these photos!
We had a break here, discussed dropping the 2m linear/batteries/some food/bothy bag out of Gerald’s bag. But he had a Crunchie and a drink and I had 4 fingers of KitKat and fuelled up we were off. Sadly there’s 50-60m drop down to Loch Enoch then an even more horrible path for 1.3km as you walk around the loch. Gordon Bennett it was awful and very windy. We discussed times as we were running late so had a “must leave” to ensure we got back in daylight. Of course I had my head-torch with me, in the car 
Gerald brought his and left in the car I have a 60g wind up torch with me for emergencies. Not brilliant but better than nothing.
About 300m from the next river crossing looking at our target. You can see the boggy monstrosity of a path to the left of centre. And yes, a golden beach of granite sands ideal for sunbathing should the sun ever appear.
We had to cross the Eglin Lane, about 2.5-3m wide and over a boot deep to get on to the mountain proper. Plenty of rocks so not too difficult. One of the reasons it’s nice to do this with someone rather than on my own.
The view back as the mist lifted a little and the sun tried to break through. Fabulous Autumn colours but its shows how desolate and remote this place is. Loch Enoch is the highest loch in Scotland. The peak of the biggest island is 500m ASL ! We’ve come right from the farthest corner of the loch on the right hand side.
This is not the top… it’s half way to the top Again the wonderful path and on the hill the long grass is longer. The only way is up.
Now from Kirriereoch I know that Gerald will be slower by 20mins than me to the top. I kept him in site as my GPS beeped with track points and the mist got thicker. When I was nearly at the top I knew it was safe to push on. Gerald turned about 15-20mins later emerging out of the mist staggering as his Beta Blockers worked looking all like Grey Man of Ben Macdui.
I was ready to operate and I checked if Gerald wanted to skip 2m and just use my setup. “Mike BLH will be waiting so I will do 2m” and he went and set up about 20m away behind some big boulders. I knew it would be windy so I brought the big stiff pole, a Life’s a Breeze 5m. It took forever to setup as I was tired and buffeted by the wind.
LaB pole, 40/30/20 trapped EFHW, 1:49 match, KX2 and general detritus. What isn’t visible is my Iridium satellite spotter (modem and RPI B+) I brought this in case there was no phone coverage. Actually 4G was stronger here that at home… could have saved myself £15 for a month’s airtime.
I started on 40m SSB, Ken G0FEX was first and more worked but 40m sort-of died and there were no more chasers. On to 10m and I got the multiplier and worked Rick N4EX and Christian F4WBN. There was lots of SSB activity but nobody interested in me. Onto 15m and I worked loud Europeans. I was conscious of the time and decided I had offered the summit on 40m as it is normally a 2m summit. So I decided to pack. Up Gerald came and took a photo and I got out 2 wee bottles of Old Pulteney to celebrate getting up here and completing this bit of GM/SS. Gerald had 5 on 2m SSB including Don G0RQL who couldn’t hear me on 40m. I was sad not to work Don but he did get a chase on 2m. Gerald went back to do a quick FM splurge whilst I packed up. I wandered over when packed and he was nearly packed himself.
MM0FMF smiling for Brian G8ADD… finally done it.
Gerald just needs to pack the beam etc.
We high tailed down the slope to the Eglin Lane and the sun was trying to break through, Loch Enoch looking bonny.
I nearly fell in crossing then we had the awful around-the-loch path. It took forever. Then knowing we had a 50-60m to ascend we tried to stay high as long as possible and in the end saved all but 10m of the climb. We had a proper break at the col knowing it was nearly all downhill. We were surrounded by rocks and had 600-800m hills around us and we both had brilliant 4g coverage. I checked and got a boost seeing Liverpool had won.
The col looking back at Mullwharchar. We both knew we were EXTREMELY unlike to ever repeat this summit so we had a good look at it.
We made a plan of times for each stage of the walk out as it did look that it would be dusk-ish when we were nearly back. And having times for the various stages made it easy to know if we needed to speed up.
The descent down to the hardcore path again lasted for a life time. But was probably only 30-40mins. Once on the hardcore the pair of us just plodded out together. Then it was down the Merrick path. Again tedious as my feet were fed up with the pounding they had taken.
On the Merrick path looking North to Benyellery.
The amazing drystone dyke. The rocks/stones in this are huge compared to most I’ve seen, it runs from the car park up and along to Loch Enoch for about 5.5km. Someone had serious money to pay for this to be built hundreds of years.
The Buchan Burn runs near the path so you can always hear it but in a few places it’s within touching distance.
Same view in 2007
Tracking Gerald on the final descent… the beam made a great target to look for.
And then there was my car. I opened the tailgate and it was boots off and let my feet just be unconstrained. I had about 500mL of water. Just after I got shoes on Gerald appeared, I think 7 mins behind me. He walked to his car and I left him a few minutes to unwind. I was tripping out hard on the endorphins, completely at peace with nature as I watched a bat fly about. 1845 and the wind had died down a lot and it was warm enough to stand in just a T-shirt. Even in the incredible wind at the summit it wasn’t really cool.
Gerald had plans to drive North and grab some Luss summits but he came to the conclusion it was not on. He would be too tired the next day. He was going to drive for a bit and find somewhere quiet for a sleep. There were some cars and camper vans so he could have stayed at Glen Trool before setting off. I decided I would have an hour’s sleep then drive off. As it was after my endorphins and Red Bull I was buzzing so I got 45mins snoozing before I set off and drove home.
It took me 17 years to actually do this hill. Well it took us 4hr to the summit instead of 3hrs and 4hrs20 to get back to the car. I’m amazed by just how remote it felt and I’ve climbed it, activated it and logged it. That and the hundred plus GM/SS summits in the Forth-Clyde to the border area. Doing it with Gerald was particularly good…exactly 17 years to the day we first met.
That’s quite a few of the bucket list items for 2024 now done. Ben Macdui has slipped and probably not going to happen this year now. Something to look forward to again.
Thanks to Richard @G3CWI and John @G3WGV for coming up with SOTA. I really don’t think these guys realise how they have helped people like me get a grip on their health and improve it so much.
Better start making the next list now.
