Activation - Great Knoutberry Hill G/NP-015
Todays challenge was to find a nice 4 point hill and stretch the legs without having a big impact on the car or the wallet.
I had considered several options, Rogans Seat is a nice walk, but the last section is not on a public footpath and there are various reports of the gamekeeper being very zealous. Given Woodys ability to produce about 130dB at the summit this didn’t seem a low profile idea.
Place Fell is a really nice 4 point walk, but I had a feeling that given the nice weather Patterdale would be heaving and would cost an arm and a leg to park so…it was Great Knoutberry Hill, which even Richard G3CWI who was not always positive about the North Pennine Swamps thought it would be a good place to “smoke a pipe this would be the hill to light up and admire the view on”
The car bit involves the “road” between Garsdale (Station) and Dent (Station which is about 3 miles from Dent) which is narrow, steep, prone to ice and ungritted, and today I got away with it, which considering I was driving my daughters Skoda (Chosen for being Group 1 insurance, don’t think Sierra Cosworth, more Skoda Asthmatic) I didn’t want to dent it. Unlike Andy’s car it doesn’t really have automatic anything and its naturally aspirated three cylinders wheezed loudly as we ascended the narrow road. It did manage 65 mpg on Pennine roads which really isn’t bad…
Having parked got to the top in about 45 minutes, and unlike the first few times I did it I really didn’t notice the climb. I did notice the temperature, and today I needed hat, gloves and an extra layer - on the way up. Last week I activated the nearby Great Shunner Fell, without gloves and when I got home had to shower two dogs who brought a significant proportion of the hillside back with them..Today the ground was frozen so clean dogs!
Started on 2m, and qualified taking the pressure off a bit with the 4th contact being a nice S2S with John M0VAZ on Billinge Hill. After that 40m was working really well both locally and as far as Austria with another couple of continental S2S as well. Finally finished with an S2S with SV1RVJ on 21MHz.
Rig(s) FT270 on 2m with a Pole at about 5m and a KX2 barefoot into a linked dipole on 40m which also performed very well on 15m. The only noticeable interruption was someone asking if I was “alright”, I wonder if he thought I had been deafened by the barking Spaniel.
I have never bothered with a chair and just sat on the ground, and when I stood up having just been doing radio for 30 mins I discovered that I had given myself a “dead leg” and fell over. After a bit of medieval language my circulation returned and I started by staggering, and then walking down the hill.
I took a panoramic photo on the way up and have labelled the SOTA peaks I can identify (accuracy not guaranteed). If it was slightly clearer or I was slightly further up the hill I think there would be at least three more visible.
So Great Knoutberry G/NP-015. Fairly short walk, and normally muddy at the top. Some shelter by the wall at the top. Adequate car parking at 779880 and the access road is fine providing it is above freezing! Relatively quiet hill (In comparison with Ingleborough) with stunning views.
So what next - well a cunning one pointer needed next and then (following a visit to the Exxex CW Boot Camp) probably some sloppy cw at the summits. (Q - what is the morse abbreviation for woof from Woody?
73. Paul (Woody, Jet and an asthmatic Skoda)
(Zoom in for labels)
Jet - the quiet hound at the and of the walk..
PS Thanks again to all the chasers!