Weather and views need sharing from today’s escapade of 3 summits.
One down, gm/SS-128 Broughton Heights
Two more to go, this is sent on the walk to the next one
Hope to catch some of you there.
More later…
Alan in the snow and occasionally the sun.
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Lot of snow there. I know it’s 550m and I’m only 165m ASL but we had 2-5mm if that.
Really pleased to make the Penvalla contact on 40m Alan for the Complete. The snowy conditions reminded me of when Paul G4MD and I activated Trahenna, but the other two were clear of the white stuff as we did them all as singles combined with travel.
73, Gerald
When I read Broughton Loop, I thought you were describing a type of antenna.
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Glad I could help 
More to follow once I have sorted out some photos and warmed up.
Alan
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Great pictures Alan. With close friends living in Broughton village for many years, I’ve often walked those hills in my pre-SOTA days but never in such wintry, but beautiful, conditions. Looking forward to the next update. 73 Mike
I would need some “volunteers” to carry that in the hills!
A
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They are lovely hills with character… However… There is tree planting taking place in the “main” valley which will in my opinion, change them in a bad way. You will see some new deer fencing in a couple of pics which presumably defines the extent.
If you want to refresh your memory of them, go soon…
A
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Good advice. I’ll certainly try. 73 Mike
Thanks to all the chasers who made the day a success.
To clarify, the “Broughton Loop” is a group of 3 summits Broughton Heights GM/SS-128 ,GM/SS-145 and GM/SS-143. Done as a loop, the distance is circa 17km with 965m ascent if starting from the car park at Broughton Place. The house isn’t leaning - but obviously I was ha ha…
Condtions at home were 2cm of snow and very icey, there was one car neatly parked on a stone wall(!) en route to the start point in Broughton village. I elected to park in the village which added a couple of km to the day but I knew that the road up to the big house and carpark further on would be slippy - as it was, the most dangerous part of the day was negotiating the “well-polished” icy road on the way back! So total distance about 19km.
I did the loop clockwise so that the big distance was done early, and the descent was nice and simple in case I ran out of daylight, I activated Trahenna Hill earlier in the year, so the route was fresh in my mind.
The view on ascent was great once I was clear of the fog.
Looking east to the Moorfoots with GM/SS-87 and GM/SS-94
Brougton Heights finally in clear view on the right
Penvalla centre image from Broughton Heights
Operating site …
A good run on 2m and 40m with 18 in the log - @GI4SZW - sorry for mangling your callsign so badly !
Quick packup and off to Penvalla - this is about 4km distance but seemed much longer as there are several ups and downs to lull you into thinking you are doing OK…
Operations on Penvalla
No shelter at all - luckily only a light breeze, but that was enough to justify the big duvet jacket !
That’s an attempt at a smile…
Another good run of 2m, 10m, 20m, and finally 40m including S2S with @SV52RUJ on SV/TL-087 and good DX with Robert @AC1Z
View west from Penvalla with Tinto GM/SS-064
Then on to the last hill - by now I was flagging and running out of light - official sunset was 15:20 ish
Fortunately, clear skies meant no danger but a quick session on 2m to conclude the activations.
Here is the view from the Tranhenna descent, back up the valley towards Broughton Heights - (centre image) - colouring is a bit off, it was redder and darker than this in real life.
A pic of the new deer fencing that has been put up in the past couple of months…
So to conclude - huge thanks to all chasers !
I need to nudge a “quick deploy” HF antenna up the list of items to have and I probably need to untangle the counterpoise on the end fed…
A great day out!
Alan
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Well done.
The Broughton Loop is a well worthwhile trip, big enough to be a challenge but not too big to completely wreck you. I liked the bit from Broughton Heights to Penvella.
I would have liked to get out and work you but had to spend the day PAT testing (3 churches and a church hall) for an end of year inspection. A job I hate. I should have done it earlier in the year but kept putting it off.
73 de
Andrew G4VFL
Aye, an’ tha snow canna wipe a smile o’ the face o’ an activator… Paul G4MD on 60th birthday on Trahenna in February 2017.
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Brilliant thread! Talk about whetting everyone’s appetite for the winter bonus season here in the UK! Great job!
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