An opportunity arose for a couple of days in G/LD to wander about on hills. Maps and lists were studied and a cluster of summits in the north west corner were identified as candidates. Due to winter-time short days, I elected to travel south (only 100+ miles) and stay overnight so as to have the longest daylight possible without starting out very early in the morning. That obviously lead to an activation “slot” being available on the previous afternoon as I traveled south!
12/12/24 GM/SS-158 Black Mount is not so far off route and would be a new summit for me. I parked on the north side of the hills per Andy’s suggestion and broadly followed the ascent route given by him. The day was slightly foggy and cold so that the trees and bushes en-route were covered in frost/ice and very nice to look at … from inside the car… it was bitter cold outside the car even though the temperature was only about 0 degrees C, a light wind enough to cause that.
As I got higher the fog thickened and visibilty at the summit was poor - about 15m I guessed!
Selfspot on 2m brought in 8 QSOs in 18 minutes and that was enough! I could still feel all my fingers and toes but thought it prudent to get down on the road again.
The route up was via a gently rising track then a very steep section and then a more gentle slope to the trig point. The route down was basically “go north” this takes you down a spine with a pretty constant gradient and good walking downhill and no difficulty crossing the stream at the bottom - maybe harder work going up hill as the path is not so well defined and you would be bashing through grass and heather more. I will try that another time and compare.
So to the Lakes - grand plan was G/LD-031 Blake Fell and G/LD-036 Mellbrek on the Friday and G/LD-042 Low Fell on the Saturday before heading home.
13/12/24
A sensible start time saw me at Maggie’s Bridge car park at about 8:10 so on time(ish) - saddled up and headed up past High Nook Farm - the first couple of kilometres are a gentle bimble, then once you are warmed up and enjoying the views, a steep section brings you back to reality! I had set off in clear sky although the forecast was for mist and fog - there were misty patches to give some photogenic views…
Looking back north west with Low Fell in view.
The final stretch up to Blake Fell afforded nice views to the south and west but with fog rolling in …
That was the last of the clear view on Blake Fell - I set up in the small shelter and called on 2m - Reg @2E0LDF was back almost instantly and good to “get started”. Andrew @G4VFL was next and then a few more nice qsos at gentle pace 7 in the log .
By this time the mist/fog had made everything wet so I packed up ready for moving on. 2 other pairs of people arrived around then, did the usual “touch the top” and got away quickly.
Off to Mellbrek … total route between summits is 7km more or less, with a decent percentage of that being “soft” going - my feet were very wet as a result - even where paths are marked they seemed conspicuous by their absence…
The summit of Mellbrek is surprising soggy too - there was a flatish lump of bare rock about 1.5m square and that was selected as the operating point! I spread out my white sheet (so if I drop things, I can find them again is the theory - also keeps my … trousers dryer) and got active.
Just a couple of 2m qsos this time Reg again and Lee @M0LLC . [ I asked advice on the descent route from both Reg and a couple who appeared with a dog - they had come up the north “nose” of the hill - there is a path marked but it is obviously very steep!! I had been able to see some of it when I started out in the morning and didn’t really fancy it with a heavy pack and tired legs… Discretion prevailed and I came down off the “side” of the hill - a more gentle route and then a valley walk to finish]
With only 2 in the log, I set up on HF and ventured on to 40m , goodness me! it was hard to find a sliver of bandwidth and where I ended up I was only partially successful in having a slot - sorry to all who reported QRM from adjacent stations - 5W is always going to suffer against big guns - huge thanks to all who persevered and got through! 
A total of 17 40m qsos arrived pretty fast and furious.
Aware the light situation, I wrapped up then and headed down - all the gear was soaked too, I had the radio tucked into the rucksack and the tablet I used to record qsos (VKPortalog ftw) was not enjoying the gentle mist/wet either…
The view south from Mellbrek just before I entered the summit murk.
Made it back to the car safely.
14/12/24
G/LD-042 Low Fell
Reg had mentioned about joining me on Low Fell, so of course I encouraged that and followed his suggestion as to parking spot and would use his route up. As it happened, driving into the tiny village of Thackwhaite, I saw a gentleman with a rucksack and a white pole sticking out of it - wind car window down “You’ll be Reg then” “And you’ll be Alan” excellent timing and good to see him.
I parked up while Reg tackled the first part of the ascent.
(All photos below courtesy of Reg - I forgot to take any!)
Me climbing the first slope…
We soon got chatting and the walk up passed in no time at all - unfortunately so did the view - Reg assures me that Low Fell gives the nicest view in LD - bold claim, but we got glimpses of it from time to time and I can see why he likes it.
I’d brought along my tarp today so that we could hide if the fog thickened and/or it was windy - as it was there was just a gentle breeze right at the summit, so we set up just down from that.
It’s always interesting to see others’ setups. Reg was set up for 2m in seconds it seemed! He has a vertical on a roach-pole which is all wired up for quick deploy, so he was ready for action!
I dithered about as usual and then we posted a spot and started calling.
5 2m FM qsos including one to a fishing boat (inland waterway) - thanks!
As I set up for HF the summit was visited by a “birthday party walk” of about 13 people…
As usual, we were asked what we were doing - one chap had seen SOTA/WOTA before - I did the usual chat and got the usual question about “how far?” “Australia and back round again sometimes…” was met with some incredulity…
Anyway, photos were taken for and of them and we got on with trying to slot in somewhere on a busy 40 again. Maybe slightly less QRM this time, but still a struggle so after 6 qsos - we ventured on to 17m, more in hope than expectation TBH but let’s give it a try …
When tuning around, I stumbled on an “N2…” call, but he never heard me returning.
Found a slot, made a post and then had a good run with some familiar callers from the continent, then clear as a bell “VK5CZ” - yay Thanks Ian @VK5CZ - my first VK qso - shame “the crowd” had moved on by then otherwise I would have called them over! Rig: FT-817 barefoot - 5W to end fed at 6m.
12 qsos on 17m and the rate dropped to zero. No matter - the day was a success in many aspects - a new hill activated for me, good contacts, first VK and, most importantly, good to meet up with Reg - we have had a good few qsos when I have been down in the lakes and also when I’ve been out of southern Scottish hills so good to meet and also discovered shared interest outside of radios.
Here I am sending a spot while Reg takes photos… 
Low Fell - a most enjoyable hill and would be fantastic for a summer evening venture. Definitely one to repeat.
Thanks for reading and for all the contacts.
Alan
