This is a report on my expedition to the north of Ireland to activate one of the last lonely summits on mainland UK&I.
I’ve been riding bikes a long way for many years and I like to set a goal each summer. With a new love of SOTA it was obvious this year’s trip should include an activation. I thought of stringing some GM/ peaks together although I rode to the top of Scotland last year so fancied a change. I saw that I could ride to the second highest summit in the Netherlands in a day but alas the ferry costs hundreds of pounds even with just a bicycle.
I was surprised to find that most of UK & I had been activated at least once, except for 14 in the far south-west of Ireland (EI/IS) and a solitary peak near the top of Ireland. All of mainland England, Wales and Scotland have been conquered. This seemed a great focus for a trip.
I drove up to Cairnryan and took the morning ferry to Larne. A two hour crossing which was surprisingly empty. The reason it seems is that travelling through Northern Ireland during 12th July parades is ‘unwise’. With parades in every village and town my route took me through, the blocked roads added a good chunk to the 106 miles originally planned.
Here is my transport with panniers that convert to a rucksack ready for the final mile. 75% of the load is rig and mast etc.
After ninety miles I reached the border after crossing the Peace Bridge in Londonderry/Derry
By 8pm I reached my hotel near Milford and rested with a pint of Guinness whilst wondering how I can reduce the weight of my setup.
Next day was just a ten kilometre ride to Knockalla. The summit is on a small ridge near the town of Carrowkeel. It isn’t named or signposted. There are no signs that people walk here a lot with a few online reports of folk going to the mountain lake (Knockalla Lough). With no paths in place it is a case of getting through heather by the easiest way. For me, the road that leads up from the east seemed easiest. Tarmac until the last km. The right most ‘notch’ in the ridge in the below pic.
The temptation is to follow the track that leads to the lake but I found that didn’t help. In the 3D image below you can see the straight line of the road (tarmac is half way up). It turns into a rough track up to the lake. The lack of visitors meant there is no path to follow on the hill so you may as well cut directly from the track to the summit (roughly west). From tarmac to summit is about 1km.
At the top, what is a plain summit with no features, provides breathtaking views in all directions. Below points NW to the Atlantic and Greenland. This would be an excellent trans-atlantic event location.
Here we have a magnificent view of a Sotabeams trapped dipole with a not too bad view behind.
Activation
A Sotabeams 20m/40m trapped dipole with Xiegu 6200 running 5w. 6m pole.
I was blessed with a mini pileup as a started with 20m QRS CW. In part because there were a lot of European activations at the same time. Several S2S and plenty of phone contacts even though I was using an internal mike on a low quality rig (Xeigu). Maybe propagation was kind or perhaps the location is excellent because with just 5w I had no issues filling a log book until the relentless sun started to get the better of me.
I failed to use 2/70 due to rig battery failure. I was sad to have carried slim-J and rig on a 250 mile ride for little use.
If you are in the area this is a very accessible summit with just 1km of steep walking through heather. Likely very boggy in winter.
Recommended cafe: The Narrow Quarter in CarrowKeel