Family holiday in Arran and a chance to have a sneaky quick activation, or so I thought. Space was limited with the upper part of the boot full of Spaniels, and the lower part of the boot Toyota’s battery system,so just one radio rucksack was taken which was not packed as carefully as it should have been……
Tighvein (GM/SI-084) seemed to be an easy walk from the holiday cottage in Lamlash so complete with youngest daughter we set out - she is busy training for a D of E expedition.
After walking 2km along the road we reached the start of the walk at Dyemill Forestry Commission, and the plan started to go adrift. The first problem was that the walk planned from the map was actually a downhill part of a bike circuit and not a footpath, so after a bit of fussing around we found an alternative route only to be met with a “Path Closed” notice explaining that the route was impassable due to fallen trees near Urie Loch. Apparently I appeared to be in a quandary and one of the locals explained that there was a sort of path through the trees which was passable if determined…
So we headed up. We did get through the trees on what started as a footpath and finished as bashing through dense woodland. On to the summit but the bashing through the woodland brought us out some 600m N of the original route. Once out of the trees it didn’t really get easier, the mist came down and the walking was mostly heather with some areas of bog, that horrible feeling of walking on something not dissimilar to a pudding skin.
Found the summit trig and set up, to discover the HF antenna was conveniently located some 200 miles away, but thankfully made 4 contacts on 2m. Thanks to the chasers and Jack for the spot.
The descent was - well about the same but downhill, and we managed to find a slightly better path through the woods.
Fingers crossed for good wx for Goat Fell on Friday - this will only be 2m as I can’t find a way of improvising an antenna. ( I did carry the elecraft BNC to 4mm adapter but don’t have the with me either so can’t really make a compromise antenna for my KX2 )
For anyone else contemplating the walk follow the footpath to Urie Loch then follow a diversion arrow which takes you out to a steep heather slope at 003289 and from there it is (just) a case of bashing through the heather and peat to the summit.