Thursday 3rd July 2025
The week I recently spent on Skye was first and foremost a holiday, the island being firmly on my wife’s bucket list. Radio would only be a bonus if time permitted. As it turned out, the weather limited both the sightseeing and the opportunities for activating.
I hadn’t been on the island since 1965, when as a 13 year old I accompanied my brother and three of his college mates on a climbing holiday. Back then we managed quite a few peaks in the Cuillins. We had travelled up from Nottinghamshire in an Austin Mini… guess who got the short straw and had to sit in the middle of the back seat. Well, I was just under 12 stones (75kg) and the others out-ranked me in terms of weight and seniority. Travelling to the island this year was absolute luxury by comparison. We weren’t of course heading for the Cuillins… I just had a number of lower summits in my sights, but would I manage to activate any?
The sight-seeing went reasonably okay. Skye was awash with tourists. Travel was painfully slow, especially on the single track roads and even on the main roads the mass of slow rented campervans slowed progress. By the time we had seen what we wanted to see each day, it was a case of heading back to our accommodation for a late evening meal. As a result, an opportunity for activating did not present itself until the Thursday. It was raining in the morning, but a short weather window in the afternoon allowed us to visit the Fairy Pools not far from where we were staying. Afterwards I dropped my wife back at the accommodation and set off for the nearby summit of Arnaval, GM/SI-128. This summit was less than three miles away from our accommodation and we could see its flank. However, a direct approach would have been complicated and hard going, so a slow six mile drive was required to get to a better starting point to the south of the summit.
The An Huranan escarpment hiding the summit from the road
I had read the report on the activation by Martyn M1MAJ and Caroline M3ZCB, so I decided to use the same quarry parking spot (NG338306) and access route. On leaving the road to ascend north towards the summit, a narrow path alongside the Allt a’ Bhathaich (stream) can be seen. This was quite useful until the stream turned west and the best route seemed to be to skirt right around an outcrop and head towards the Na Huranan escarpment. From this point there was no evidence of a route on the ground and I had to cross tussocky ground to reach the base of the escarpment where it was necessary to turn left. Once around the end of the escarpment, the route heads north where the upper section of the stream can be easily crossed. The ground was rather boggy and wet after the rain, so I was pleased to have decent boots, waterproof trousers and more importantly, gaiters.
In the mist… the summit is the left grey lump in the background
Almost there
It always amazes me how it can be misty and windy at the same time. Several times the weather caused me to stop to check that I was heading towards the unseen summit and eventually it appeared out of the mirk. At the summit it was very windy, so after taking a couple of photos, I decided to seek shelter lower down on the north-eastern side where it was rather pleasant by comparison. Just a light breeze to keep the midges away.
The meagre summit cairn
My intention was to start on 40m SSB, but the band was very crowded with early evening traffic. I eventually found a reasonably clear frequency and was able to post my frequency. Denis MW0CBC was first into the log at 17:51z followed by Alex GM5ALX, Simon GM4JXP and Chris 2M0RVZ, three of the Aberdeen guys. I made just one more QSO with Nigel 2E0CKA before a strange helicopter type noise came up forcing me to find a new frequency. Next into log was my best friend Paul G4MD, followed by Don G0RQL, Don GW0PLP, Tim G5OLD, Michael EI3GYB and Chris F4WBN. Great support from SOTA regulars.
I changed mode to CW and was quickly called by Kjell LA1KHA/P on Holtankollen LA/TM-049 for a most unexpected S2S. Robert M0RWX and Andy MW0AXD were the only other callers on CW, so I decided to move to 30m. Here there was more action, with Jarek SP9MA and then Jukka OH3GZ heading a steady run of 11 contacts. Time was now getting on and so I decided to try 2m FM just using my small Standard C710 handheld. This produced two contacts with Paul MM6ELW and John MM6OEC on the Isle of Lewis, but no-one else. In hindsight I should have set up for 2m using the 817, linear and beam, but visibility was worsening, so I decided to call it a day and went QRT at 19:14z.
Operating position, perched on the side of the summit lump
I took a couple of bearings on the descent to check I was heading in the right direction, retracing my steps with a few minor deviations to reach the car at 20:07z. A quick change of footwear and I headed off back to our accommodation where spicy chicken Fajita wraps awaited me. One summit down and another possibility for tomorrow… but unfortunately the weather put paid to that as Friday was a complete washout. Oh well, maybe a return to Skye might be on my SOTA bucket list in due course.
Looking along An Huranan on the descent
Many thanks for all the SOTA regulars that came on to work me. When I put my log on the database, I was really pleased to see a high percentage of my contacts were with chasers that had already logged their contacts. For me that is what SOTA is all about.
73, Gerald
