My previous understanding was that the Southern Upload Way west of Croft Head GM/SS-100 is blocked by trees and we were going to avoid that part of the Southern Upland Way as a result. I don’t believe there are any trees blocking the Southern Upload Way before the turn off for Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142 or on the track heading to the summit of Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142. I will have a look at the links though later.
Jimmy M0HGY
Hi Jimmy @M0HGY,
Have you guys thought about doing GM/SS-056 - Green Lowther 4pts, 732m?
I know it is the other side of the motorway from Moffat, but it isn’t far from there and would be a fairly easy 4 points, as the walk up is on paved road all the way. There is a nice museum in Wanlockhead, with ample free parking.
We activated it the other week, as our planned summit wasn’t suitable due to rain on the day. Green Lowther made a great plan-B on a wet day.
73, Simon
Hi Simon,
We have no plans to activate this SOTA trip on this trip, but this is one we will probably activate on a future trip sometime.
Jimmy M0HGY
Just seen some useful information on Hill Bagging regarding Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142 Mountain Search. Looks like the track from the Sourthern Upland to Coomb Cairn which is false summit you get to before Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142 is blocked by some fallen trees after the first harpin bend. However it appears that this can be negotiated by either going under the in the drainage ditch next to the track, cutting through the forest or walking beside the edge of the forest from the said harpin bend and then make your way onto the open moorland between Coomb Cairn and Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142 and then make your way to the summit.
Jimmy M0HGY
This upcoming GM/SS trip is now cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We hope to do this trip in the next month or so instead.
Jimmy M0HGY
Shame you wont be here. But maybe the WX will be better anyway in a month.
I noticed Andy that the wx in GM/SS next week isn’t too great so I am glad for that reason we decided to cancel the GM/SS trip for next week. Hopefully when we do the GM/SS trip, the wx will be better and you’ll have some more availability to join us for the linear walk that we previously discussed.
Jimmy M0HGY
Don’t worry for those wanting GM/SS summits that are infrequently activated. @G4VFL is hoping to be operating on the southern Kintyre peninsular. Ops Tue 28 to Fri 31 subject to Wx and the memsahib’s approval. Needless to say the bands will be 2m , 4m and 13cm.
Targets are:-
GM/SS-230
GM/SS-243
GM/SS-226
GM/SS-213
GM/SS-137
There may be others in North Kintyre.
73 de
Andrew G(M)4VFL
Nice little hills. I did them all on 2m SSB a few years ago. Got down to SE England on a few. I don’t use the database.
I was looking at the rain radar just earlier and I could see from this that the GM/SS area that me and my dad Tom @M1EYP were meant to be travelling to today was a complete wash out so good job, we decided to cancel this trip for that reason alone. Weather is looking very unsettled also, this upcoming Bank Holiday week for this area of GM/SS. We will do the trip to this area of GM/SS hopefully in a month or so when hopefully there will be better weather as well.
Jimmy M0HGY
Thanks for the Wainwright to SOTA today. Wx hasnt been brilliant in the Lake District, but was good to get out on them hills again.
Not a problem you spoke to a rare summit. It was last activated according to the database in 2012 however there may have been other activations that are not on the database. A tough session of bog and tussocks but not as bad as this afternoon on GM/SS-226.
A couple of rare summits tomorrow I hope. GM/SS-243 and GM/SS-230. I have a spare pair of boots with me so I can start aging with dry boots ! Looking at the forecast that might not last long.
(A change of plan as the day progressed. I went to GM/SS-230 and GM/SS-200, the XYL did the near walking on water to visit Davaar island, there is a causeway at low tide)
73 de
Andrew G(M)4VFL
Me and my dad Tom @M1EYP will now be doing our postponed GM/SS trip when Sunday 18th August until Friday 23rd August. This is hopefully if family circumstances at around this time don’t mean that we have to postpone the trip again. We had to cancel our trip that was due on the last week of May partly due to me having COVID19 the week before and partly due to the awful weather in GM/SS on the last week of May, but the maim reason for cancellation at that time was down to family circumstances. We will be staying at Tushielaw Inn once again on our upcoming GM/SS trip.
I plan to activate the SOTA summits on 2m FM with HF as backup and my dad plans to activate the SOTA summits on 10m CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4 and he has other HF bands and 2m FM as backup also. The plans may very well change depending on weather especially given the bad weather for most of this year so far and energy levels also.
Below are our current plans.
Sunday 18th August - Andrewhinney Hill GM/SS-083 at 1330 UTC. This could may well change as we are travelling to GM on this day and could even be earlier if my dad doesn’t have a gig the night before or his gig or local or early finish.
Monday 19th August - Broad Law GM/SS-029 at 1300 UTC.
Tuesday 20th August - Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142 at 1200 UTC and Croft Head GM/SS-100 at 1500 UTC. We are planning to activate these 2 SOTA summits as a linear walk with Andy @MM0FMF, I will drop him a private message later to see if he’s available on this say or one of the other days for this linear walk.
Wednesday 21st August - White Coomb GM/SS-030 at 1130 UTC.
Thursday 22nd August - Dun Rig GM/SS-052 at 1300 UTC.
Friday 23rd August - Hart Fell GM/SS-037 at 1300 UTC. Afterwards will we be travelling back home probably via a chippy in Moffat or Gretna for some Battered Haggis & Chips.
I have done loads of research for the above SOTA summits, but any useful information and route suggestions would be much appreciated.
Jimmy M0HGY
Good luck this time Jimmy
Now I have a much improved Chaser Station , I am hoping to get some of them Scottish Hills from your Dad on HF?
And please can we have pics of your food in your usual report? Especially the Battered Haggis.
Tony
You’re just trying to get me in trouble again… 
Now would I do that, plus you don’t need me to get you into trouble.
You taught me that back in the day, each report had to have the menu from the summit or local cafes/pubs that you ate in.
I distinctly remember the various strange Soup concoctions you and Jimmy had.
It’s a tradition that we can’t just stop because someone shouts at us surely??
your humble servant, Tony
We will definitely be having some battered haggis and chips from a Scottish Chippy Tony before travelling home and I am sure they’ll be a photo of this. Probably very likely this time through that we’ll forgo the deep fried mars bar. We will probably be having a full cook Scottish breakfast most morning that include haggis, lorne sausage and tattie scones. I am sure that one of the evening meals at Tushielaw Inn which is where we are staying will be their famous Pork & Haggis Burger which is one of our favourite meals at this in.
As we are staying at a country pub there are no facilities there for us to warm up soup and I think asking the staff their if we could use their kitchen to warm up our soup and asking them to warm our soup might be asking for a bit too much and may well refuse on both counts. The staff are very friendly at Tushielaw Inn, but it’s probably best we avoid asking them anything with regards to warming up soup.
Jimmy M0HGY
Very nice, thanks Jimmy, I knew you wouldn’t let me down.
Whenever I have been in Scotland, I have always washed my Haggis down with a Double dram of 12 year old Glenfiddich (it was my dads Favourite Whisky when he could afford it)
Good luck and I hope to get you both up there at least from 1 of the summits
Tony
Tushielaw Inn which is where we are staying usually provide some complimentary whisky in our rooms.
Jimmy M0HGY
I would now like to explain the full reason as to why me and my dad Tom @M1EYP’s trip to GM was postponed from the last week of May until next week. As you all know already, parts of our reason for postponing our GM/SS trip was due to me being poorly with COVID19 the week before and also the horrible wx in GM/SS on the last week of May also. These however were not the main reasons for why we had to postpone our GM/SS trip though, my uncle (my dad Tom M1EYP’s brother) was poorly with cancer and just before we were due to travel to GM/SS, my uncle felt very poorly and that was our main reason for postponing the GM/SS trip. Soon afterwards though, my uncle started to feel better though. We knew however that my uncle’s cancer was terminal as he received a 6 to 9 month prognosis in August 2023, but due to my uncle’s positive attitude about this and being open about this all to his family and friends, he was able to live beyond the 6 to 9 month prognosis. More recently, my uncle was not feeling as poorly as to what he has been earlier this year, and both me and my dad told my uncle the dates that we’d now be in GM/SS and we told him that if he was feeling very poorly before our trip that we would postpone again. However, my uncle told me and my dad this time that we were to go ahead with the GM/SS trip even if he was feeling very poorly because he had loads of support from his wider family and from his friends as well. However on Wednesday 7th August (5 days ago), my uncle unexpectedly sadly passed away and this was a shock to us all. My uncle was only 51 when he sadly passed away, but he had a very great life and I was proud to have him as both my uncle and my godfather as well.
Me and my dad Tom M1EYP will still be going ahead with the GM/SS trip next week because my uncle told everyone that no one was to cancel their plans at all following his death. Our SOTA activation plans remain the same as my above post and the alerts that I posted as well. However, plans could change depending on the wx (long term forecast looks to be unsettled at present) and energy levels also. We are hoping to activate Scaw’d Fell GM/SS-142 and Croft Head GM/SS-100 as a linear walk if Andy @MM0FMF, Jack @GM4COX or Paul @W6PNG/M0SNA would like to join us as that there is at least one car at both ends of the walk, we are planning to activate both these SOTA summits on Tuesday 20th August, but this could change depending on wx and peoples availability as well.
Jimmy M0HGY