You can try and see if you can squeeze in there… normally it’s full when I’ve been.
So park here at NT143200 which is 790m West of the might Megget Stone and there’s loads of space. Easy parking and 13mins more walking.
(c) Google Maps
(c) Google Maps
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This Andy is actually the parking spot we are planning to use for when we walk up White Coomb GM/SS-030. We and my dad Tom @M1EYP looked in detail of Grey Mare’s Trail route and your route. We decided that although your route is a longer walk than the Grey Mare’s Trail route, we found that your route less less ascent and no difficult fords to cross so your route won.
Jimmy M0HGY
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Morning Jimmy (Tom),
That’s a fair walk to White Comb - there and back, bye far the best option is to park at the NTS carpark at the Grey Mare’s Tail (which I think you have used in the past?). And with the ‘lowish’ rainfall during March the burn crossing at NT180152 should be fairly easy to negotiate.
And as per your (separate) email re joining you at ‘Tushie’s’ - Alan MM0VPM is out activating summits on Arran next week and a few of us are Chasing him on 13cms (GM13). However let me look at possible SS Summits closer to Tushie’s from which I might be able to Chase him.
And good luck (to us all) with this nice spell of wx. And I agree with you, wx in Scotland is usually better earlier in the year. The best I find is April/May - vegetation growth hasn’t really ‘kicked-in’ and nae midges, flies, flying ants, clegs!!! Likewise September/October.
73
Jack(;>J
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That’s what I thought till I ended up somewhat damp all over 
Luckily it was on the return to the car.
The classic route is 6km and 620m of ascent from the NTS car park and the route from the North is 7.2km and 485m of ascent. My walking times in the computer say they both take the same time!
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I would be faster on the north route with 1.2km extra of distance and 135m less of ascent. No computer required - just my own experience.
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Me and my dad Tom @M1EYP nearly did walk up White Coomb GM/SS-030 Jack via the Grey Mare’s Trail. However, we arrived at this NTS carpark and I even paid for a parking ticket, but only to be advised from an NTS volunteer that the ford would be no way crossable due all the recent rainfall at the time. Due to this, money was wasted on a parking ticket and we started to think about alternative options. We did briefly consider Broad Law SS-029, but it was very badly windy on this day so we decided to stay low and activate Gooseland Hill GM/SS-203 and Lamington Hill GM/SS-172 instead.
On the way to Gooseland Hill GM/SS-203, we actually passed the Broad Law GM/SS-029 parking spot at Megget Stone and just behind there, we crossed over a bridge to which afterwards there was a corner in the road which a path leaves from. We stopped that this over briefly to get some photos of the Talla Reservoir. It was a few months later that we found out that this path leaving this corner of the road is the start point of Andy @GM4LLD’s route from the north to White Coomb GM/SS-030 (the “official” parking spot for this is actually the other side of the bridge and up the road a little bit. Both me and my dad have found longer walking distance with less ascent involved easier than shorter walking distance with more ascent involved from our experiences.
On the day we were meant to activate White Coomb GM/SS-030, but we ended up activating Gooseland Hill GM/SS-203 and Lamington Hill GM/SS-172 instead, I think given the very strong wind on this day, we did the correct thing by staying low. The wind was so strong on Gooseland Hill GM/SS-203 that I had an absolute nightmare setting my MFD, this wind probably would have been even worse on White Coomb GM/SS-030.
You do make a valid point about the recent dry spell meaning that the ford of the Grey Mare’s Trail for White Coomb GM/SS-030 will be easier to cross. I am pleased to see that so far that the weather forecast is looking good for our upcoming GM/SS trip and I hope the weather forecast stays like this throughout this trip.
I understand that you’ll be activating a GM/SS SOTA summit near Tushielaw Inn to chaser some 13cm completes, you are welcome to join us on one of our planned GM/SS for a joint SOTA activation. Alternatively, you can meet us for a meal or drink one evening at Tushielaw Inn.
Jimmy M0HGY
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I did Beinn Ime yesterday which is out at Cowal. What surprised is the number of road closures taking place in parts of Scotland right now for resurfacing works. There were plenty of overnight closures out along the A82/A83 that are needed because there is really no other way to work on the roads… volume of traffic and all these damn SOTA summits and lochs that means no alternative routes available. There were plenty of closures announced for motorway slip roads and works also around Stirling.
OK you are not going there but it looks like Councils are spending up their budgets for road repairs as the financial years closes. I would strongly suggest you check TrafficScotland website and then the various council websites to see if there are any closures likely to affect your chosen targets. If you know now you can make accommodations.
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Thanks Andy.
The only thing affecting my Tushielaw trip last week was getting out of Edinburgh at rush hour. Such a task is not on next week’s agenda, so fingers crossed all will be well!
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“the burn crossing at NT180152 should be fairly easy”
It was easy on the way up as I went a bit further up but went on my nelly on way back trying to be clever.
Here are the 3 Paisley Amateur Radio Club guys you worked S2S on Sunday.
The Goon Platoon. 
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In the end, after much to-ing and fro-ing, we opted for the longer walk-in from the Meggets/Talla valley. A long walk it was too - 3 hours up and 2.5 hours down - including several significant rest stops.
Hard work at times under another full day of blazing sunshine. My jacket has yet to emerge from the rucksack this week.
Once up the initial climb, which took about an hour, it was then a long ridge walk over a series of interconnecting ridges in a zigzag pattern. A good route; just under 10 miles round trip.
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Thanks for the chasing me on EA8/GC-005 today, a superb 10m S2S and was great to hear an MM pop out the noise. GM/SS-052 Dun Rig
It’s the first time 10m has started to play ball this week, conditions haven’t been great.
G5OLD-5
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Yeah great stuff Tim. It’s been a S2S extravaganza this week in GM. Some activations I’ve made over 15 S2S, and every day there’s been 2m FM S2S activity up here!
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This is me and my dad Tom @M1EYP’s first Tushielaw Inn trip where we have been successful on activating all our planned alerted SOTA summits and me qualifying them all on 2m FM also. This is due to the good weather this week and also due to the high amount of GM SOTA 2m FM activity this week also. Usually weather on these trips is not good and not much GM SOTA 2m FM activity either. Currently descending Blackhope Scar GM/SS-094.
Jimmy M(M)0HGY
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Anyway, for the very first time, Jimmy has hit his Tushielaw trip targets.
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Actually do every activation that we posted an alert for prior to setting off. We’ve never achieved that before - but this time we have.
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Jimmy to qualify every activation on 2m FM. He’s got close before, but this is the first Tushielaw SOTA trip where he’s got 4 or more 2m FM QSOs on every activation.
Should be a grumble-free journey back down the M6 - provided we find a chippy serving battered haggis on the way over to the A74(M).
Right, now to do the last bit of descent of GM/SS-094 - another gruelling walk this has been!
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Looks like Jimmy and I have just effectively posted the same news to SOTAwatch while taking a short rest!!
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Here’s a round up from the first of two planned MM trips this year:
Summits:
Hart Fell GM/SS-037
Broad Law GM/SS-029
White Coomb GM/SS-030
Dun Rig GM/SS-052
Windlestraw Law GM/SS-087
Blackhope Scar GM/SS-094
These were all new uniques for both of us.
Additionally, I activated Cacra Hill GM/SS-179 for the Thursday evening 6m contest - alone. Jimmy was busy activating the bar at Tushielaw Inn while I was doing this - but he did work me on his 2m FM handheld for a cheeky chaser point!
MM1EYP/P 164 QSOs:
40m CW: 16
40m SSB: 10
30m CW: 1
20m CW: 65
20m SSB: 29
17m CW: 2
10m SSB: 1
6m SSB: 23
2m FM: 17
S2S: 46
MM0HGY/P 69 QSOs
20m SSB: 8
10m SSB: 1
2m FM: 60
S2S: 24
20m was definitely the “money band” on this trip, but Jimmy had his best GM trip yet in terms of 2m FM activity. In fact there was 2m FM S2S opportunities every day of our trip - which didn’t include a Saturday - so really good fun.
Other radio activity occurred on the Monday night when I drove up a high point on the road over to Hawick in order to participate in the RSGB 80m CW Club Contest. Using just 5 watts from the FT-817 into a SOTAbeams Bandhopper 4, and a Mini Palm Paddle (usual wkg condx for this for me is 100w from FT-991A at home, connected to PC running N1MM+ and F-key CW macros) I made 67 QSOs - which was a pleasant surprise to say the least!
Fellow activators will be interested to know that the Tushielaw Inn is under new ownership after Alan and Sharon left to take over the Templehall Hotel in Morebattle. The new owners Annette and Duncan are excellent, and really easy-going friendly people. They have come from running a place in Dolgellau, so experienced at dealing with the needs of avid hillwalkers!
Early breakfast, late dinner, etc, all no problem. The breakfast is much more like an English breakfast than a Scottish breakfast now, but still a very nice start to the day! It’s still a great place and we’re looking forward to our next trip there in June.
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Congratulations on ticking off some of the more challenging summits in the area - most of which are still on our ‘to do’ list. 
Glad you got some decent weather at last and timed your return so well. Very interested in your White Coomb route but it looks rather long to me - I would (theoretically!) prefer the climb but not the crossing of the beck.
Hope you have a good time at Norbreck and meet up with some ‘jolly’ interesting activators!
73 Viki
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Earlier this year I booked 2 trips to Tushielaw Inn for me and my dad Tom @M1EYP for Sunday 6th April till Friday 11th April and also Sunday 22nd June till Friday 27th June. I made these bookings with the previous Tushielaw Inn owners who at the time were in the process of leaving Tushielaw Inn to take on The Temple Hall Hotel in Morebattle. Shortly after I have made these bookings, my dad got booked to go a gig in Ayr in Saturday 28th June and a gig in Glasgow in Sunday 29th June and due to this I booked us both Friday 29th June as an extra night for us at Tushielaw Inn and again this booking was made with the previous owners.
When we did our Sunday 6th April till Friday 11th April trip to Tushielaw Inn, the new owners had taken over and we enjoyed our stay there under the new owners. Even better was that we had on this trip an excellent spell of good weather meaning that all our planed SOTA activations for this trip went ahead for once. However, it was during this trip my dad found out that he was no longer booked to do the gig in Ayr on Saturday 28th June and Glasgow on Sunday 29th June (I am not going into further details on here as to why this) and as a result, we had to cancel Friday 27th June as our extras nights stay at Tushielaw Inn which we managed to successfully do with the new owners.
We were looking forward to our Sunday 22nd June till Friday 27th June trip to Tushielaw Inn, however earlier this month I received a message from one of the previous Tushielaw Inn owners to say that all of a sudden, the new owners of Tushielaw Inn decided to leave and as a result, Tushielaw Inn would be closing completely from the end of May. We contacted the new owners of Tushielaw Inn to check if this was actually the case and they confirmed sadly this was case so very sadly Tushielaw Inn will soon be no more. Me, my dad and quite a few other SOTA activators have had plenty of excellent stays at Tushielaw Inn over the years so is very sad that Tushielaw Inn is no longer a place to stay for SOTA activators.
Me and my dad have quite a few SOTA uniques to activate in the Langholm area, so I have booked The Eskdale Hotel in Langholm for me and my dad to stay at from Sunday 22nd June till Friday 27th June. I have placed the alerts on SOTAwatch already, but I will mention our SOTA plans below also (all times below are in UTC unless stated otherwise). I plan to activate these SOTA summits on 2m FM and my dad plans to activate these SOTA summits on 40m CW, 40m SSB, 20m CW, 20m SSB and 2m FM, we hope to make plenty of contacts from the SOTA summits.
Sunday 22nd June - Larriston Fell GM/SS-161 at 1300. As my dad has a gig in Wolverhampton the night before that finishes at 11:30pm (BST), we won’t be able to make our usual early start, but looking to set off at around 7am (BST) which is only an hour later than we would usually set off. This SOTA summit is the only GM SOTA summit where part of the activation zone is in G (England). However, for this hill the entire walk and activation itself will be in GM (Scotland) as we plan to park at on the B6357 at Dinlabyre and walk up the track from there to the transmitter and then walk on the moorland from there to the trig point.
Monday 23rd June - Roan Fell GM/SS-132 at 1100. We plan to park on the road at the start of that track to Twislehope. We will then walk on the track from the road to Twislehope and then follow the tracks from Twislehope to the summit.
Tuesday 24th June - Pikethaw Hill GM/SS-136 at 1200 and Wisp Hill GM/SS-118 at 1500. We are planning to activate these 2 SOTA summits as a circular walk and I am aware that most SOTA activators when activating these 2 SOTA summits will park on the A7 near the track to Eweslees Farms. However, I understand that parking there is limited to either the bride on the south side of the A7 as parking is prohibited on the bridge on the north side of the A7 or the layby that is a bit further up the A7. I have heard various reports with regards to the farmer at Eweslees Farm, some of which describe him as a very friendly farmer and some of describe him as a very nasty GOML. I have spotted on the OS Map a longer circular route for these 2 SOTA summits, but with less ascent involved which starts and finishes at a cattle grid on a minor road very near to the River Teviot. The parking there looks at lot better than the parking on the A7 and on recent OS 1:25,000 mapping, I have noticed that there is a track that goes from this parking spot, makes its way up Haggis Side and ends only just before the final ascent to the summit of Pikethaw Hill GM/SS-136. The traverse from Pikethaw Hill GM/SS-136 to Wisp Hill GM/SS-118 looks straight forward enough by following the fence from Pikethaw Hill GM/SS-136 down to the col at Ewes Doors and then continue to follow the fence up to the summit of Wisp Hill GM/SS-118. Afterwards, you would continue to follow the fence and although there is some re-ascent to get onto Comb Hill, there is a track to follow all the way from the transmit at Comb Hill back to the parking spot. Both me and my dad prefer the look of the longer circular walk from the northwest rather than the shorter circular walk from the southeast given that parking looks easier, there is less ascent and also avoid the farmer Eweslees Farm who may potentially be a GOML. However, if anyone has had any recent interactions with the farmer at Ewesless Farm, I would appreciate knowing what the recent situation is with him.
Wednesday 25th June - Ellson Fell GM/SS-146 at 1030. We are looking to use Martyn @M1MAJ’s and Caroline @M3ZCB’s route the this one by parking near Glenrief and making the steep ascent of up the grassy track on the spur of Castlewink and then following what looks like a sort of ridge to the summit of Ellson Fell GM/SS-146.
Thursday 26th June - Greatmoor Hill GM/SS-114 at 1200 and Cauldcleuch Head GM/SS-106 at 1500. I have look at the various routes for these 2 SOTA summits and I know that most activators activator these 2 SOTA summits by doing a very long circular walk, starting and finishing at Braidlie. I also that that Andy @GM4LLD activated these 2 as a circular walk starting and finishing at Priesthaugh, but he described that as a horrible circular walk. I like the look of Andy @G4VFL’s route starting at Whitrope Railway Centre (something that my train enthusiast friend Edward @2E0NSR would certainly be interested in), walking through the firebreak in the forest and then walking by the fences to the summit of Greatmoor Hill GM/SS-114. I then noticed that Andy G4VFL went onto Cauldcleuch Head GM/SS-106 from Greatmoor Hill GM/SS-114 by descending Starcleuch Edge and then ascending Windy Edge and then he went back over Greatmoor Hill GM/SS-114 and then back to Windrope Railway Centre. I have seen reports also on Walk Highlands of routes to Cauldcleuch Head GM/SS-106 from Billhope and due to this me and my dad were thinking about activating these 2 SOTA summits as a linear walk by starting at Windrope Railway Centre and end at Billhope, but this is providing that a SOTA activator is willing to do this linear walk with us so that there is a car at both the start point and end point of this walk. Therefore me and my dad were wondering if anyone would be interested in joining us to activate these 2 SOTA summits to make the linear walk possible?
Friday 27th June - This is the day we travel home and we have not made any SOTA plans for day day yet because there is a good chance that the above may not go to plan. This could be due to some days of bad weather which unfortunately I think is likely given that the recent long spell of good weather has now deteriorated and the overall weather outlook for June is looking to be very unsettled, especially and the northwestern areas of the UK. Another reason as to why the above may not go to plan is if no SOTA activators are unwilling to join us for Greatmoor Hill GM/SS-114 and Cauldcleuch Head GM/SS-106 to make the linear walk possible and another possible reason might be that there is a very slight possibly that we may not be able to activate both Pikethaw Hill GM/SS-136 and Wisp Hill GM/SS-118 on the same day if time is against us to activate both of the circular walk we have planned for these 2 SOTA summits.
Jimmy M0HGY
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Quite horrific! A bit like a poor man’s Sighty Crag from the temporary Radar car park to the trig. Flatter, drier and fewer leg breaking opportunities. If you are feeling daft, you can wander the long way so you are located in England and sign M0HGY from GM/SS-161 
Hartsgarth Fell is where the hardcore track used to end. From there there is a 900m walk to Roan Fell summit. Hartsgarth Fell is in the AZ. When you see the ground between the two and you realise you don’t have your bogsnorkelling suit and flippers, you’ll operate from near the end of the track
Reasonably OK. It’s quite jolly compared with some summits in the area.
I would fake a posh Home Counties accent and tell him where to shove his unenforceable parking restrictions. He’ll accept your authority with due grace then. Your circular walk looks somewhat massive just to avoid a GOML when you are not parking on his land. Well maybe you will both have your rocket shorts and hover boots with you so it will be easier. I’d be wanting the shortest route possible especially if it’s been averagely wet.
This one was reasonably pleasant even on a windy, damp day. On a good day it should be enjoyable. Unlike many around here.
Hmmm… don’t take my route back through the forest. There must 11 years forest growth since I did and it was “challenging” then!
Windy Edge is fine, but it’s the bottomless bog between it and Swire Edge that is horrific. Well it was when I was there! Traversing it once was enough which was why I came down through the woods and I doubt I’d repeat that route.
I don’t think anyone has wanted to repeat those two once bagged, that should tell you something.
Now don’t let me put you off. If you get some good dry weather for a few weeks before hand and the WX is reasonable when you get out there, then you’ll be fine. But pack flippers and wetsuit just in case There was a huge sense of achievement when I emerged from the depths of the forest doing Caldcleuch and friend, so great I treated myself to extra chocloate 
And if you get a nice blue sky and some sun then there will be very nice views.
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The estate track has been extended and runs right over the summit of Roan Fell nowadays, well within a few meters of the pile of stones at the summit so flippers and snorkel can be left in your car even if you want the summit 
Edited - there’s a photo, pile of stones on one side of the fence, track on the other.
View from near the parking spot as advised by G4VFL
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