2024, what a year! This outing was yet another one to be cut short. Four of the five outings that I have managed to carry out have been curtailed for one reason or another. This time it was the turn of the weather to intervene – Storm Darragh would arrive on Saturday 7th December 2024 and I certainly didn’t fancy being out in it.
Thursday 5th December 2024 – Corwharn GM/ES-048
I set off from my Northumberland base at 04:28 and had a reasonable drive to the parking spot by the Backwater Reservoir, arriving slightly earlier than planned at 08:03. I had arranged to meet up with Alex GM5ALX later in the day and so was keen to get started on my day so that I would not delay his journey home. I was ready to go by 08:20…. cue very friendly local farmer arriving on his quad bike. His first comment was that he thought that I was keen to be out walking, but it was actually quite pleasant with less wind than expected and very mild at 8C. The next twenty minutes was taken up with a fairly intensive and wide-ranging conversation covering everything from how we brought up our children to the pros and cons of the various fuels for road vehicles. In general we agreed on most points and it was a pleasant way to start my day, but time was passing. Eventually he set off to check on some sheep and I started up the hill on the route described by Andy MM0FMF on the summit page.
View of the initial part of the ascent from the parking area. Head up past those trees.
The route to this summit is very pleasant with a little up and down along the way. The steep bit comes shortly after the initial road walk and after the lengthy drive I found it a little hard going, but a few stops to catch my breath did not delay me too much. I took a few photographs and discovered my phone was showing what I read as 41% battery. It had been on charge for the journey, so was puzzled by this. I decided to switch it off to conserve power and only switch it on when there was something to photograph or I wanted to place a spot. When I did switch it back on to take a photograph, the phone switched itself off, I managed to reboot it and quickly checked the screen and found I had misread the battery capacity – it was actually at 4% and it soon died once again. This meant that I would have to rely on others to spot me.
Looking back towards the steep part. The sun is out for once!
The view towards the summit… the left one of the two lumps slightly right of centre, the other being Cairn Corse.
The walk over Cairn Corse en route to the summit seemed to go on for ages, but I eventually reached the summit at 10:30. I set up my tarp against the fence to give me some protection against the cold wind that was now blowing. The sun was out and it was pleasant enough out of the wind, but it looked like clouds were building from the west. I tie-wrapped my pole to a fence pole and set up both the HF dipole and the 2m antenna.
This edifice greets you at the summit. Several times during my activation I thought someone had arrived at the summit, but it was only Stone Man.
Not having the ability to self-spot, I decided to start on 2m FM, yet it took over a quarter of an hour to raise anyone. To my relief Dave GM3YEW was an excellent 59 and gave me the same report, so the kit appeared to be working fine, The going on FM was unusually slow, so at my alerted time of 11:30 I decided to move to 2m SSB and was called by Steve MM0XPZ. My handheld then alerted me to the fact that Alex GM5ALX was on his first summit of Ben Gulabin GM/CS-077, so I returned to FM for the S2S. I asked Alex if he would place a spot for me on 144.333MHz SSB which he kindly did and that brought Jim MM0GLM onto the frequency, shortly followed by Don G0RQL in Devon at a distance of 658km (411 miles). The contact brought a big smile to my face and I couldn’t help but let out a loud yell.
At around 12:00, I moved to 40m, but the band was crowded and without a spot I couldn’t get a contact anywhere. After 15 minutes I gave up and moved to 30m where the RBN spotted me and the pile up began. Initially it was hard to pull calls out of the melee, but slowly the number calling thinned out to make it easier and I ended up with a total of 23 contacts around DL, EA, F, G, I, LA, OE, OH, OK, OZ and SP. There was just one S2S with Enzo IK3SWB/P on Monte Serva I/VE-150.
I was tempted to try 40m again, but I knew that anyone looking for me and seeing my 30m spot would assume I had already been there. It had suddenly grown ominously dark and I was also mindful that Alex had said that he wouldn’t be on his summits very long, so I needed to get back to the car as soon as possible. I therefore decided to pack up and set off at 13:03, the descent taking me 1 hour and 15 minutes. A little more than 10 minutes after I set off I stopped briefly on Cairn Course to respond to Alex’s call received on my handheld. He was calling from his second summit, Mount Blair GM/ES-035. I later heard a brief call from him which I took to be him indicating he was starting his descent, but he didn’t hear my response as I was down by trees at the time.
Back at the car I quickly changed my footwear and set off to meet Alex, arriving 20 minutes later at 14:50. We had an enjoyable chat for 20 minutes before parting, Alex heading the way I had just come and me for the A93 where I enjoyed using a bit of extra fuel – it was the first time I had driven this road in the Q5. Hmm, not bad…. almost as good as my A4 Quattro had been, but handling a vehicle weighing 1.8 tonnes is a bit different and the vehicle systems determine whether 4WD is required or not. I took a half hour break in Blairgowrie for food and drink before joining the late afternoon traffic down to Perth where I arrived at my accommodation at 16:45.
Friday 5th December 2024 – Crock GM/ES-056 and Hare Cairn GM/ES-063
The pairing of these two summits required full use of the available daylight. Having cancelled my second night’s stay at reception (flexi-booking), I set off from Perth at 06:35. It was colder than the previous day, but there was once again just a light breeze. It was 07:40 when I arrived at the forestry car park at Freuchies and 08:00 when I set off up the forestry track, all as scheduled. The dawn was beautiful and I was pleased to be out on the hills once again.
The view south-west from the forestry track.
I didn’t fancy tackling the difficult ascent from the east as Fraser MM0EFI had back in December 2022, so I decided to make my ascent from the west side. A report on WalkHighlands had indicated a route up using a steep partly overgrown track through the immature planting on the hillside. Finding the start of the track had been easy on Google Earth, but was more difficult on the ground. However, once found it proved to be an excellent means of ascending the summit. The top section beyond the trees was heather and was altogether more tiring.
The lower of the two sections of overgrown track.
The higher of the two sections of overgrown track
I reached the summit at 09:30 and set up the 2m antenna on the pole which I managed to guy even though the ground was semi-frozen. After a bite to eat, I was ready to go on 2m FM where I was hoping to start with an S2S with Fraser MM0EFI/P on Cairnpapple Hill GM/SS-254 which would give Fraser a Complete. Not only did I make the contact, but there were two for the price of one with Andy MM0FMF following on from the same hill. I then announced a change of frequency and had two further contacts on FM, but it was unusually quiet on 2m FM once again.
At 10:20 I moved to my usual SSB frequency and heard Mike G4BLH/P call me, but he was having difficult copying me. I therefore resorted to CW and we exchanged reports, but my signals were extremely weak with him. After placing a self-spot, I went back to SSB and managed to work Don G0RQL closely followed by Bryn GW4ZHI. With 2m being very quiet, I decided to take down the 2m antenna and put up the HF dipole. This is when I encountered a problem. As I raised the pole the loose antenna wires snagged in the heather causing the pole to collapse and the whole event ended with the guys and wires entangled. I then had to spend time disentangling everything, by which time I realised that I had run out of operating time.
Disentangled and all packed ready for the descent.
To get to Hare Cairn, I needed to descend the east side of Crock. I had read a report on WalkHighlands indicating that the better ground was at the southern end of the felled area, but finding it was not easy. The hillside is steep and is a mixture of rotting fallen mature trees, brash and semi-mature planting. It was a challenge, but no more than expected. Several times I found myself sat astride a fallen tree in my bid to gain more open ground and gradually bit by bit with several sideways moves across the hillside, I reached the newer planting at the bottom and joined the track at the bottom. The descent took me 45 minutes, a time which I was quite pleased with.
Icy track at the junction, but thankfully that was the only section.
View of the western side of Hare Cairn GM/ES-063.
The next stage was easy – a track walk north-east, turning sharply south and then it was a case of finding the overgrown track going up the hill. I had alerted for 13:30 and time seemed to be disappearing fast, while my legs seemed to be getting heavier. Fraser MM0EFI messaged to say that he was in Blairgowrie and was hoping for another Complete, so I decided to attempt to cut across the hillside to the overgrown track. Mistake! This saved no time whatsoever and made my legs even more tired. By the time I reached the heathery area on the upper part of the hill, I was all out of leg power. I eventually reached the trig point at 13:30 and immediately put a call out on the handheld, but to no available. I was hoping that Fraser would still be in Blairgowrie.
The trig point on Hare Cairn.
I used an old fence post to support my pole and set up just the 2m antenna. First into the log at 13:48 was Ken GM0AXY, immediately followed by Fraser for his second Complete of the day. I then self-spotted and a slow trickle of contacts came along, during which at some point I realised that I had a faulty cable between the amp and antenna. A bit of twisting and pulling sorted that out. In all I worked 10 on FM including a welcome S2S with Jim MM0GLM/P on Kirkland Hill GM/SS-164. He had seen my alert and delayed his descent in order to work me. At 14:40, I changed the polarisation of the antenna, spotted myself and was rewarded with a call from Don G0RQL. Yet another 650+km contact. Reports were 52 outgoing / 42 received. I kept calling for a while, but there were no further takers. Then Don popped up to say I was now 55 and I told him he was 57. What a result! 3 summits out of 3 for Don.
The view west with Crock GM/ES-056 in the foreground and Mount Blair GM/ES-035 behind on the left.
I went QRT at 14:55 mindful of the limited daylight remaining. No HF on this one. I set off back to the car at 15:10, running 10 minutes behind schedule. The 5km walk back to the car was mainly on good forestry tracks, but it seemed endless. I eventually reached the car at 16:23 just as it started to rain and I actually got wet changing my footwear. After a snack of a large packet of crisps and an apple, I set off back to Northumberland at 16:50. It rained all the way. During the journey I received a phone call from Mike G4BLH which was most welcome – travelling long distances alone is the hardest part for me. I reached home at 20:36, which was actually 4 minutes early! .
Thoughts
Well despite the loss of one day and the concerns I had over the dreaded Crock GM/ES-056, I really enjoyed this outing. I love the Glen Isla area anyway, but these summits really suited my abilities which are not what they once were. Finding the right route up Crock was key to enjoying the summit…. I didn’t mind the rough descent one iota as I have experienced much much worse in the past. Would I activate it again if I were not hooked on Unique summits? – definitely! (with apologies to Fraser).
I was disappointed not to get up a hill on Saturday 7th December, but the risk was too great and it would not have been a pleasant experience. The hills will be there for the future. I just hope that I am!
Equipment FT-817ND, Microwave Modules 2m linear, 25 watts, 5 element at 4m
HF antenna – 40/30/20m linked dipole, apex at 6m.
Batteries 1 x 4AH LiPO, 1 x 4.2AH LiFePO4.each day, with 2.2AH LiPO spare (unused).
Walking total over the 2 days: 25km, 930m ascent
Mileage: Thursday 222 miles, Friday 217 miles. Mostly in the dark!
Many thanks to everyone that I worked. For me, the radio part is just as important as the challenge of the hills. Long may it remain so.
Note to self – use the 40m EFHW on heathery summits, not the dipole.
73, Gerald G4OIG (GM4OIG/P)
