Well this was fun. Not!
I had a small incident in a car park with my car at the end of May. The result was it was beyond economic repair. Now I have a new (to me) one. Today was the first long drive for SOTA, about 170miles return. All packed up and away at 6.55BST into the morning rush hour M8 traffic which was pish 
However, by the time I was at Ardgartan Forest car park it was 15% cloud and lovely blue sky. A bit chilly but it was to warm up. It also was to cloud up at lunchtime then improve. There are lots of coaches doing a forest drive and also timber harvest lorries. This means the entrance from the A83 has a pothole big enough to swallow a Fiat 500. Certainly, it’s deeper than the clearance on my car so I had to carefully navigate past it. Likewise a huge pothole into the car park proper. So take care as I reckon any of Fraser’s Land Rovers would be somewhat challenged 
There’s 2km along a forest track then you turn off at a well signposted path. Here was my first mistake. I’d looked at how far and how much climbing and though, “a bit steep but just keep mincing forwards”. But it’s actually 2km with about 75-100m ascent and then 650m ascent in 1800m forward. Mary Mother of Jesus that’s 1 in 3 average and it’s more like 1 in 1 in places. It never eases up and every step needs a foot lifting 15-18cm minimum. And it was quite squishy despite droughts all over the UK… not here.
This is on the descent but shows the less steep foreground and the average steepness in the distance. By now my knees and thighs were destroyed. I couldn’t get out of the car when I got home.
I took plenty of rest stops and the views are awesome. This is the back of The Cobbler GM/SS-020
The hill in the middle distance is Beinn Luibhean GM/SS-025. The road is the A83 climbing up to The Rest and Be Thankful. This is the road that gets blocked with landslines after prolonged heavy rain.
Not long after emerging from the forest you have to cross the burn. We have drought conditions over much of the UK. Not here It wasn’t too hard to cross, it was a few cm deep but parts of the rocks were mossy… taken with great care. If you slip you’re falling about 20m down that slope into the rocks below. Not nice!
The climb continues for what seems like eternity. It never gets easier and my knees and thighs were not amused. There were even less amused on the descent. But suddenly you’re at the wee lochan and this view just about made the pain worthwhile.
You go around the lochan and then realise still 120m to climb And pazow you just emerge on a small top with a trig. Just climb, climb, climb oh, that’s the top.
So I removed my bag and started unloading. Disaster. One of the zips was open and at first I thought fate was smiling on me as nothing appeared missing. But the box of “things” was not there. No antenna to pole mount, no SMA to BNC lead, no clock, no pencils, no 49:1 matchbox. AND NO PALM PADDLE. Military grade swearing ensued. For minutes non-stop. 
So it had fallen out and if I was lucky I’d find it on the way down. But what now. 2m. Oh no SMA to BNC lead. I spotted and called for 20mins using the handy and rubber duck. Naff all. Hang on what about the emergency 41ft Random. That is here for these kind of issues. Set it up, spot for 40m/20m/17m SSB as I have the mic and KX2. Ah, I’d have to bodge the antenna to the pole, can do that. Oh there’s no 49:1 so I’m stuck. Well brain freeze was happening wondering if that Palm Paddle was lost for good and I forgot I have a 9:1 for the 41ft so SSB ops was possible.
I sat down, had two, yes two KitKats, lots of water, took photos and started down with the GPS in backtrack and me scouring the ground for the box of things.
Ben Lomond GM/SS-011
Beinn Luibhean GM/SS-025, Beinn Ime GM/SS-006, The Cobbler GM/SS-020, Beinn Nairnain GM/SS-016
Beinn Donich GM/SS-027 I was going to do this but let the reports of a down bad-step scare me off. It’s probably trivial but if you don’t like these things…
So it was back down and now my knees really complained. I got down eventually having to stop for a rest many times. On the way down I pondered the fact that the clock in the box had a flat battery last week and I had the box out for cleaning and a new battery for the clock. Had I merely forgotten to pack it? Would it be on my shack bench when I got home. Back at the car I nipped further up The Rest and Be Thankful and confirmed parking for Beinn Luibhean and Beinn Donich then about faced and had a lovely stop start drive through the 4pm Glasgow traffic
Finally back home I burst into the shack and there was the box on the bench. I’m surprised you all didn’t hear me scream.
Could be worse, I could have got no points and lost the Palm Paddle. And I found I can get an average of 57mpg when driving gently using cruise and not hooning about. 13mpg better that the last car. I think it’s time for whisky now.
