Scafell pike G/LD-001 - 29/4/2025

 A big one, Highest summit in England and it nearly killed me!

we were up in Cumbria (again) and I had a mad idea to do a big one... I knew the WX was going to be SUPERB (my first mistake) I got to the Wasdale head car park nice and early to ensure a space and parted with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of money to park (cash only aswell if you visit, you'll need a huge pile of pound coins). 

I had decided (foolishly as we'll find out later) to pack the HF kit as well as the VHF kit. I took what I thought was plenty of water, food and the usual stuff I carry onto an activation (ill do a "whats in my pack" post one day!). and off I set on the track following Lingmell Gill, id been walking for about 20 mins and realised my handheld wasn't where I left it! cue frantic searching.. still no sign of it... DAMMIT! ill have to back track, its fallen off my rigging somewhere!

I hiked back down to the car, and found some kind walkers had found it on the track, assumed it was mine as my car was covered in antennas and they left it on the windscreen for me! (thanks guys) so with that, I was off again, re-tracing my footsteps back up the lingmell track!

Its a fair old slog up Scafell pike, and seemingly endless, I took way longer than i anticipated and didnt have nearly enough water, the heat of the sun was crippling me... I should have turned back really, but was stubbornly determined to make the summit, slowly and slowly I made it to the top, the cracking views down the valley behind me spurring me on.. 

I found the path harder and harder going, rocky and fairly difficult, it was seriously energy sapping stuff. but finally the summit appeared into view.

On reaching the summit, I was pretty knackered i found a suitable rock, had a drink, some food and relaxed a while... before getting my pole out and getting on the air!

A good run of 20 QSOs All VHF made my day, and activated the summit for me by a good margin... happy, i packed up and started my descent! and here is where the issues started...

I had overpacked, too much weight had exhausted me, and very quickly on the descent the afternoon heat was getting to me, I could feel heat stroke setting in as i descended and the water had run out, a passing walker gave me a drop to keep me going, but i was honestly not in good shape, the exhaustion was very real by now and I was starting to panic a little... A 20 min sit on grassy clump to calm down revived me a little and i slowly and carefully made my way down tot he lingmell beck crossing, I drank out of the Beck, and tipped some water on me to cool off, also refilling my water bottles in the cool fresh water!

The rest of the trip down was EXHAUSTING, I was genuinely done... I almost crawled the last 200 yards to the car, im not kidding! it was awful.... Still, I made it, but some serious thinking would need to be done before i did anything like it again! A reduction in weight and cooler weather being 2 changes.. I didnt need or use the HF kit, and I could have saved nearly 2Kg leaving it behind! spare radios, adaptors and antennas likely made up another Kg and also could have been sacrificed... next time i do a "big one" ill be sure to travel as light as possible and pick an overcast day! still, i survived...

73 - Alan

14/03/2025 - Black hill G/SP-002

Black hill G/SP-002 2 SOTA pts + 3 bonus

An impromptu trip to the highest point in the west riding! 

This would by my third time on black hill for SOTA and likely my best ever trip up to date! The WX was superb for the last day of the winter bonus season, it was more like summer!

I normally go for the trig on this summit, but decided to operate from the last fence before the trig, its well within the AZ and a bit further from the transmitters that can give so much grief on this summit...

13 VHF QSOs made, and I was off home again.. very happy the change of position paid off! 

73 all - Alan 

Pike of Blisco G/LD-024 6/3/2025

 As you can probably see, I have been extremely lazy updating this blag in the last 12 months or so, and I profusely apologise for that! so, I am going to start 2026 By posting short summary posts summary posts of 2025s activities!

06/03/25 Pike of Blisco - G/LD-024 - 6pts + 3 Bonus

I primarily picked Pike of Blisco as it had decent fairly nearby road access, and being surrounded by taller stuff I didnt expect too much from it in terms of "summit experience" I was however VERY surprised with just how nice a summit it was! bit of a mission to summit as the path fades off and disappears, leaving the explorer to work it out for themselves! but a great afternoon out in the lakes :) 

8 QSOs all VHF brought me the points, and I left a very happy man!

All in all a great day and a 8 points in the bag!

If you se this, thanks for still being here! 73 - Alan

A winter bonus 2 summit day, G/SP-005 Pendle Hill & G/SP-008 Boulsworth Hill 28/12/2024

10 points for 2 SP summits? Hell yes!

Pendle and Boulsworth are both 2 point summits, add in the 3 point winter bonus, and this makes them quite an interesting prospect for a decent day out! Ive been wanting to try some winter bonus for ages, but last time I tried it ended in disaster! So keeping an eye on the weather between Christmas and new year, I formulated a plan!

G/SP-005 Pendle Hill

I decided to kick the day off on Pendle, as I reckoned it would get busy rapidly.. I wanted an early activation but sadly due to my wifes illness issues I went to bed late, and didnt get up as early as I wanted too, I collected William from his mums and we were off up the winding roads to Pendle.

I parked on Barley lane in the vacinity of SD 81453 41610 and was glad I was still early enough to park, as it was already busy, depite the layer of fog covering the landscape! I was hoping this fog was an inversion and the summit would be clear, however as I later found out this sadly was not the case! We donned the waterproofs, and got the gear out of the car... S**T!! Ive forgotten the mast, its still at home Oh no, the day wasnt looking good... Fog, no mast... what next!

We chose the "steep route" to ascend as it would be the quickest, and set off up to the summit, in heavy fog all the way.. luckily the paths are well marked and easy to follow so we pressed on, that and there of plenty of people about doing the same thing! after a bit of a push to the summit, we were soon at the cairn, and my best bodging skills were deplyed to get an antenna up for 2M of some sort.....

Best I could manage was hanging the Slim G off a walking pole, and hoping for the best. Gotta admit, it was slow going! even after some frantic spotting, I JUST managed 5 calls, with some pretty big gaps in between, with the wind and the weather I didnt fancy having to crack the HF out! it would have been very difficult with the antenna essentially on the floor... but we manged it, and bagged the trig too as we were there!

A quick pack up, and were off back down, decided to descend the longer route via the "less steep" way, but decided it was just as steep in places, and im glad i didnt bother going up that way! Still, back at the car, we had a turkey and stuffing butty refuel and we were off to Boulsworth.

G/SP-008 Boulsworth hill (Lad Law)

We parked at the end of what is known as the "Oil Track" Around SD 91491 33766. I heard it called the Oil track when I came across a couple of local lads at the summit, who were also out walking, this set me to wandering.... Why the Oil track?? well, (and here we go into the industrial archeology stuff again) The track was built in 1962 by the Continental oil company, of Texas who had permission for exploratory drilling in the area, with a view to extracting oil! how cool is that?

Anyhow, the fog was still with us, and it been raining on and off, the Oil track was wet and muddy and the fog a varying thickness, we discussed this on the way over the track, and decided if the path should either be difficult to find or fade away, we would turn back, I dont know this moor and didnt fancy loosing my bearings on the moor. at the end of the track we suprised and were ourselves suprised by a large herd of hardy beef cattle, who were feeding from rings put out by the farmer, they were friendly enough and let us be. this is where the path starts!

My over riding memory of this Boulsworth trip was MUD, it was possibly the wettest moorland trip I had done for years! it was rediculous! from this point on were essentially bog hopping up the moor, ankle deep in water in some spots I was thankful for the Haix high leg army boots I was wearing! they kept my feet relatively dry, but most impotantly warm!

As we ascended luckily the path got drier, and we found the fork in the path, Left for the summit and a little steep bit, over the style and follow accross to the trig... The wind was even more horrendous up here, and with the fog, it was heat sapping, we were earning our winter bonus here! Again no mast, so i deployed the Williamast at this location, he held the pole while I got out the wind a bit!

Again contacts were very slow, but we managed 5 on 2M and 1 on 4M (result!!) and we wernt hanging around to get any more!

We descended the same way, with more of the same bog hopping, bovines and the oil track! as we got back to the car, the fog did clear a little (Typical huh!) another turkey butty, and a can of pop, and were off home... a great but damp day on the moors, with no disasters and 2 mountains activated!

And with that, this Blog is fully up to date! please do subscribe and comment, and keep an eye on my X (twitter) feed for updates and activation alerts! heres to 2025, and more adventures.. Watch this space!

As ever, thanks for reading, 73, Alan & WillIam

Autumnal Cumbrian adventures (part 3) G/LD-013 The Old Man of Coniston 4/10/24

 Ok, quick apology right before we start, this report may contain more pictures than words! 😂😂

A few more days pass, and we did other stuff, but wifey could sense I wasnt satisfied with the 2 activations i had done so far, and she knew I wanted more... I had been eying a proper big one as a finale something over 800M to really push myself, the Old Man of Coniston ticked the box, at 802M! And being a peak district lad, anything over 500M is nosebleed territory! Anyhow, I got the ok off the boss, and headed up to Walna Scar car park. 

The old man is still a fearsome looking lump, even from the car park, this was going to be one hell of a trip! 

Parking paid, I was off up the track, this was a nice well made track that was clearly well maintained and kept in good condition for the 1000s of feet doing the trek every year. Now this was where I made my first mistake, I kept to the well made track, and I worked G4TJG/P who was already on the summit, which was a nice suprise and eventually ended up discovering I had trekked a good 20 mins in the wrong direction.. I ended up at a ridge at the head of Boulder Valley, overlooking Levers water, I could see a path marked on the map that would take me up to the summit, but it looked like a nightmareish scramble up the scree, something I wasnt equipped for in any way!

I had obviously expended alot of time, and energy by this point, and was very annoyed with myself, I was even considering giving up and going home.... but I couldnt face it! so I worked back to the path split, and went the right way! Straight away, its steep.. and unforgiving.... but the only way is up! now, what I didnt know is this slope was extensively mined for Copper, and Slate and evidence of these extensive working are EVERYWHERE, so this broke up the walk nicely, anyone that knows me, knows I am a massive fan of this sort of stuff, as a former "urbexer" im well into industrial archealogy so this was very distracting, but offered a welcome break from the uphill struggle!

One of the first clues you will find are the huge thick steel cables that run over the track in places, these are from the former cable car system that would have transported men, ore and equipment up and down the steep slopes.

you even have to duck under them, or climb over them in places! 

There are even flat carriers that would have been suspended under the thick cable lying on the waste tips.. its an AMAZING place! 

Then, just as you think it cannot get any better, there is a level with Railway lines and a saw shed! 

With the remains of a stone saw that I would think was used to cut the slate to the right size before dressing.

Anyhow, that enjoyment over, I was off to carry on up the never ending slope! More holes in the ground were passed, and bits of cable, and industril good stuff.... and then the icing on the cake, a toppled cable car pylon! this would have been one of the support structures for the thick cable, and the cars would have passed over the top!

Excitement over, I realised I had nerded out enough on this industrial goodness, and needed to crack on.. next stop Low Water!

I had a pause here, you can see the summit cairn from here away up to the left, but this is where the path gets seriously steep.. a look to the left and you can see what you are up against, its properly intimidating, I was already getting tired especially after wasting time and effort going the wrong way, and I was having second thoughts... I got some food in me a good drink and a few biscuits for energy, and decided to go for it.... up this we go!

From here on in, I gained height rapidly it wasnt long before Low Water was tiny, Dwarfed in the landscape! 

Sections of rocky scrambles, where you needed hands to continue, and some very narrow sections with some big drops aded to the excitement, and slowly, and carefully I made my way up, and up, and up... and then it was there, the summit Cairn! I was soo happy, but absolutely SHATTERED! I may not looking it, but im buzzing and over the moon in this selfie! 

I had a few mins to recover, then set about chucking the mast up, handily the trig point was well positioned to chuck a couple of bungees around, and got an antenna up! Spot away, and started calling... 21 2M contacts in half an hour so I was pleased with that! I had the intention of having a go on HF, but it had took me a LOT longer than I thought it would to get up to the summit, so I left it at the 23!

now, decision time, back down the steep way, or go down the longer but less steep way, I opted for the latter Via Goats water, and Walna Scar Road... as nice as it was, it was a bit of a slog on tired legs, and I kinda regretted it.. 

Eventually I made it back to the car Tired, thirsty but Elated, I had done it!! The Old Man of Coniston conquered AND thanks to G4TJG completed on the same day! WAHEY! but most of all my first big SOTA done..

Till next time! (some winter bonus action tomorrow) 73, Alan

Autumnal Cumbrian adventures (part 2) G/LD-049 Kirkby Moor 1/10/24

A couple of days recovery, and spending some time with my Wife she was having a tired afternoon, and wanting to do nothing more than relaxing in the recliner, with a the TV and a pile of snacks! "why dont you go and play some radio" she said, followed up with "you dont need to sit here and be bored beacuse im tired"! Well, I dont need asking twice! I already had an outline plan for Kirkby moor so the maps were studied, radio stuff thrown in the car and off I went! Now Kirkby moor is probably the nearest (by road) SOTA summiot to my parents house, so half an hour later I was parked up and staring at the quarries and Wind turbines of Kirkby moor.

I actually ended up taking the wrong path up, according to the map it was more direct.. According to the ground, it was a nightmare trudge through the waist high ferns, heading in the vague direction I thought I needed to go! This led to more navigational nightmares, and eventually I found a path, that led towards the quarries... hey ho, at least when I get to the quarries there is a track heading up for the wind turbines I can use! 

I actually enjoyed the Quarries, there was plenty of industrial stuff for me to poke around at, and the track heading up was good and well made, and the Views were fantastic!

 

As I rounded the track to the first turbine, I got a bit of a suprise, a metal road! they must have laid it to do some work on the turbines, but this led neatly to the summit cairn.

Not much up here to secure the mast too, so made something up using the cairn and wedging the pole with the rocks, quite typically for Cumbria it was again blowing hard, and getting it up much higher would have been a problem! 

Mast up, and spot away to SOTAwatch it was time to get down to business! Cals were somewhat slow, with 5 over 25 mins on 2M, somewhat dissapointing if im honest, and if I were to try it again I would definately be going straight onto HF, but 5 is enough and it was time to set off back to the car. Just beyond the 1st turbine there is a park bench laid in memorial, and accross the front of this is the path i should have taken! It takes you down through the old quarries on the inclines, and leads you round the waste tips and back to the road, definately will going that way if I go back up there again! 1 for 1 point, and Actually a pleasant little mooch.

Part 3 will be out tomorrow! 

73, Alan

Autumnal Cumbrian adventures (part 1) G/LD-030 Black Coombe 29/9/24

 My parents live in Cumbria, and this is useful! ok, they dont live in the national park, they live on the Furness peninsular, right at the bottom before you get wet! so its still one hell of a drive to alot of the summits in Cumbria! and this is not so useful. Black Coombe DOMINATES the bottom end of the peninsula, its visible from just about everywhere, and for years has tormented me.. I just wasnt fit enough for the climb! But now, I think I might be... A plan was formed, and a mission set.. Activate Black Coombe! 6 points and 600M dead, and 590 of which you have to climb as the start point is about 10M ASL.. this is a PROPER lump!

I parked in the usual spot, at the church at Whicham, headed down the little passhae and onto the lane, Black coombe is an absolute BEHEMOTH and towers over you as approach the bottom, the path however starts of fairly gently, but luls you into a false sense securuity! Make no mistake, these Cumbrian mountains are steep!

The number of false summits are probably the most annoying thing, that and the unrelenting steepness! its just up, up and more up requires some serious stamina, but I plodded on.. this seriously nearly broke me!

As I got higher the wind started off the Irish sea, properly blowing it was aswell, and as the path runs up that side, there is no let up from it.. certainly made things more difficult! as I got to the summit shelter, I realised putting the mast up would be nearly impossible as the wind was properly gale force by this time! I managed to get the spectrum Communications Slim G up, just above the summit shelter at a jaunty angle! That would have to do..... Spot sent, and away I went on 2M! 

Things were quite slow, I managed 8 in 19 mins, Matt M0MZB First, and Paul M0CQE (Just) to finish! not fancyng that wind any more than I needed too, it was time to go!

I did the descent with the wind in my face, and that was a struggle.... but going down was definately quicker than going up! hahaha

My first taste of a Cumbrian mountain, Bloody hard work and very rewarding in the same bag! 6 points in the bag too (my biggest SOTA to date)! Would I do it again? Maybe! although there are other fells and Mountains in the area, I would try first..I can see myself becoming very acquanted with cumbrian fells in 2025!

73, Alan