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