EARL’S SEAT (again) GM/SS-126
Posted by 2m0gil on March 6, 2011
SUNDAY 6TH MARCH 2011
A late decision on this one,with only another week left for the winter bonus points on sota it was to be my nearest hill on the “Summits On The Air” tables which is my old haunt Earls seat high up in the campsie fells.This was to be my third activation on this hill,not because of it being a favorite but only due to the close proximity of the home qth.The last time i activated it was back in December 2009 when there was a lot of snow around and temperatures were sub-zero,conditions today were much better as in the fact that the winter snow had already melted and we had no rain,however the cold wind blowing in from the South made the air feel extremely chilly.Visibility today was very disappointing and would estimate approximately 2 miles,in good conditions this would easily be in the range of 50 + miles
Summit in the distance.GM/SS-126
Managed to get the last parking space outside Glengoyne distillery on the A81 road just south of Killearn in Stirlingshire and left the car around 11.15am,straight up the torturous Dumgoyne tourist track before skirting round the West side of this very popular landmark.Up onto the top ridge where i bumped into my brother and sister in-law on their return from Earls Seat.After leaving Garloch hill (543m) the top of Earls seat comes into view and the track leads Eastward towards Earls trigpoint.
LEFT; another 30 minutes walk to Earls Seat which is the highest point on the photograph.
The hard work was done early on in this walk and the summit was reached 1 hour 45 minutes after leaving the car,on arrival there were around 20 others having lunch from a Stirling walking group,after a chat i set up the antenna and fixed it to a nearby fence post which was as near out of the wind as i was going to get.
1st in today was regular chaser and fellow blogger Bobby GM7GAX ,thanks also to him for the spot,managed another 15 contacts after him including a personal best of five summit to summit contacts including Jim GLM/P on Stronend ,Neil NCM/P on Penvalla,Alan XXP/P on Black Mount,Barry XFM/P on Ben Ledi and sota king Robin PKT/P on Beinn Odhar.Good to see so many GM’ers out in the winter period and cant forget the chasers either,regulars Ken & Christine through in Edinburgh to Steve,Roddy & Bobby in the West around Inverclyde area,futherest South today was Denis near Girvan,Robin got top spot in the N just above Tyndrum.Thanks to everyone else in between.
Straight forward return by the same route,stopped by at the Garloch cairn shelter to munch a cheese roll and heat up with a flask of hot coffee.Plent of other walkers around today especially on the summit of Dumgoyne,the walk back was a lot easier and as i approached the start point i was greeted by the smell of the malted hops wafting the air close to the whisky distillery.A nice 15 minute drive back home and distance driven was only 16 miles total.
73. Graeme.. 2M0GIL
