Whilst Steve was on Whinlatter we took a trip out on Sunday to the most Southerly outlying fell of Humphrey Head.
Humphrey Head
WOTA ID: LDO-116 | Height: 53 m (174 ft) |
---|---|
SOTA ID: n/a | Grid ref: SD391738 |
HuMP ID: n/a | QTH Locator: IO84MD |
Book: The Outlying Fells | Lat: 54.156226 Long: -2.932666 |
I won’t do an equipment list this time, I took the FT-857 with me, with LifePo4 battery and SOTAbeams QuadBand dipole, this time with the heavier SOTABeams 10m ‘compact’ travel mast.
Last time we were here in July 2019 we didn’t manage to get round the head to ascend from the South, and by pure coincidence the tide was coming in when we arrived again, so we have yet to manage to traverse the Westerly tip of the head once again!
Just to add some detail. When the tide is out you can walk from the car park along the westerly flank of the head to the southern tip, then ascend the head from there.
It looks like if you are at the Southerly tip when the tide comes in you are OK, as you can make it up the head, but somewhere in between the car park and the tip on the westerly side you’ve got to be careful if you don’t want to get wet!
The tide comes in pretty sharpish - a lady we spoke to said they sound a horn, I noted in the channel next to the footpath that it was coming in at running pace in the centre of the channel.
Tide coming in rapidly
So, instead, we took the path up that we did last time - just at the entrance to the car park is a short, sharp ascent through the woods that is probably 10 minutes in total. I wouldn’t want to do it in the wet, and there is a little rock scrambling at the end, but it is pretty much over before you begin.
Our route, with false start obvious!
Multimap/OS Mapping
Top of the ascent
You end up on the other side of a fence to the trig point/main part of the head. If you walk along the fence you come to a gate - but it is locked, so the only option is to climb the gate.
OS Benchmark
View to the South - Heasham Power Station clearly visible
View to the West
The airfield at Cark was very active where the skydivers were making the most of the excellent weather.
Brooke fell asleep on the grass in the sunshine for half and hour or so, I forgot what an absolute luxury that is - given that these days I seen to be hell-bent on making the most of the time I have left on this planet!
Curious Cow
I setup the HF antenna and rollup SlimG from Spectrum Communications and set to work. I figured HF might give the option of Northerly chasers to get this most Southerly summit in the log and was pleasantly surprised - given the lack of notice - to get Geoff @GM4WHA and Mike @2E0IKM in the log. Douggie @G7CDA was doing well with his AMPRO 80m dipole setup - just goes to prove it is the antenna that you get the contact on that is the most important one!
Time | Call | Band | Freq | Mode | Grid | Country | Operator Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13:03 | GM4WHA | 80m | 3.715 | SSB | IO84ix | Scotland | GEOFF HARPER | ||
13:04 | G7CDA | 80m | 3.715 | SSB | IO83qt | England | Douggie G7CDA | ||
13:04 | G8UHV | 80m | 3.715 | SSB | JJ00aa | England | GLYN WATSON | OP: Glynn, QTH: Sheffield | |
13:06 | 2E0IKM | 80m | 3.715 | SSB | IO84fp | England | Mike Moffat | ||
13:08 | G1PIE | 2m | 145.575 | FM | IO83qr | England | MARK PROCTER | ||
13:12 | G6ZAK/M | 2m | 145.575 | FM | England | OP: Andy, QTH: J34 M6 | |||
13:14 | G6LKB | 2m | 145.575 | FM | IO84ke | England | David WARBURTON | ||
13:14 | G1OHH | 2m | 145.575 | FM | IO84ob | England | Susan Griffin | ||
13:16 | G7CDA | 2m | 145.575 | FM | IO83qt | England | Douggie G7CDA | ||
13:17 | M3UQU | 2m | 145.575 | FM | JJ00aa | England | Shaun | OP: Sean, QTH: 7m E. Burnley | |
13:21 | 2E0FLW/P | 2m | 145.575 | FM | England | WAB: SD37, QTH: Meathop Fell | |||
13:25 | MW0PLA/P | 2m | 145.575 | FM | Wales | OP: Paul, SOTA: GW/NW-070, QTH: Great Orm | |||
13:35 | F4IPF | 40m | 7.175 | SSB | JN18DT | France | Cyril BEAUCHOUX | OP: Cyril, QTH: Paris | |
13:36 | DG7BBP | 40m | 7.175 | SSB | JO43kb | Germany | Jens Rosebrock | OP: Jens, WX: 22 degC | |
13:38 | PH3K | 40m | 7.175 | SSB | JO22GA | Netherlands | Henk KOLIJN | OP: Henk, QTH: Campsite S. Netherlands, PWR: 100w, ANT: Multiband dipole |
Apart from managing to get both shoes in a fresh cowpat it was a very pleasant activation. There were plenty of Wainwright baggers in transit, as well as the odd family stroll, but only one question about contacting aliens to field this time round.
We descended via the longer but more gradual route to the North along the ridgeline of the head, and the walk back along the road to the car park was made more interesting by the blackberries to be had! We ended up in Cartmel for afternoon tea, only 10 minutes drive away, and can certainly recommend The Mallard Tea Shop for their wonderful food and cakes!
Definitely a good WOTA for the whole family, there is enough here to keep the kids entertained for a while on a nice day.
17th Wedding Anniversary!