Sale Fell, Ling Fell and both Watch Hills.
Sunday 9th May 2021.
I had been planning to do these 4 summits with Reg 2E0LDF for quite a while but due to lockdowns and restrictions it had to be put on hold.
However Sun 9th May was a good day for us both and also Steve 2E0XUP whom I had discussed the walk with. It was a great opportunity to meet him in person for the first time as well as Mike 2E0IKM who was going to be joining us all later on Watch hill.
We met at a small car park at the start of the walk up Sale fell LDW-208 / HLD-042 for HEMA . We set off at about 0920 hrs local and reached the summit at about 0955hrs. Initially it is fairly steep but not that bad. It was extremely windy on top and we set up with various aerials. 4 contacts were made and these were as follows:-
G0TDM – PENRITH
M0AYB – COCKERMOUTH
M0DXT – ASPATRIA
M6MOS – HOUGHTON, CARLISLE
After taking a few photos etc we descended and made our way to the start of the climb to Ling Fell. We left the cars as it is less than a 10 minute walk from there to the start of Ling Fell.
We started the ascent of Ling Fell at 1100hrs local and arrived at the trig point at 1128hrs. The wind on top was very strong and Reg measured the wind speed at 36 mph. We decided to use just one aerial on a roach pole and used Steve’s radio as we could run upto 50watts. It took both Reg and Steve to hold the roach pole as the wind was quite vicious.
Again only 4 contacts were made and these were as follows:-
2E0MIX - WHITEHAVEN
G0TDM - PENRITH
G0WFH – NEAR CARLISLE
G1OAE - SEATON
After descending from Ling Fell we made our way to a car park at the ECO CENTRE for the start of the walk up Watch Hill.
The walk was very easy. We set off at about 1255 hrs local and arrived on the summit of Watch Hill LDO-100 at about 1335hrs. Again it was very windy so again we used Steve’s setup and made 7 contacts.
2E0CSS/M - on way to do Binsey LD-041
2E0IKM - walking up to meet us all
2E0MIX - WHITEHAVEN
G0WFH – NEAR CARLISLE
G1OAE – SEATON
M0AYB – COCKERMOUTH
M7KOM – DEARHAM ( STEVE’S SON)
From Watch Hill it is only about 15 minutes to Watch Hill – Setmurphy Common LDO-089 / LD-054.
Again we used Steve’s setup and from there 6 contacts were made.
These were:-
2E0CSS/M on his way up Binsey.
2E0IKM
G0WFH – NEAR CARLISLE
G1OAE – SEATON
M0AYB – COCKERMOUTH
M7KOM – DEARHAM.
After speaking with Karl 2E0CSS we said we would wait till he got to the top of Binsey so we could get summit to summits. We worked Karl on 2m and I managed a summit to summit on 4m as well.
The walk up Watch Hills is extremely easy and the views fantastic. We were very lucky with the weather as apart from a few spots of rain it remained fine all day. It was just very windy on the tops.
It was a very enjoyable day in excellent company and I certainly hope to go out again in the near future. Given the location of all the summits it was not surprising no contacts were made to the south. Even though we were running up to 50 watts and using a j-pole type aerial quite high on a roach pole. All summits are quite shielded by higher mountains.
As very much an after thought I went back home via Faulds Brow LDO-060 and made 2 contacts. I have done this summit a few times already but it is so easy to do I could not resist it. Literally 10mins walk from the quarry or 5 mins from the road across the moorland direct.
I have put some titled photos up below.
Again many thanks to all chasers and also to Reg 2E0LDF, Steve 2EOXUP and Mike 2E0IKM for coming with me on the walk.
73’s Geoff GM4WHA
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73’s Geoff GM4WHA
