After a restful night, it was time to get up early for the second day of my attempt to get 100 SOTA points in a Bank Holiday weekend in the Vosges. Today would involve a bit more walking than yesterday.

FL/VO-002 Le Hohneck

Le Hohneck, about 15 minutes’ drive from La Bresse, is potentially a very easy summit as it has a carpark and restaurant at the top. I fall into the set of SOTA activators who view that as cheating, however; much like taking the train up Snowdon. Instead, therefore, I took the only slightly more energetic option of a 15 minute walk up 100 metres over a 1km, on the path that runs beside the road.

This is a really easy path and it’s well-trodden. The only thing to be aware of is that the electric fence wire surrounding one of the fields has been routed over the top of a turnstile gate (above head height) near the start of the path, which could be a surprise if you had a metal antenna on your backpack!

Halfway up, I spotted a van which seemed to be doing communications for a local race of some description, but I didn’t stop to find out the background.

Despite my early start, it was clear that Hohneck is a popular place. I didn’t feel my dipole was in the way at this stage of the morning, but any later and it might have been more problematic. I quickly made 9 QSOs and packed up to head to the next hill.

FL/VO-084 Ronde-Tête

The Col de Bramont is about 15 minutes’ drive from Hohneck and it is a useful starting point for activations of Ronde Tête on one side of the road and L’Altenberg on the other. Both hills are similar, in that they are walks through forest on signed paths for the majority of the walk, before you have to leave the path to head through the trees into the activation zone. In both cases, I wouldn’t recommend doing the walks in ice or after heave rainfall, as the ground is mainly leaf-mulch which will become quite slippery.

The walk up Ronde Tête is probably the marginally easier of the two walks. The path is mainly fairly wide and it’s clearly marked. The only thing to watch for is to ensure you take the route doubling back on yourself at 47.9995N, 6.9496E, rather that continuing in the same direction. Having done that, it’s just a matter of following the path through the forest to the sign marked Panoramic view of Wildenstein, situated near 47.9979N, 6.9611E, where you leave the path and head up the slope. Again, you need to watch your footing a bit here, as the leaves are deep in places and stones are covered in moss, so it would be easy to slip in wetter conditions.

The walk took me about 1 hour to climb the hill and about 30 minutes back down (as I spent some time picking my way up the slope on the ascent), with about a 190m ascent over about a 2km walk. Once at the top, I made 6 QSOs on 30m CW before descending.

FL/VO-012 L’Altenberg

Returning to the road, in the opposite direction, is the similar climb up L’Altenberg. As with Ronde Tête, I’d certainly recommend taking a map and compass with you for this one, as my GPS struggled to maintain lock under the tree canopy. The relevant IGN 1:25,000 walking map is 3619OT.

The climb up L’Altenberg is similar but slightly more challenging. The paths are narrower with steeper drops off the sides in places if you were to stumble. Walking alongside the Altenberg for a lot of the route, you wonder how you can climb some a steep slope, but keep heading south on the path to around 47.99105N, 6.94698E and there’s a less steep area, which is easier to ascend.

The climb took about 45 minutes (and 30 minutes down) for about 145m ascent over about 2km of walk. Again, I just made 6 QSOs before heading back down the path.

FL/VO-010 Le Grand Ventron

The last summit of the day, again a 10-pointer, was Le Grand Ventron. It can be accessed by continuing the path from L’Altenberg (though this is quite a substantial hike), or by taking the easier option of driving to the Auberge, from which it’s basically a quick step along a field edge to the summit.

There really isn’t that much more to say about this walk. It’s literally 10 minutes’ walking, and not very steep, ascending just 150m over about 0.5km (most of which is done in the immediate climb up from the road). At the summit, there’s a chart showing all the nearby peaks and even on a muggy afternoon with a storm brewing, it was still quite popular. Luckily, the activation zone is quite large as the summit has a flat top, so I set up just a bit away from the highest point to make 8 QSOs, again on 30m CW.

With 80 points so far this weekend, can I complete my 100 point challenge tomorrow?

During this week’s Camb-Hams DXpedition to Islay as GS3PYE/P, three of us (G4ERO, GW2HFR and I) went to Beinn Tart a’Mhill, one of Islay’s one-point SOTAs (GM/SI-185).

This is quite possibly also the easiest summit on the island, as it’s an ex-MOD transmitter site, with a nice path all the way to the top. Access is therefore quite easy. We parked at Kelsay farm (NGR NR 189 562, where there’s just space to pull a car in off the road, opposite the farm gates) then took the path into the farm as far as the ‘Private’ sign. From there, you can go over some slightly boggy grass to an adjacent path, which takes you to the transmitter site, past an old oil storage tank, presumably for the transmitter generator. The path gradually deteriorates from gravel to grass but there’s no navigation challenge.

Once at the transmitter site, the trig point is just behind you on the slightly higher ‘other’ summit. It’s a five minute walk over the slightly boggy grass to reach this secondary summit. Once there, there’s plenty of space for antennas.

While G4ERO and GW2HFR concentrated on a slightly unsuccessful attempt on 80m, followed by a more profitable go on 20m, I set up on 30m CW and quickly managed 3 QSOs, and then something happened. Calling for the next 30 minutes, I couldn’t raise anyone for my fourth QSO, and there was nothing on 2m either, even though Northern Ireland was on the horizon. I swapped to 40m, still into the 30m dipole, and managed an SSB QSO there to complete the required four.

The path to the transmitter is about 3.5km each way, with a 200m ascent. It took about 40 minutes to climb, and about 35 minutes back down.

After yesterday’s exertion, I woke with a very stiff leg and, first thing in the morning, I even found myself hobbling up the slight incline to the campsite toilet block. Not a great sign for my original plans to walk up nearby Moel Siabod! Fortunately, I tend to make backup plans on my SOTA trips and this weekend was no exception, and I had lined up Foel Goch, a 4-point hill that looked somewhat easier, as a fallback. I decided to give it a go.

Foel Goch (GW/NW-039)

Foel Goch is a lovely hill and very convenient for those visiting North Wales from most of England, since it’s just a couple miles off the main A5 road. I parked at NGR SH 9642 4407, where the road is slightly wider due to a ford, but it later turned out that I could have continued further up the road to around SH 9637 4359, saving 50m or so of ascent.

Navigation is easy. From the road, follow the obvious path up the hill along the field boundary to SH 9582 4290. The terrain here is over lovely lush grass, so it’s easy walking, although it does get a bit steep. At the top of the field, you take another path (which is mainly flat and somewhat muddy) around the edge of the summit to SH 9585 4241, so that you attack the final climb from the West side. That final climb is then a matter of picking the less-visible track that makes its way straight up over rougher moorland grass. It’s slightly steep but still perfectly do-able.

With my leg still a little painful, it took me 1 hour 30 to ascend and 50 minutes for the descent, so under normal fitness, I could have done it quicker.

This hill didn’t seem well-frequented, and there’s plenty of space on top next to the trig point, monument and cairn, all of which crowd the highest point. I initially started operating on 2m but struggled to raise anyone, so I instead switched to 30m CW and promptly made 8 QSOs.

Pole Bank / Long Mynd (G/WB-005)

It was another gorgeous day, and I was feeling a bit better now that my leg had had some exercise, so I decided that I couldn’t head straight back to Cambridge immediately. Instead, I realised that I would be driving home close to the Welsh Borders SOTAs in Shropshire, commonly known as the ‘favourite 5‘, since the five hills are an efficient way to gain Winter Bonus points in that season. I opted to try two of the more westerly hills today, thereby still leaving the easterly ones for after October.

There isn’t much to say about Pole Bank. It’s a pretty boring place, and I didn’t even bother taking a photo there. You can drive to very close to the summit and then it’s barely an incline to reach the activation zone. There are gravelled wide paths with heather covering the rest of the ground. The only thing to be aware of is that the approach roads are quite narrow and, in places, have steep, un-barriered, drops around sharp bends. Somewhat counter-intuitively, on my last visit, in the ice in December, this hadn’t been a problem but today there were lots of people out, some of whom were clearly nervous in such circumstances, with short tailbacks forming up the hills.

On this trip, I parked at NGR SO 4265 9445, and operated from some clearer, off-path, land around SO 4171 9464. The walk took about 10 minutes each way. Eventually I made the required 4 QSOs on 30m CW — made especially difficult by the fact that the RBN was down (so no RBN tunnel to SOTA spots) and that I had no mobile signal on the hill to spot myself either. Once the contacts had been made, however, I packed up to head to Stiperstones. It was late afternoon by now, but Stiperstones is only five miles away, so I resolved to continue anyway.

Stiperstones (G/WB-003)

It actually took nearly 20 minutes to drive to Stiperstones, again on small country roads. Back in December, I hadn’t been able to take my car to the large (free) car park at the Stiperstones Nature Reserve due to slipping back on the snow and ice, so I had had to walk further uphill, but there were no such issues today.

From the carpark, you follow the wide grass path up the hill to the clearly-visible stone mounds at the top. The activation zone surrounds Manstone Rock, the middle outcrop.

It was approaching 6pm by now and I needed to get back to Cambridge, so to speed the activation, I started by calling on 2m. No response, so it was time to return to my workhorse band of 30m, even though I knew that propagation would be dying. The RBN was still down, but I was able to make a SOTA spot from my phone this time, and I managed two QSOs on 30m but nothing more, and signals were weak. With no other HF gear, I took the risk of running a bit lower power on 40m into the 30m dipole. This wasn’t easy due to a contest, but one more station did come back to me there, but I couldn’t get anyone else. I was even begging friends in Cambridge for contacts by this point as I couldn’t face leaving without the fourth contact, but I struggled to hear any of them. Finally I made out a callsign, went to respond, and the radio died. There was insufficient power left in my LiFePo battery that was running the IC-706. (This isn’t a state you want to get into, as LiFePos don’t like being discharged that much. Luckily it seems no damage was done.)

I had no option but to return to 2m and call while packing the HF gear, hoping that someone would give me that last contact. Half an hour later, at 18:45, G4VRX (and 3-year old daughter Holly in the background) replied to me and saved the activation. Phew!

The early May Bank Holiday weekend this year has seen some unseasonably stunning weather, so it seemed a pity not to head to the hills and get a few more SOTA points.

Moel Eilio (GW/NW-022)

Moel Eilio is a 6-point hill in the shadow of Snowdon. Most people who operate from here do so by parking at the quarry and then taking the short walk up the hill from there. Somewhat foolishly, as it turned out, I decided that parking places would be at a premium on a glorious Bank Holiday weekend, and so I would get to Llanberis early, park there, and do the extra miles to walk up Moel Eilio from the town. One useful tip that I discovered while in Llanberis is that while parking around the main street is around £7-£8 per day, you can turn down the road beside the lake railway (signposted to Dinorwig Castle) and park just 200 yards down that road for a more reasonable £4 / day.

Navigation is simple: From the High Street, you walk up Goodman Street, turning left onto the footpath through the trees at NGR SH 5682 6041. At SH 5648 6028, you come to a warning sign for the former quarry; go over the stile and continue along the path marked on the OS map. As suggested by the notice, the path here is through the old quarry workings and at one point it does go close to a steep drop and it is also a little boggy. It felt perfectly safe, however. Once you reach SH 5569 5994, you turn south to follow the obvious path along the fence directly to the summit. It’s a fair walk from the town, however, and the ascent took me about two hours.

Once at the summit, there’s a very handy stone shelter, walled on three sides, which can be used to shield you from any wind. On a busy day like today, however, it was actually full of people eating their sandwiches.

Using a bungee cord to attach by fibreglass pole to the wooden fence posts, I managed 7 QSOs on 30m CW, before heading back to the car in Llanberis the way I had come. The descent took around 1 hour 20.

At the car, I dropped off the HF gear to save weight and just take my handhelds up my next target: the Llanberis path up Snowdon.

Snowdon (GW/NW-001)

The Llanberis path up Snowdon is the longest but also least steep and for this reason it is also known as the ‘Tourist Path’. That was a very appropriate name today as hundreds, maybe even more, people were on the mountain — and that’s despite my climb not starting until 14:30, by which time I’d have imagined most would already be on their descent.

There really isn’t that much to say about the Llanberis path. You start walking on the road out of Llanberis to SH 5815 5892, where you follow a wide path, ‘paved’ with roughly cut stones, more-or-less following the train track up the mountain. The first half of the path is relatively gently inclining, becoming steeper as you approach the summit. There were plenty of young children and older adults reaching the top even on a very warm day, and it shouldn’t be difficult.

I say ‘shouldn’t’ because on the latter stages of the climb, I managed to pull a muscle. I made it to the top and was able to successfully activate the mountain, but it made for a slow descent and a change of plans the next day. The ascent took me 2 hours 45 mins, and the descent took me 2 hours 10 mins, so still at the lower end of the 5-7 hour average time that’s often quoted for this route.

As implied above, there really isn’t space on Snowdon for an HF antenna at the best of times, and on a busy day like today it was always bound to be impossible. The summit itself is a pinnacle, almost always with loads of people on it, so I stopped just off the path just inside the activation zone to put out my calls. I quickly managed 4 QSOs on VHF from my handheld, including one contact with GW7HEM/M, who was on his way down the same mountain. This was also my first time on Snowdon with a view – it has always been shrouded in cloud on all my previous visits – so a very welcome change.

Overall, this was a long day of hiking: 17.5 miles walked with nearly 1900m of ascent over the two summits. No wonder I was keen to get to the Dolgam campsite, where I had a reservation (and where, completely unexpectedly, I was joined by M0VFC, who was also on a SOTA activation in the area).

(Just before I get any comments on the above graph, yes, Snowdon is 1085m. Yes, the SOTA Activation Zone is 25m, so my max altitude must have been >1060m to be inside the AZ. The 1054.8m shown here is well within the error bars for GPS altitude accuracy.)