Ellson Fell GM/SS-146 02/06/13

So, with our summer holidays about to happen, I had mentioned to my very good wife that I would like to activate a SOTA hill while we were away. With no guarantee of good weather in the Borders, Mrs IOB very kindly said I could head out on the first Sunday that we arrived in Newcastleton if it was decent.

The last couple of years we have been on holiday I have managed Blackwood Hill and Larriston Fell. I had a look at the SOTA mapping app on my iPad to see what hills were local to me, and more importantly were easy enough for me to climb. One hill that took my fancy was Ellson Fell which was about 15 miles of a drive from our caravan site.  Onto the SOTA site and gather a bit more information about the hill and to check out routes etc.   M1MAJ had a very simple and straight forward description of the ascent of the hill, so this made my mind up.   Arriving in Newcastleton on Saturday 1st June, the weather was good and the forecast for the Sunday was promising but with lowish cloud predicted. I decided to wait and see what Sunday was like in the flesh before I made my mind up for certain.

Getting up to let the dogs out, Sunday was as near a perfect hill day as any I have seen in a long time. With nothing packed, I got my trusty eBay sourced rucksack out of the motor and threw some stuff in it. This time I included an army basha to build a wee shelter on the hill top and I took my 817 and SLAB battery complete with 3ele SOTA beam to give me a better chance of working into GM land and securing some nice STS’s.

Park beside the tree, you can’t miss it.

Into the Landy and over to the local shop for a couple of snashters then on my way to the parking spot that I had sussed out thanks to Google street view. Roughly 15 miles later via the B6357, B6399 and an unclassified road between Hermitage and the A7, I found myself parking beside a tree as promised at NY398967.  I used Ordnance Survey map 324 

Ellson Fell route

On with the boots and ruckie and off I set. After about 10 minutes, I came across a rough track heading up the hill that wasn’t shown on the map. Excellent I thought, plain sailing from here by following the track. Another look at the map confirmed that I was on Crude hill instead of Castlewink – not a good start to the outing 😦

The hill I SHOULD be on, taken from the hill I SHOULDN’T be on.

Quickly retracing my steps back through the wee wood I had come up through, I was soon heading up the spine of Castlewink which is very much an up hill slog in the heat. With no respite from the gradient, you are nearly at the top before there is any place suitable to get the back pack off and rest the weary legs. When this did happen, I found myself in a most peaceful position. With no wind, the sun beating down and a chorus of bird song, it crossed my mind to just stop where I was and enjoy the surroundings. After a swig from my bottle I felt up to continuing.

Reaching the top of Castlewink there is a cairn to be found, but little else.

Castlewink summit cairn with Ellson Fell beyond.

The saddle and Ellson Fell lie ahead, with only 46 meters more height to attain before you get to the top.  The track up Castlewink and Ellson Fell is an easily followed one thanks to a quad bike track – faint in places, but always there.  It makes me wonder how the early pioneers of hillwalking ever got on with just basic navigation and no quad bike track to follow :-))

I spoke briefly to IainWJZ with the VX 7 and told him I would get an official STS from the top.  It took 1hr 15 to the top and I covered 1.42 miles of mainly up.

Summit shelter

Once at the 537m top of Ellson, the first task I set myself was to erect my shelter for the day.  Using the basha, two walking poles and some tent pegs I quickly had a wee hoose to shelter from the little wind that there was, but more importantly from the sun. I unrolled my bivvy bag and lay on this inside just to keep any dampness from coming up from the ground.  Next came the 3 ele SOTA beam on my 6m fishing pole of which I only carry the first 3 sections. This keeps the beam about 9 feet up, but also slightly lightens the load being carried. Once everything was sorted, I went fishing for some signals.

Ellson Fell shack set up.

I went looking for IainWJZ to get the STS but he wasn’t difficult to find. Sitting on s16 I easily got him 5/9+ on SS030.  A couple of minutes later and I was gabbing to my old mucker Bobby GAX for the second STS up to SS090.   Gab we did until we went our separate ways and my number 3 contact and third STS was Graeme GIL on SS066. After exchanging the pleasantries of the day, my fourth and qualifying contact was another STS with Bob AWV on SS236.  With the hill now safely bagged the pressure was off.

My next contact was Ray CDV in Kelso with whom I gabbed -as I do. Number 6 in the log was George AGZ/m who was heading home from working on a crane earlier on in the day. Funnily enough he isn’t keen on heights but reckons his healthy fear and respect of the dangers is what keeps him safe when working above the ground. As I finished with George, a very strong signal came in.  This was from Liz EPW on LD036 in the Lake District. She was out with her dogs (mine were safely at ‘home’ with my XYL in the caravan) and she had put up a J-pole. With no problems I had STS number 5. Number 6 followed minutes later with a 5/1 signal from the North Pennines.  Bob XJV was on NP004 and I was one of his few contacts ever into Scotland. My last unique contact and STS was Rob RQJ on LD032, again in the Lakes.

Typical view from Ellson Fell.

I listened out for a bit and put out a few CQ calls, but nothing happened. I thought I’d give SSB a try, so I tuned into the lower part of the 2m band. I could hear Bobby GAX in QSO but the signal wasn’t great.   I lowered the beam and turned it ‘flat side’ or horizontal as is customary for SSB reception. The difference was night and day. One he had finished his QSO I called him. Using just 0.5 watts from the 817 the reports were 5/8, 5/8. We talked about this and that and I was mighty impressed with the signal quality and strength considering the QRP I was using.  With the day marching on ( but not late afternoon even ) I decided to call time on my activation. I bade 73 to Bobby and broke down the station.

No easy escape onto Glenrief Rig.

Packing all my stuff into my pack, I set off to see if I could find a different route off the hill. I didn’t fancy the downward slog of Castlewink so I had a look to the North of Ellson to see if there was an escape route to Glenrief Rig, but the forest was too dense to make and progress towards the forest road contained therein. Back to plan B and retrace my steps up and over Castlewink and back to the car.

Back the way I came over Castlewink.

All in all, a grand day out in near perfect conditions and I’m glad I took my shelter with me to keep the worst of the sun off. It’s something I will keep in mind for the future.

The doggy forecast.  There were free range sheep and lambs on the ascent of Castlewink, but nothing further up on this occasion.  Dogs under proper close control or on a lead should find no problems on this hill there are no dangerous crags etc, and the hill is mostly short grass with some heather in places nearer the top of Ellson.  Approaching the top of Castlewink it looks like it could be damp in places if the WX has been inclement before your ascent, but this would trouble you far more than your dog. All in all I think poochie would enjoy this one.

Sheep stell.

Ewes Atwater and A7 running down the valley.