Benarty Hill

Was a busy weekend through on the east coast, but it looked like I could maybe fit in a cheeky activation on the Sunday morning. Benarty Hill was only 20 minutes away and it was a half hour walk at most to the top. So me and Gordon grabbed a coffee, breakfast could be missed as we were still full from the BBQ the night before, and headed out to the Ballingry side of Benarty. We got to the small car parking area about 09:50 and started heading up. First part was through woods and a steep-ish path had been constructed through them. Maybe it only felt steep-ish due to BBQ smoke inhalation and beer from the night before...

After 15 minutes or so we got through the woods and on to the moor at the top where the wind was a bit more noticeable. We soon got to the trig point and I got settled in behind the trig point trying to get some shelter from the wind. I heard the last few words on GB2RS and I had the thought that it might not be best timing to try and activate while everyone was having a chat afterwords. I couldn't hear half of the stations but I could hear bits of activity on that channel. So it was a bit slow at the start, but finally MM0TSS came through from Edinburgh followed by MM0KCD and MM0USU from Falkirk. Pretty much line of site to both places so good signals each time. During the chat with MM0TSS I found out that the Edinburgh net is on 144.725 and is used quite a lot. I had no idea and will check this out next time I am over. GM0AXY and GM4YMM had heard me call out before and so finished off my activation. I am always conscious when I have non-radio mates with me about time, so it was pretty much a "5 and go".

I packed up and we explored a bit along the ridge before retracing our steps and heading back. Good views from such a wee hill. Once we got back to the car the rain that MM0USU had mentioned in Falkirk appeared and it bucketed down. Good timing!