Black Hill, GM/SS-253 - 314m ASL - NT 585 370 - OS Explorer 338/339 - 1 SOTA point            

Friday 2nd November 2018 - Sell Moor Hill GM/SS-211 & Black Hill GM/SS-253

After Sell Moor Hill GM/SS-211, this time the satnav delivered the goods and deposited me exactly in the anticipated parking spot on country lanes beyond Earlston.  I walked up the track to Whitefield farm, then turned right to follow the PROW, which took the obvious ridge line right up to the summit.

A rarity these days - the trig point was uncapped, and the cavity deep enough to take nearly the whole bottom section of the SOTA pole.  Thus setting up the 20m GP and getting the radials nicely spaced was especially easy.  Just two calls were completed on 20m FT8.  Switching to CW brought a further 8 QSOs, five of which were stateside - including Alaska! Again, there were no takers on 2m FM. 

I drove past Linton Hill GM/SS-263, but didn’t really fancy it in the dark, plus I’d pre-booked a two course evening meal at Berwick YHA.  The hostel was superb, housed with a bistro, conference rooms and an art gallery in the old granary buildings - which lean more than the famous tower in Pisa as a result of a great fire in 1815.  The food and beer were superb, the WiFi strong and fast, dormitory clean and comfortable with en-suite bathroom with excellent power shower.  Highly recommended.  I spent my evening planning the SOTAs for the Saturday, ahead of the big gig at Glasgow Pavilion - in my opinion, always the best night of the year on the Joe Longthorne tour.

The first target in the morning would be back over on the English side of the border, and Housedon Hill G/SB-010.