Great Coum, G/NP-011 - 687m ASL - SD 700 835  - OS Explorer OL2 - 4 SOTA points           

Tuesday 8th October 2013 was not the first time I had set out to do the pairing of Great Coum G/NP-011 and Whernside G/NP-004 from the Ingleton to Dent road that lies between them. But like all previous attempts, I abandoned halfway through and didn't bother with Whernside.  I thought I would be OK for time with a 5am get-up and soup-making-session in Macclesfield, but the car wasn't running as well as it should, and I had a couple of road route finding difficulties near Ingleton, so lost a bit of time there.

       

After parking in the entrance to the bridleway track SD723822, I set off for Great Coum G/NP-011. On this day it should have been called Great Cwm for it was mostly waterlogged - especially on the bridleway track below. As the track reached the vicinity of SD706823, I spotted a trodden path following an angled wire fence up to the ridge line. The fence was not marked on the map and I had no recollection of this path, but I decided to have a bit of an adventure and give it a go.

       

The going was tough at times on tussocky grass and bog, and then there were the punishingly steep mini-ascents as well. But once at the large cairn above Gatty Pike, it was easy level walking to the top. Or so it seemed. I got to the "top" but didn't recognise it! After much wandering around and deliberating, I could see (briefly when the mist cleared) that where the hill started going down, only went down around 20 feet to a bit of a saddle before rising again. That would explain the confusion, because an undulation of such small magnitude wouldn't be represented on the OS 1:25000 sheet I was carrying.  This took me back onto a steady ascent, and this time I found the wall junction that I remembered from my last visit. First I toddled across to the summit cairn, then back to the wall junction where the best shelter was for activating.

       

12m CW and SSB brought in 14 contacts after a slow start, and I still had hopes of moving across the road to Whernside G/NP-004. Getting down the steep wet grassy slope to the track was taxing, and then finding a way over the wall and barbed wire fence at the bottom was even more challenging. Perhaps I descended the wrong way.  There was now a longish track walk back to the car, much of which was underwater. Deep water. It had been mainly dry apart from a short patch of light drizzle, but there was a heck of a lot of standing water. I reached the car at about 1.15pm and decided I would be pushing it to try and squeeze Whernside in as well. So as before, I scrapped it!

       

Instead I enjoyed the rest of my flask of Thai Green Curry soup in the car, and drove back to Macclesfield. It had been a good little work out in the hills, and I had enjoyed the challenge despite the lack of visibility and the evaporation of available time.