This is easily the most distinctive and recognisable
hill in County Antrim, and arguably in the whole of Northern Ireland,
Mournes included. It stands alone, but high and narrow, a uniquely tall
semi circle arching high out of the ground from any direction. On
Friday 28th March 2008, Jimmy navigated the roads well from Carnalbanagh
Sheddings near Agnew's Hill
GI/AH-005, but it was hardly necessary. The profile of Slemish was
unmistakable throughout the drive across, as were the many large brown
road signs that pointed the way.
Still in "do lots of summits quickly and keep ahead of schedule" mode,
we were a little disheartened to pull into the car park/picnic area and
observed what looked like a long arduous climb up to the base of the
main mountain. For some reason, I always tend to "remember" Slemish as
being much quicker and easier than it actually is! It isn't very far
horizontally, but not insignificant effort must be expounded to climb to
its summit. St Patrick tended the sheep on the mountain when he was
enslaved here in the 5th Century, local tradition informs.
We set off under grey cloud and damp air, up the steep muddy and stony
track, and decided to ascend the very steep way, saving the steep route
for the descent. As the scrambling began, I reminded Jimmy of his
performance when we first climbed here in 2003, and he refused to put
his hands to ground, insisting on walking every step on feet alone and
putting abject fear into his father! This time, he scrambled safely,
effectively - and quickly, reaching the final graded walk onto the
summit minutes before me.
Out on the summit, the sun was out. It was still cold in the wind, so we
first found some shelter in lee of it, then set about setting up for
80m. However, first I had a listen on 2m FM and put out a call. To my
surprise, it was instantly answered, and Jimmy and myself ended up
making three QSOs each.
We completed putting up the 80m dipole, and I kicked off on 3.557MHz CW
as usual. 11 contacts were followed by two from Jimmy on 3.660MHz SSB. I
checked the spots and found several UK chasers, headed by Marc G0AZS
bemoaning the fact the couldn't hear us and asking if I was going to do
40m. So we put the 80m kit away and put up the 40m dipole. The result
was a successful 12 contacts into ON, DL, F, HB and OK - but an
unsuccessful none into UK! Sorry Marc et al, we did try!
The route down was the 'less steep' path recommended by the information
boards at the car park. It was nonetheless tricky in the muddy greasy
conditions, and still not without a couple of minor scrambles. I slipped
over and onto the ground for the third time in the day, and I was glad
to get on level ground for the final walk back to the car park. Too
glad. Minutes later, my right foot zipped across from under me, and my
entire 18 stone plus rucksack was dumped sideways along the ground
again. The only bit of pain experienced from the fall was where my VX-7R
had got sandwiched between my body and the ground. Thankfully, the
handheld was unhurt.
Hmmm, four times in two summits on one day - on the seat of my pants.
Not good. I thanked my lucky stars that I never sustain injuries when I
fall (which I do plenty of times when playing squash and football),
picked myself and lunged for the relative safety of the car. We had a
little relax in the car with the radio on and a couple of crunchy
Granola bars, before setting off North, this time for
Trostan GI/AH-001,
our first completely new summit of the trip. Thanks to the following
stations, all worked with the customary 5 watts:
MM0JWH |
Clyde |
Jim |
2m |
FM |
T |
GM0GOV |
Dunlop |
Fred |
2m |
FM |
T |
GI0ISQ |
Bushmills |
Dave |
2m |
FM |
J |
MI3EIE |
County Down |
David |
2m |
FM |
J |
2I0DMC/M |
Dungiven |
Declan |
2m |
FM |
J |
G3RDQ |
Stockbridge |
David |
80m |
CW |
T |
EI7CC |
Dun Laoghaire |
Pete |
80m |
CW |
T |
G4RQJ |
Walney Island |
Rob |
80m |
CW |
T |
G3OHC |
Selby |
Graham |
80m |
CW |
T |
G3WPF |
Wilmslow |
Reg |
80m |
CW |
T |
G4CPA |
Crosshills |
Geoff |
80m |
CW |
T |
MX0BCQ/A |
Crosshills |
Geoff |
80m |
CW |
T |
G4SSH |
Scarborough |
Roy |
80m |
CW |
T |
G3TJE |
Highbridge |
Peter |
80m |
CW |
T |
G3RMD |
Cheltenham |
Frank |
80m |
CW |
T |
G0NES |
Hollywood |
Don |
80m |
CW |
T |
GW0VMZ |
Merthyr Tydfil |
Alistair |
80m |
SSB |
J |
G6MZX |
Thornton-in-Craven |
Geoff |
80m |
SSB |
J |
ON4CAP |
Oostkamp |
André |
40m |
CW |
T |
DL6UNF |
Guben |
Frank |
40m |
CW |
T |
F6ACV |
Sartrouville |
Jean Jacques |
40m |
CW |
T |
ON4ON |
Dadizele |
Danny |
40m |
CW |
T |
HB9AGH |
Zurich |
Ambrosi |
40m |
CW |
T |
DJ5AV |
Heiligenberg |
Mike |
40m |
CW |
T |
DL1FU |
Biedenkopf |
Fred |
40m |
CW |
T |
DL7RAG |
Tirschenreuth |
Heinz |
40m |
CW |
T |
OK1AOV |
Czech Republic |
Jiri |
40m |
CW |
T |
HB9AAQ |
Haag |
Fred |
40m |
CW |
T |
DL4FCK/P |
Bavaria |
Gerd |
40m |
CW |
T |
OK1KT |
Hradec Kralove |
Vratislav |
40m |
CW |
T |
|