Tievecrom, GI/CA-005 - 264m ASL - J 023 153 - OSNI Discoverer 29 - 1 SOTA point            

And so to Thursday 28th October 2010, and the majority of our GI activating complete.  There was, nonetheless, a tiny but present sense of irritation shared  between Jimmy and I.  Having to decide not to include Slieve Binnian GI/MM-003 after Slievelamagan GI/MM-006 the previous day was part of it, but the spectre of failing to complete the County Armagh region was much bigger.  We had done Slieve Gullion GI/CA-001, Camlough Mountain GI/CA-002 and Croslieve GI/CA-004 in the holiday so far, and Carrigatuke GI/CA-003 back in 2008.  But now it was the penultimate day of the holiday, Marianne was taking her dad back home to Larne one day early in order that she could take him to his eye appointment in Belfast first thing on Friday morning (meaning that any remaining expeditions would have Liam in the party), and - it was raining!

After Marianne and Grandad Jimmy set off for Larne, I made up a litre flask of Baxters Chilli Beef, Lentils & Buckwheat soup on the off-chance, and drove with Jimmy and Liam up into Newry.  Here we ambled around one of the big indoor shopping malls that seemed keen to accept the Euros from over the border as well as the pounds from this side!  We found the OSNI Discoverer sheet 20 that we might need at some point in the future for Slieve Croob GI/MM-010, but otherwise were looking increasingly at the selections in the multiplex cinema as a way to spend the afternoon with the rain persisting outside.  We had all but decided to watch The Social Network, but it was a couple of hours before the next screen time.  As we whiled away that time wandering the streets of Newry, it stopped raining, and the skies brightened.  Cue Plan A!

Jimmy enthusiastically directed me out of the city and around the narrow lanes.  Like with Croslieve GI/CA-004 a couple of days earlier, we drove deep into South Armagh and through the village of Forkill.  We both commented on the sharp contrast with 2008, when many of these villages in the Armagh border regions were very politically "decorated"!  At Forkill, we turned left onto a minor road in the Dundalk direction.  Another left brought us soon to the start of our walk, and a large parking area adjacent to it.  We put on our packs and commenced up the track, climbing over one gate, and through another one. 

The track continued briefly ahead, but Jimmy spotted the forest path going off to the left, that matched the research he had carried out in advance.  So we walked along this mainly level path along the south-western edge of the forest, and waiting for Jimmy to announce the next move.  This was then to cut right up a grassy bank, but the terrain soon became more difficult with perpetual brambles and undergrowth below, and low branches above.  Improbably, Jimmy seemed to know exactly where he was going at every stage and turn, even though the only evidence of any kind of route was the occasional item of litter.  When a clearing appeared ahead, my hopes were briefly raised, only to be soon dashed when I saw the mist clear slightly to reveal a further large heavily wooded section that was rising steeply uphill.  "The summit is over in that direction" informed Jimmy, pointing to the trees slightly to the left of ahead.

More steep trudges up loose stony brambly muddy and vegetated ground followed, as well as more low branch avoidance tests.  Then there were tricky fallen tree trunks to clamber over, as the course became something more akin to the Krypton Factor.  "There will be a floating tree in a minute" said Jimmy.  Really?  How could he possibly sure where we were until we were at the highest point?  It was all so random and undefined.  What the heck is a floating tree anyway?  But suddenly, one of his footsteps caused the ground all around him to wobble like a thin skin atop a rice pudding, and a very nearby and very big tree to sway alarmingly from side to side.  "Ah, this is it" announced Jimmy, "The floating tree.  It is supported only by the roots of other trees".  Liam and I gave it a wide berth!

This heralded the end of the wooded section, and we were now climbing up a few rocky steps on a broken down wall, and a few muddy steps up a hill, and gaining height more rapidly.  We sensed that the summit was imminent, but were then faced with another section of ascent.  Don't you just love false summits?  We were very close though, and soon we were striding towards the trig point atop Tievecrom.  The views were as fine as claimed on the Mountain Views website - which is an excellent resource for Irish hillwalking, with good information of all Marilyns included.  A stiff breeze encouraged me to set up for 40m slightly off the small summit, although this was difficult for pegging the dipole legs as it dropped away so steeply, and in thick heather.  Jimmy also set up here for shelter, but this was fine as the take-off was towards Belfast on this side of the summit.

I had my best activation of the holiday, with 44 stations worked in 38 minutes.  Before a soup break, this was even faster QSOing rate, with 42 contacts in 30 minutes!  Obviously the fact that Tievecrom GI/CA-005 was such a rare summit was a big factor here.  Only once had it been activated before, and I was claiming to be the second activator, with Jimmy third.  My first contact - which was John G0TDM - secured me the claim to be the first activator to complete the GI/CA County Armagh region.  Only five summits in the region, but with a notorious history of access problems, military activity, paramilitary activity, antisocial behaviour, car crime etc.  So I was particularly pleased with the tick!

The Chilli Beef, Buckwheat & Lentil soup went down well, and we enjoyed our relax on the summit.  Jimmy reached his fourth contact on 2m FM at a similar time to me clearing the pile-up on 7.032MHz CW, so we could pack away and descend together.  In any case, I had demanded that we descend together on this one anyway, as only Jimmy knew the route and would be able to visually remember it all!  In fact, Jimmy was a superb expedition leader on this one, with a very well-researched plan for a difficult summit, and offering lots of patience and calm encouragement to his younger brother, and dad.  Liam had put in a good walk too, so after a safe descent - which seemed to fly by timewise - I rewarded the lads with an evening in an Indian restaurant in Newry.  But first, I took the opportunity of the reasonable height of the parking spot to note a few radio broadcast notes in my logbook.  These were 98FM (Dublin), Dundalk FM, Radio Nova (Dublin), Midlands 103 (Westmeath), Spin 1038 (Dublin), I 105-107 (Athlone), Phantom FM (Dublin), Iur FM (Newry), Bay FM (Omeath), Choice FM (Dublin), 4FM (Dublin), KFM (Kildare), Five FM (Newry) and Dublin City FM.

The final act of the day was to drive back over the border into Omeath, Co. Louth, for the last night at the holiday cottage.  I quickly got all the tidying up and packing sorted out, so that we could have an early getaway in the morning.  We needed to be away quickly if we were to squeeze in Slieve Croob GI/MM-010 in the journey back to Larne for the ferry, and indeed if we were to beat the rain that was forecast to come in mid-morning.  Thanks to the following stations who worked us on Tievecrom: