Wicklow Mountains 7th October 2019

EI/IE-003, Tonelagee – 817m, 10 points

Monday and it was back to the rain.  There is good parking for Tonelagee but the path from the road is very wet.  Fortunately just after I set off the rain stopped and once past the initial bog it is a very pleasant walk up to the top.

There is a fairly obvious path to follow.  The mist never did manage to clear properly but on a clear day I suspect there would be some good views.  The summit has a trig point which was a suitable spot to set up the station.  I called CQ and soon had six contacts in the log, a mix of Welsh and Irish operators.

EI/IE-003, Tonelagee Log

The trip back to the car is just a case of retracing your steps.

Journey Details

Date – 7th October 2019

Parking (Grid) – O 076 001

Parking (Lat/Long) – 53.041695 -6.3960814

Radio – Kenwood TH-D74 + 50W PA

Antenna – 2 Element Yagi

Band – 144 FM

Contacts – 6

SOTA points – 10

Group – Myself

Distance – 3.9Km

Parking Height – 476m

Summit Height – 812m

Time Total –  1h 52m

Time Up 0h 40m

Time Down 0h 27m

EI/IE-012, Scarr – 641m, 8 points

A short drive into Laragh and back out got me to the second car park beside the Glenmacnass Waterfall which was in full flow after all the recent rains.

From the car park it was another boggy start to reach a fairly obvious path up to the summit.

After a pleasant walk up, the final approach to the summit loomed.  There is no trig point but a small cairn offers a little shelter from the elements and somewhere to erect the aerial.  Even though this was a lower summit I soon had eight contacts in the log.  Probably being a bit later in the day there were more people around.

EI/IE-012, Scarr Log

The return back to the car is straightforward, just dodge the puddles!

Journey Details

Date – 7th October 2019

Parking (Grid) – O 114 030

Parking (Lat/Long) – 53.066576 -6.3393393

Radio – Kenwood TH-D74 + 50W PA

Antenna – 2 Element Yagi

Band – 144 FM

Contacts – 8

SOTA points – 8

Group – Myself

Distance – 5.6Km

Parking Height – 350m

Summit Height – 641m

Time Total –  2h 14m

Time Up 0h 47m

Time Down 0h 42m

EI/IE-035, Trooperstown Hill – 430m, 4 points

Another short drive back into Laragh and out took me to to the start point for the final summit of the trip.  There is no car park, just enough room to squeeze one car onto the verge.  From this start there is a clear track up to the summit where there is a large pile of rocks marking the top.  Not really what you would call a cairn.

At only 430m I wasn’t sure how well I would get out from here but I needn’t have worried. I soon managed to raise enough contacts although mostly into Wales with one final contact to Dec at work in Dublin.  This marked the end of four great days in the Wicklow mountains which despite the rain provided some great walks and some great contacts.  Thanks to everyone I worked whilst over there.

EI/IE-035, Trooperstown Hill

Journey Details

Date – 7th October 2019

Parking (Grid) – T 157 929

Parking (Lat/Long) – 52.974520 -6.2780240

Radio – Kenwood TH-D74 + 50W PA

Antenna – 2 Element Yagi

Band – 144 FM

Contacts – 5

SOTA points – 4

Group – Myself

Distance – 3.0Km

Parking Height – 120m

Summit Height – 430m

Time Total –  1h 09m

Time Up 0h 22m

Time Down 0h 16m

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