My hiking partner and I figured we’d tick Pendle Hill off the list of Southern Pennines we’re yet to activate. On paper it looked like an easy activation, simply park up at SD 7719 3855 and walk up the gentle slop of Pendle Hill. Although just as we were parking I heard a SOTA station on the truck’s radio and so grabbed a chase to G5AIB/P sitting on top of G/NP-011 which is a great way to start a hike.
It’s a 4.6Km hike to the summit but only climbs very gradually; gaining 260 meters over nearly 5 kilometers. However, it was pretty rocky underfoot and whilst it wasn’t a hard hike at all, it really wasn’t a favourite. A very slow and gradual ascent means a very slow and gradual descent – we were pretty sick of it by time we got down.
The ascent was just fine though, the weather was cloudy but the winds were okay and it was relatively warm. Navigation was trivial, like set off North East and just keep going up hill until you fall over the trig point. An easy 2 points, but not an interesting hike to say the least.
An easy hike and an easy activation, grabbing 8 QSOs in 11 minutes on the 2 meter band.
There are other routes up though, for example from Barley. Perhaps I’ll give one of those a go at some point and see if it’s better then the slope route! That said, if you’re looking to build up to the bigger hills and worried about steep climbs, this route is an easy one to get you started! There’s plenty of opportunity to activate on the 2m band too if you’re not wanting to bring a heavier HF rig up the hill.
