3 x 10-pointers convenienly located close together with a common parking spot
Parking is provided just off the road over the pass (coming from the North) and there is a gate there accessing the walk to IS-003.
The paths are all well marked. IS003 starts with a short dip and then climbs fairly steeply through the wood. The second half of the walk is a gentle incline to the summit.
The wind was very strong so I was only able to extend my Sotapole partly. The lay of the land allows a fairly good inverted V to be set up even with a low apex. I managed 24 SSB QSOs on 20m, including one Summit to Summit with Julian IN3JIB/ISO who was also activating summits on Sardinia. He was on IS-093.
I retraced my steps back to the car park for a bite to eat and rehydration, and then walked back over the pass (North) and over the style to the start of IS-011 and IS-009:
I walked to IS-011 next which was longer but flatter than IS-009. The path proceeds downhill for a while and to an apparently closed gate. This was just tied with rope so I allowed myself through.
From the track the summit can be easily accessed by taking a right turn and up the grassy slope of the hill.
The summit is fairly rocky so I moved downhill slightly out of the wind where there was more grassland. I set up my sotapole and Inverted Vee self-supporting as the wind was not too intense.
I had 9 SSB QSOs on 20m before heading back downhill to pick up the track to IS-009.
The "official" footpath shown on Open Topo maps does not get to the summit so I followed a track shown on SOTL.as which runs parallel with the official path at first, then curves round to approach the summit from the South West:
The last 50m of the climb is pretty steep and difficult to find unless you are following the track via GPS (I got this map on my phone via the link at Sotadata which includes the green track, but the track is missing if SOTL.as is opened from scratch). Care must be taken on descent to follow this track down, otherwise sheer drops or very difficult and dangerous terrain can be encountered!
The summit is a nice large flat area from which to choose an activation spot. Once again the wind was strong and I was concerned my pole could not be supported successfully. I used a technique I have used before, to essentially string the dipole between 2 solid points fairly horizontally, then prop it up in the centre to get as much height as the wind will allow:
In the picture above, the dipole runs from the summit marker on the right to the stony outcrop on the left, propped up with a partially extended Sotapole in the middle leaning in to the wind, and restrained against the force of the wind by the string, anchored with a spike and rock weight.
I had 22 SSB QSOs on 20m, 1 S2S with Julian IN3JIB/IS0 who was also holidaying on the island, plus 2 on 15m.
I descended (top section carefully) and back to the car, pleased with 30 points achieved today!
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