GM/SI-092 Dun Caan

The Isle of Sky 2015 - Across to the Isle of Raasay

GM/SI-092 Dun Caan

04/06/2015

Len and I had looked forward to this trip all week as we had both read the book ‘Calum’s Road’ by Roger Hutchinson which describes not only one man’s determination to build a road to his village but also the historical aspects of island life and the effect of the ‘Clearances’ on the population.

My GPS

We took the first ferry from Sconser across to the Island of Raasay with Dun Caan our SOTA summit for the day clearly visible in the early morning light.

The CalMac Electric/Diesel Ferry coming in at Sconser

Dun Caan - distant center

The roads on the island are narrow but we soon arrived at our parking spot at NG561405. It’s a 3.04 Km walk to the summit which looked easy enough and at one point you think you’ve arrived but you face a drop down into a valley to Loch na Meilich and then a steep zig-zag climb to the summit.

 GPS track - Dun Caan

 So near and yet so far.

There's another deep valley and another Loch in-between them and Dun Caan!

It’s worth noting that once again we heard a cuckoo, an occurrence that happened nearly every day whilst we were on the islands.

 From the Trig TP2888

The views from the summit were fantastic even though it wasn’t a really clear day. As we had noticed other walkers heading in from various directions I set up the antenna a few meters away from the round trig point and was very soon into a pile-up of regular chasers.

10:35z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
10:36z	G8MIA	7MHz	SSB	Andy
10:37z	G0TDM	7MHz	SSB	John
10:37z	G4ZRP	7MHz	SSB	Brian
10:38z	G0VWP	7MHz	SSB	Terry
10:39z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
10:39z	M0MDA	7MHz	SSB	Mick
10:39z	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
10:40z	DK1WI	7MHz	SSB	Ed
10:40z	M0JLA	7MHz	SSB	Rod
10:40z	M6RUG	7MHz	SSB	Dave
10:41z	GW6OVD	7MHz	SSB	Mal
10:42z	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Michael
10:42z	G4CFS	7MHz	SSB	Glyn
10:43z	PA0INA	7MHz	SSB	Frans
10:43z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
10:44z	GM0AXY	7MHz	SSB	Ken
10:45z	GM4YMM	7MHz	SSB	Christine
10:45z	GI4ONL	7MHz	SSB	Victor
10:46z	EI9GLB	7MHz	SSB	Jim
10:46z	G4GEW	7MHz	SSB	Peter
10:47z	2W0EPE	7MHz	SSB	Paul
10:48z	G0HRT	7MHz	SSB	Rob
10:49z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
10:50z	GW6DGU	7MHz	SSB	Roy

It’s interesting to note that the little linear made a difference as many noted the clarity/strength of my audio and a difference in S points when switched on and off,  in fact for some I had disappeared completely when it was off as they had high noise levels.....work in progress on this set up.  This activation was a ‘complete’ for me as I had spoken a few months previously to Gerald  MW0WML on his activation of the summit...thanks for the GPX file Gerald (see SOTA Mapping project http://www.sotamaps.org  ). We had seen the rain the coming in so it was time to put on the waterproofs and head back down to the car. 

 Rain on the way

 Dunn Caan selfie..before heading down

Heading down

 The way back across the valley

Now ‘Calum’s Road’ was not far and we soon arrived at the beginning of it next to the ruins of Brochel Castle.  Driving along the now tarmac road we all appreciated the amount of hard work and years of dedication that had gone into creating this link to Arnish...with only a pick, shovel and wheel barrow!!   Calum MacLeod  (1911-1988) was awarded the B.E.M.

Note the wheel barrow :)

Pigs will fly!

A tribute to Calum

Driving along Calum's Road

At the North end of Calum’s Road there is a small parking spot/turning area and this is where you start the walk  towards the other SOTA summit that is on the island..Beinn na h-Iolaire GM/SI-176 ...but that was for another day as we had a ferry to catch. On our way back we stopped once more on Calum’s Road as I saw an Eagle approaching high above one of hills but unfortunately it drifted away from our awaiting cameras..ah well.

Thanks to all the chasers and to Mike G6TUH for spotting me...looks like we’ll be back on Raasay in the near future to get that other summit.

73 Allan GW4VPX