Pressendye

Final summit of the day

sota
Author

Alex Johnstone

Published

January 31, 2025

I headed over to Tarland and the Douneside Hotel were I was going to park for the ascent. Fraser, MM0EFI, was off up Kerloch and was going to arrive at 2:30pm. My route up was the longest of the day, and I estimated around an hour to get to the top, and so had to get a march on to make sure I was on time! In the end it only took me 45 minutes but I was quite tired when I got to the top!

Looking back down the track, across to Mount Keen in the distance

Looking back down the track, across to Mount Keen in the distance

The cloud had been moving further east, but so had I, and I was still enjoying the blue skies, particularly if I looked towards Aberdeen. I got a bit lost going through the Tarland trails mountain biking course and ended up walking along some of it and then between it as a few bikes were about. On the way back down I realised I should’ve walked further away from the summit to find the footpath, but on the way up I was trying to take the most direct route possible!

Pressendye summit ahead

Pressendye summit ahead

Morven looking very mountain-esk

Morven looking very mountain-esk

The views were still good, I particularly liked Morven. I got to the top just before Fraser was on the summit and I called CQ on my HT. I managed to work him and then 3 more stations around. I had originally thought about setting up HF, but it was getting on and I needed to get home, so with the minimum 4 QSOs to qualify I headed back down the hill and home again. 15 points today, 3 new summits and a complete on Kerloch.

At the top

At the top

Nearby cairn

Nearby cairn

The summit does have a nice big cairn, and posts giving plenty of mast and shelter options.

If you have any comments or questions, please send me an email.