This was a very enjoyable activation. After looking for another Summit within easy travelling distance TW-003 stood out. It hadn't been activated in the last year, according to the SOTA database, so that was a good enough reason to tackle it as my last activation in 2005. The Summit lies on the border between North Yorkshire and Cleveland.
I headed north past The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge on my way to Castleton. 25 miles from home I parked the car, on the edge of Commondale village. After parking on the grassed area across from Thunderbush Farm at GR NZ 658105 I set off at WNW on the footpath to the top of Gisborough Moor and I hadn't seen so many Grouse in all my life.
It is obviously a big shooting moor and lots of burning off (I think they call it Muirburn in Scotland), was already taking place on the moor around me. I soon reached a Land Rover track and the green body of a former railway goods wagon, which looked like it was used as a picnic hut for shooting parties.
About 100 yds north of the railway goods wagon was a war memorial in memory of fallen colleagues from the 1914-1918 war.
Many poppy tributes had been laid from Remembrance day to remember the lost.
I reached the summit of Gisborough Moor TW-003 after about a one hour walk in, over a distance of 2.4 miles, with an elevation climbed of around 100m - a very easy
gradual pull up, and it was pretty clean underfoot as well.
It's a pleasant spot at 329m ASL with sea views out to the east around Runswick Bay (plenty of shipping about too), and west over to Bilsdale and the other
SOTAs of Urra Moor (TW-001) and Cringle Howe (TW-002). I set up the Yaesu FT817 with external 7 Ah battery and Roach Pole supporting a 40m Inverted Vee wire antenna fed with 300 ohm ribbon and
4:1 balun into the LDG Z100 Autotuner. I then sat inside the small stone shelter of the summit. It was very comfortable, the weather was dry with partial sun,
and the wind very light. Temperature was about 6c.
