Activity Summary

📅 Date : 28th May 2026
📏 Distance : 9.07 km
⬆️ Ascent : 852 m
🏔️ Fairfield : 873 m
🏔️ Seat Sandal : 737 m
⏱️ Time to Fairfield Summit : 2:06 hrs
⏱️ Time from Fairfield to Seat Sandal Summit : 0:58 hrs
🕐 Total Activation Time : 6:34 hrs

Weather

☁️ Cloudy
🌡️ Temperature 11 ℃
🌡️ Feels like 9 ℃
💧 Humidity 77%
💨 Wind Speed 15 km/h
🧭 Wind Direction SSE

Equipment Used

Icom IC705 (10w)
4000 mAh LiFePO4 battery pack
2m, flowerpot
SOTABEAMS Carbon 6 pole
PoLo logging app on iPad mini

Parking Location What3Words

///motorist.messed.pints

Activation Report

For this walk I planned to activate two summits: Fairfield, followed by its neighbour Seat Sandal. I started the walk from Dunmail Raise lay-by, located at NY 32985 11070. It was just after 8 am on a sunny Thursday morning, when I climbed over the stile to leave the lay-by. I made my way up Raise Beck, negotiating the sometimes steep and rocky path that climbs alongside the waterfalls. Once above the falls, the gradient becomes more gentle.

Grisedale Tarn soon comes into view, with Fairfield standing prominently above it. The path continues passing along the tarn until you reach the ridge between Fairfield and Seat Sandal. From here, the steady but steep ascent to the summit begins.

Once you arrive on the large summit plateau, you are rewarded with panoramic views of the Lakeland fells.

After taking in the views, I found a spot to set up my station on the leeward side of one of the stone shelters, it even had a nice smooth rock that made a perfect seat.

I started on 2m SSB and soon had seven contacts in the log. I then switched to 2m FM and managed another nine contacts, including a summit to summit with John, GW0MHF, on Moel Gyw , GW/NW-053. Three of the 2m FM contacts were duplicates from earlier SSB contracts. The longest 2m SSB contacts logged were with Don, GW0PLP, and Frank, GW1OFA, both in South West Wales, over 280 kilometres away.

Just as I was finishing up, Adrian, G1OXH arrived on the summit, it was nice to meet a fellow activator. We briefly chatted and then I made my way onto the next summit. As I started my descent, Seat Sandal came clearly into view.

The descent to the ridge was fairly quick, and I soon found myself looking up at the steep path to ascend Seat Sandal. I had been walking for about an hour when I arrived on the summit.

The wind had picked up at this point so set up my station sheltering behind a wall.

I followed my well rehearsed routine starting again on 2m SSB, managing to log five SSB contacts. I switched to FM but only managed a single contact on FM with a local Derek, 2E0MIX who is also an activator.

Pleased with 14 activator points for the days effort, I made my way back down to the car.

The interactive map below shows a track of the route taken. You can zoom in or out to change the scale. The map can also be shown in full screen. The GPX track can also be downloaded using the link below the map. The route may contain errors and should be used only as a guide.

Download file for GPS

Further information can be found on the SOTA resource page for the summit