Nine Barrow Down Hike - G/SC-013 SOTA (2021)

Summits on the Air Activation Report

Activation Date: Monday 5th April, 2021.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Nine Barrow Down, South Central, England.
Summit ID: SOTA reference G/SC-013 (1 point).
Summit Height: 200m elevation, 153m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 50.63055, -1.98980. Maidenhead Grid IO90ap.
Distance: 3.0km travelled with 190m of ascent.
Difficulty: SAC Grade T1.^(?)
Elapsed Time: 1h (including operating).
Weather: 16°C, 12 mph WSW wind, 60% humidity.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu VX6, Diamond SRH770S.
Callsign Used: M1HAX/P.
Contacts: 4 (2m FM).

Trip Notes

Nine Barrow Down is an elongated chalk hill forming the northern ridge of the Purbeck Hills in Dorset, England. Technically part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation, the hill’s eastern end is sometimes known as Godlingston Hill. Its status as a Marilyn is secured by the railway cutting at Harman’s Cross, which provides sufficient relative height.

The summit offers expansive views that extend impressively across the landscape and sea. To the north, Poole Harbour stretches out, and on particularly clear days, one can even spot the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Southward views encompass the Purbeck Hills' other ridge, including Swyre Head, with Swanage Bay visible to the south-east.

Though previously marked by a trig point, this has now been removed by the local land owner, with the concrete base now uprooted just south of the bridleway. The highest point lies within the field on private land.

I approached the summit by parking in a layby near the Ulwell Cottage Caravan Park. The Purbeck Way provides an excellent chalk footpath westward, rising directly to the 200-metre high point where the trig point once stood. The summit itself is largely featureless, enclosed by fencing along the bridleway.

Using my Yaesu FTM100D, I quickly completed the SOTA activation, making four contacts on the two-metre band in just five minutes. A conveniently placed fence post served as an improvised operating table.

A notable caveat for future activators: the landowner at Knitson Farm has been known to take issue with SOTA operators erecting antenna masts. Reports suggest he can see the summit from his house and may confront those using mast poles. Potential activators might want to contact the farm in advance to avoid any unpleasant interactions. There is a contact page on the farm’s website.

While the views towards the English Channel are pleasing, I found this to be a relatively unremarkable Marilyn summit - one to tick off the list rather than a destination to revisit enthusiastically.

Photos

Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Nine Barrow Down on Monday 5th April, 2021.

Walking Route for Nine Barrow Down

The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Nine Barrow Down. The G/SC-013 summit area is marked on the map with a blue pin icon.

You can download the route shown above as a GPX file suitable for use with most GPS devices. This file is provided for information only, to support your own walk planning and research (it may contain navigation errors, detours and/or safety hazards). The route downloads provided here are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Station Log

I logged the following 4 amateur radio contacts operating as M1HAX/P from G/SC-013 Nine Barrow Down on Monday 5th April, 2021 (all times shown are UTC):

In the notes field I will usually log the other operator’s name and the signal report they provided. In accordance with the Summits on the Air rules, I do not make a log entry where a complete exchange of callsigns and signal reports was unsuccessful.

Additional Information

The following resources may be helpful to walkers, mountaineers and SOTA activators interested in Nine Barrow Down:

• Sotl.as Summit Page for G/SC-013 Nine Barrow Down.
• Hill Bagging UK Summit Page for Nine Barrow Down.
• Google Earth view of Nine Barrow Down.
• Wikipedia entry for Nine Barrow Down.

If you found this content valuable, why not Buy Me a Coffee?