A nice day out with a good turn out of Scottish pilots in Balquidder but RASPtable was right and conditions were damper and weaker in the central highlands than further south where the hangies reported the best day at tinto in 25 years.... Good to be in the mountains again after all the Englandshire flying.
After a frustrating hour i finally got to base but flopped over the back for about 10 or 15k. Julian did better with about 40k along to St Fillans past Ben Lawers but we didnt hear yet where Stu and Roj got to... Here are some crap video clips but I suppose they give an impression of the site for those who don't know it
Whitestones to near Newcastle - 11th April 2009
Yet more good flying doon sooth as Scotland was too windy for the friday and saturday of easter long weekend. i met jules, adrian s and trias in keswick in time to steal some of their chips (ughh.. gravy on chips should be banned) before showing them the secret camping place ... not so secret anymore.
jules breaks camp in the morning
We wanted to go somewhere different than parlick although bobi s was there and said there were upwards of 30 gliders fluffing around in light air.
We ended up at whitestones just off the m6 maybe 30 or 40km n of parlick after some helpful confirmation from kitt r. I missed the chance to move to the next hill s to climb out with jules and after some messing about i eventually climbed out in rough thermals with a blue mantra (dangerous dave) and went for a sinky glide over the complicated terrain behind. I drifted in bouncy zeros for as long as i could before a long sinky glide out onto the flats and a heathery moor which gave some hope. A last, last move sideways got me into a small valley/ravine when i was only a few metres above the level of the surrounding moor. A rock scarp on the far side facing almost into wind and as soon as i got there i knew there was a climb out.
or watch in HD here
The tricky first glide decked jules (twice) but sean and tim j got a bit further as did adrian s. Following my low save the flight got easier with entertaining cloud to cloud flying until a weaker section before the end of the pennine high ground as the day blued out. Patience and endless drifting in zeros got me high at the right time and I was able to make good progress between the better clouds on the flatlands again with base now up to 1800m.
The end of the flight was interesting as the predicted alto cloud sheet over the e side of the country was receding in front of me and a southerly wind (we realised later) was pushing up the east of country to meet my southwesterly creating a beautiful convergence zone along the coast. I was faced with either trying to go north to hexham to avoid newcastle airspace or going east to slot the gap between newcastle and middlesborough. I chose the latter and it was probably the wrong decision esp as i was 10k further north than i should have been.
That evening we headed north again and wild camped near gladhouse reservoir in the borders not far from the moorfoots which as it is a bird reserve was a bit noisy. During the night we had oyster catcher, curlew, snipe, peewits, owls and in the morning the geese, blackheaded gulls, various duck, woodpecker and the skylarks joined in.
jules objects to me "accidentally" setting off the car alarm in the morning
another frosty night snug in bivvy bag
gladhouse morning
jules breaks camp in the morning
We wanted to go somewhere different than parlick although bobi s was there and said there were upwards of 30 gliders fluffing around in light air.
We ended up at whitestones just off the m6 maybe 30 or 40km n of parlick after some helpful confirmation from kitt r. I missed the chance to move to the next hill s to climb out with jules and after some messing about i eventually climbed out in rough thermals with a blue mantra (dangerous dave) and went for a sinky glide over the complicated terrain behind. I drifted in bouncy zeros for as long as i could before a long sinky glide out onto the flats and a heathery moor which gave some hope. A last, last move sideways got me into a small valley/ravine when i was only a few metres above the level of the surrounding moor. A rock scarp on the far side facing almost into wind and as soon as i got there i knew there was a climb out.
or watch in HD here
The tricky first glide decked jules (twice) but sean and tim j got a bit further as did adrian s. Following my low save the flight got easier with entertaining cloud to cloud flying until a weaker section before the end of the pennine high ground as the day blued out. Patience and endless drifting in zeros got me high at the right time and I was able to make good progress between the better clouds on the flatlands again with base now up to 1800m.
The end of the flight was interesting as the predicted alto cloud sheet over the e side of the country was receding in front of me and a southerly wind (we realised later) was pushing up the east of country to meet my southwesterly creating a beautiful convergence zone along the coast. I was faced with either trying to go north to hexham to avoid newcastle airspace or going east to slot the gap between newcastle and middlesborough. I chose the latter and it was probably the wrong decision esp as i was 10k further north than i should have been.
That evening we headed north again and wild camped near gladhouse reservoir in the borders not far from the moorfoots which as it is a bird reserve was a bit noisy. During the night we had oyster catcher, curlew, snipe, peewits, owls and in the morning the geese, blackheaded gulls, various duck, woodpecker and the skylarks joined in.
jules objects to me "accidentally" setting off the car alarm in the morning
another frosty night snug in bivvy bag
gladhouse morning
Parlick to Kettleburn - 5th April 2009
Well one week on from our first trip s and the scottish horde found another forecast with winds too high in Scotland but really nice post cold frontal conditions in the north of England.
After picking up a demo harness from chris s (a light pod at only 3.5kg ava x-alps) I camped with chris c at a lovely wild camping spot in the Lakes (right beside the car this time). The moon was only half full but it was so bright that it kept me awake for several hours. We walked up from our camp site in the frosty morning light to some awesome views of the lakes and my 2.5 seconds under the local waterfall sufficed for a rather bracing morning wash.
Jules, Trias, Paolo and Scott came down from Aberdeen after staying in Biggar overnight and after meeting up at Shap there was the usual "oh shit we are late" dash down the motorway to Parlick again.
As we walked up at about 12 we could already see the first gaggle of about 6 gliders heading over the back but it was heartening to see steve e and marra were also late. When we got in the air there was an extended shadowy period and nobody was getting much height. The air was buoyant though and long glides out front to look for thermals were the order of the day. Gradually a sunnier period came along and i just managed to stop myself leaving with chris c in a reasonable thermal before the sun arrived and hence found myself in good position to join steve e and marra who were climbing well out front in the first of the sun.
Soon i was committed over the back but the lowest of the three but we all found individual bitty climbs coming from the heathery bowls for the first few k with steve e doing a lot of pimping above me and marra.
On the first proper glide I was confused to see steve e and marra heading s of downwind to an open valley well to the sunny side of what looked like a nice cloud over the high ground and kept to my own line for a bit but heavy sink persuaded me that they knew something i didn't and i scuttled sideways to where they were now maintaining in zeros in the valley which looked like a distinct improvement over my 3.5m/s down. In retrospect, base was still low that early in the day and it may have just been ground clearance they were going for.
Now well below the other two i was forced to run downwind over down going terrain towards a reservoir (same reservoir in pics from last week) and was relieved to pick out a nice core which boosted me up to the other two but not before they had spotted me and pimped again.
Even the strong cores were weakening and spreading out as they approached base and I've noticed before that I am rubbish at climbing in weak stuff. My temptation to bank it up in the surges you get in a wide core or a series of linked weak cores doesn't work so well and the energy conversion of steve's awesome 7.5 (?) aspect ratio comp wing and the wide flat circles he was flying were leaving me for dead in the top few hundred metres.
The next climb was straight forward over a huge felled area of forestry on a col at the end of the valley leading up from the reservoir and finally I was up level with steve. It was marra's turn to be low as we glided on towards Ingleton and again i was confused by the messing about (perhaps as steve e waited for marra) as if on my own I would have blasted straight on for the next cloud over the high ground.
Unfortunately I missed the next good climb that steve got - he got ahead after finding a lifty line along the back end of a cloud well below base while I was distracted by working a weak thermal and keeping an eye on marra below. That left me with a long glide over high ground in sink towards hawkswick (a popular dales takeoff) and i ended up diving over the back of it in wind that was now about trim speed or just above to try and catch marra climbing in the next lee/valley. However, that was a bit of an optimistic move considering the distance i was below him and the wind strength and I ended up pinned on the next ridge leading up to Great Whernside above the village of Kettleburn. After an uncomfortable 10 or 15 minutes trying to climb out in very rough air (big surges and 90 degree yaws at times) which was possibly a bit of mild downgoing wave from the ridge in front. Wind speed was more than trim speed during the gusts and soon I decided now or never and went with a rough one but was unable to get more than a few partially lifty turns in before the hillside climbed to meet my ineffective efforts and I landed going backwards up the gentle slope pockmarked with hundreds of 5m diameter craters which I decided might be old mine workings.
So, a bit relieved to be down safe but rather unsatisfied with the end result (50k). Well done trias (75k) and jules (70k) who got away a bit later from take off but ended up several valleys further n and to marra (80k) and steve e (114k) who threaded the danger area and the middlesborough and newcastle airspaces perfectly.
Overall the flight was frustrating as i had learned the week before the importance of being high as you approach the end of high ground and also frustrating as i felt i had followed the other guys rather than flown my own flight. On the other hand it was good to fly with two top pilots and reviewing the flight in SeeYou against steve e's tracklog i didn't do a whole lot wrong.
Retrieve was entertaining as dave s (a local dales pilot) picked me up and then responded to a desperate plea by ali g (for it was he) and turned round and drove me 10 miles back at Ali's car back at Hawkswick. I then drove his chip oil powered diesel to Sedgefield between Durham and Middlesborough and he returned the favour by taking me past his home in Hexham and on to Carlisle where i caught up with chris c and my own car again. Home by 10 so not too bad.
Julian's write up is here
Track log is here
After picking up a demo harness from chris s (a light pod at only 3.5kg ava x-alps) I camped with chris c at a lovely wild camping spot in the Lakes (right beside the car this time). The moon was only half full but it was so bright that it kept me awake for several hours. We walked up from our camp site in the frosty morning light to some awesome views of the lakes and my 2.5 seconds under the local waterfall sufficed for a rather bracing morning wash.
Jules, Trias, Paolo and Scott came down from Aberdeen after staying in Biggar overnight and after meeting up at Shap there was the usual "oh shit we are late" dash down the motorway to Parlick again.
As we walked up at about 12 we could already see the first gaggle of about 6 gliders heading over the back but it was heartening to see steve e and marra were also late. When we got in the air there was an extended shadowy period and nobody was getting much height. The air was buoyant though and long glides out front to look for thermals were the order of the day. Gradually a sunnier period came along and i just managed to stop myself leaving with chris c in a reasonable thermal before the sun arrived and hence found myself in good position to join steve e and marra who were climbing well out front in the first of the sun.
Soon i was committed over the back but the lowest of the three but we all found individual bitty climbs coming from the heathery bowls for the first few k with steve e doing a lot of pimping above me and marra.
On the first proper glide I was confused to see steve e and marra heading s of downwind to an open valley well to the sunny side of what looked like a nice cloud over the high ground and kept to my own line for a bit but heavy sink persuaded me that they knew something i didn't and i scuttled sideways to where they were now maintaining in zeros in the valley which looked like a distinct improvement over my 3.5m/s down. In retrospect, base was still low that early in the day and it may have just been ground clearance they were going for.
Now well below the other two i was forced to run downwind over down going terrain towards a reservoir (same reservoir in pics from last week) and was relieved to pick out a nice core which boosted me up to the other two but not before they had spotted me and pimped again.
Even the strong cores were weakening and spreading out as they approached base and I've noticed before that I am rubbish at climbing in weak stuff. My temptation to bank it up in the surges you get in a wide core or a series of linked weak cores doesn't work so well and the energy conversion of steve's awesome 7.5 (?) aspect ratio comp wing and the wide flat circles he was flying were leaving me for dead in the top few hundred metres.
The next climb was straight forward over a huge felled area of forestry on a col at the end of the valley leading up from the reservoir and finally I was up level with steve. It was marra's turn to be low as we glided on towards Ingleton and again i was confused by the messing about (perhaps as steve e waited for marra) as if on my own I would have blasted straight on for the next cloud over the high ground.
Unfortunately I missed the next good climb that steve got - he got ahead after finding a lifty line along the back end of a cloud well below base while I was distracted by working a weak thermal and keeping an eye on marra below. That left me with a long glide over high ground in sink towards hawkswick (a popular dales takeoff) and i ended up diving over the back of it in wind that was now about trim speed or just above to try and catch marra climbing in the next lee/valley. However, that was a bit of an optimistic move considering the distance i was below him and the wind strength and I ended up pinned on the next ridge leading up to Great Whernside above the village of Kettleburn. After an uncomfortable 10 or 15 minutes trying to climb out in very rough air (big surges and 90 degree yaws at times) which was possibly a bit of mild downgoing wave from the ridge in front. Wind speed was more than trim speed during the gusts and soon I decided now or never and went with a rough one but was unable to get more than a few partially lifty turns in before the hillside climbed to meet my ineffective efforts and I landed going backwards up the gentle slope pockmarked with hundreds of 5m diameter craters which I decided might be old mine workings.
So, a bit relieved to be down safe but rather unsatisfied with the end result (50k). Well done trias (75k) and jules (70k) who got away a bit later from take off but ended up several valleys further n and to marra (80k) and steve e (114k) who threaded the danger area and the middlesborough and newcastle airspaces perfectly.
Overall the flight was frustrating as i had learned the week before the importance of being high as you approach the end of high ground and also frustrating as i felt i had followed the other guys rather than flown my own flight. On the other hand it was good to fly with two top pilots and reviewing the flight in SeeYou against steve e's tracklog i didn't do a whole lot wrong.
Retrieve was entertaining as dave s (a local dales pilot) picked me up and then responded to a desperate plea by ali g (for it was he) and turned round and drove me 10 miles back at Ali's car back at Hawkswick. I then drove his chip oil powered diesel to Sedgefield between Durham and Middlesborough and he returned the favour by taking me past his home in Hexham and on to Carlisle where i caught up with chris c and my own car again. Home by 10 so not too bad.
Julian's write up is here
Track log is here
Parlick to Leyburn 29th Mar 2009
Trias and I camped on top of Clough Head on Saturday night. The sky was amazingly clear and it was pretty cold at maybe -5C. Sunday dawned cold and clear and the views of Blencathra in the morning light were spectacular but after the largest hot chocolate Kendal could offer we were warmed up again and thinking about where to go.
looking n to Blencathra at 7am or was it 6am - the clocks had just changed!
Site choice was difficult as we didn't know where any were but a few phone calls later we had settled on Parlick near Lancaster as being far enough s to not be too windy (although david t was not convinced) and far enough w to allow for a long flight before getting to the complicated airspace on the e side of the yorkshire dales. David was far to the S (peak district) and heading further s (Long Mynd) which meant my copy his airspace map plan was not working out. I did ask the "what is the airspace like 100k downwind from here?" question of several people at take off but you feel like a bit of a tit asking it in the first place and all the guys who would have known were already in the air.
Jules was the first to notice me getting the first strong climb out of the day and headed my way just when 20 other gliders were trying the other end of the ridge. when my 3 metre climb fizzled (inversion?) still a few hundred metres below base i found some sink and dropped down to join jules in a weaker core that was drifting nicely over the the high ground behind the hill and it was great to circle wing tip to wing tip for the first few k (we both admitted later to quite enjoying leading out in front of all the local pilots).
jules joining the dots
After a few sideways moves to clouds we got established on the mother of all cloud streets where the flying was just too easy. Behind us a big gaggle of about 15 gliders was chasing (trias included?) and there also seemed to be a gaggle on another street 5k to the south.
radio chat indicated another gaggle to the s over the reservoir
As we crossed the flatlands before the start of the Dales Jules pulled ahead a glide or two and i didn't see him again although he was always just ahead. Towards the end of the Dales crossing and thinking of airspace again i waited for a blue gradient and a red gin who were just behind who I assumed were local fliers but in fact, as i found out later, were paolo and scott from Aberdeen. Unfortunately i missed the climb from the last big hill of the Dales and was on the ground not long after just before the A1 (75k) and instead watched Paulo and Scott climb up to an awesome street leading ne. You have to be pretty crap to stuff it up on such an epic day!
paolo and scott climb above my head
awesome street leads downwind to the ne for paolo and scott
Because I was over 1000m for almost the whole flight it did feel like true flatland flying. However, getting a lift back through Hawes in the heart of the Dales didn't feel like flatlands - beautiful country. It was interesting to rely on clouds all the time and not be thinking so much about what ground features they were connected to as this is very different to most of the flying i do. Even though the wind was quite strong (25kph) the air was very smooth through the whole flight and stress levels were pretty much zero. So, less intense compared to mountain flying but still with the subtlety needed for an enjoyable game!
Congratulations to trias on his first 50+km flight in the uk! Retrieve was epic - well done to trias for getting to the car eventually (10pm) and also thanks to local pilot Mike Sumnter from Leyburn who gave me a lift back through the Dales to Ingleton.
Track log for the flight is here.
Scott r's write up for the same day is here.
looking n to Blencathra at 7am or was it 6am - the clocks had just changed!
Site choice was difficult as we didn't know where any were but a few phone calls later we had settled on Parlick near Lancaster as being far enough s to not be too windy (although david t was not convinced) and far enough w to allow for a long flight before getting to the complicated airspace on the e side of the yorkshire dales. David was far to the S (peak district) and heading further s (Long Mynd) which meant my copy his airspace map plan was not working out. I did ask the "what is the airspace like 100k downwind from here?" question of several people at take off but you feel like a bit of a tit asking it in the first place and all the guys who would have known were already in the air.
Jules was the first to notice me getting the first strong climb out of the day and headed my way just when 20 other gliders were trying the other end of the ridge. when my 3 metre climb fizzled (inversion?) still a few hundred metres below base i found some sink and dropped down to join jules in a weaker core that was drifting nicely over the the high ground behind the hill and it was great to circle wing tip to wing tip for the first few k (we both admitted later to quite enjoying leading out in front of all the local pilots).
jules joining the dots
After a few sideways moves to clouds we got established on the mother of all cloud streets where the flying was just too easy. Behind us a big gaggle of about 15 gliders was chasing (trias included?) and there also seemed to be a gaggle on another street 5k to the south.
radio chat indicated another gaggle to the s over the reservoir
As we crossed the flatlands before the start of the Dales Jules pulled ahead a glide or two and i didn't see him again although he was always just ahead. Towards the end of the Dales crossing and thinking of airspace again i waited for a blue gradient and a red gin who were just behind who I assumed were local fliers but in fact, as i found out later, were paolo and scott from Aberdeen. Unfortunately i missed the climb from the last big hill of the Dales and was on the ground not long after just before the A1 (75k) and instead watched Paulo and Scott climb up to an awesome street leading ne. You have to be pretty crap to stuff it up on such an epic day!
paolo and scott climb above my head
awesome street leads downwind to the ne for paolo and scott
Because I was over 1000m for almost the whole flight it did feel like true flatland flying. However, getting a lift back through Hawes in the heart of the Dales didn't feel like flatlands - beautiful country. It was interesting to rely on clouds all the time and not be thinking so much about what ground features they were connected to as this is very different to most of the flying i do. Even though the wind was quite strong (25kph) the air was very smooth through the whole flight and stress levels were pretty much zero. So, less intense compared to mountain flying but still with the subtlety needed for an enjoyable game!
Congratulations to trias on his first 50+km flight in the uk! Retrieve was epic - well done to trias for getting to the car eventually (10pm) and also thanks to local pilot Mike Sumnter from Leyburn who gave me a lift back through the Dales to Ingleton.
Track log for the flight is here.
Scott r's write up for the same day is here.
Ben Leanachan - Braco 21st March 2009
A windy day in the central highlands with <800m base and buoyant frontal air - managed a couple of hours and 40k - ben leanachan - s end glen ample - lochearnhead - near braco.
6/8 cloud initially with some decent sized clouds showing in the gaps. At the bottom of glen ogle i left trias and paul m to their weak thermals leading out over the water decided to try going south first to glen ample - the bluest bit of sky around. i was fortunate to find Ben Our was soarable from right down in the bracken on the s side of the loch (bob g was higher later and not so lucky)
lochearnhead village bottom right (photo by trias)
looking east along loch earn (photo by trias)
The south end of glen ample was a bit stressful as my blue hole filled in - full bar and big ears were needed to keep away from clouds with mountains in them and the venturi between Ben Each and Stuc a Chroin was quite strong and rough.
However, once halfway back up to lochearnhead the flight was enjoyable again and i was able to thermal and soar along to St Fillans before heading SE for a low save in Glen Artney thanks to 3 buzzards and a honking black cloud before a landing a k or two NW of Braco Castle on the edge of Glen Lichorn. I blew the last climb which was a good one and would have probably got me across the A9 and into the Ochil hills.
My max ground speed was 73k so just as well I was on the ground by half one before the wind picked up further. Track log for the flight is here
photo by trias
6/8 cloud initially with some decent sized clouds showing in the gaps. At the bottom of glen ogle i left trias and paul m to their weak thermals leading out over the water decided to try going south first to glen ample - the bluest bit of sky around. i was fortunate to find Ben Our was soarable from right down in the bracken on the s side of the loch (bob g was higher later and not so lucky)
lochearnhead village bottom right (photo by trias) looking east along loch earn (photo by trias)The south end of glen ample was a bit stressful as my blue hole filled in - full bar and big ears were needed to keep away from clouds with mountains in them and the venturi between Ben Each and Stuc a Chroin was quite strong and rough.
However, once halfway back up to lochearnhead the flight was enjoyable again and i was able to thermal and soar along to St Fillans before heading SE for a low save in Glen Artney thanks to 3 buzzards and a honking black cloud before a landing a k or two NW of Braco Castle on the edge of Glen Lichorn. I blew the last climb which was a good one and would have probably got me across the A9 and into the Ochil hills.
My max ground speed was 73k so just as well I was on the ground by half one before the wind picked up further. Track log for the flight is here
photo by trias
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