Great new book

I ordered this book a couple of weeks back. Haven't had much time to actually read it but what I have read has been really interesting - makes quite a change from the Pilot Handbook or Touching Cloudbase.

As i'm off to the Alps very shortly its come at the perfect time and from what i've seen it seems to cover everything i could possibly want to know about thermal flying.

I ordered my copy from Northern Paragliding and received it the very next day - how's that for service!

Long Mynd - 25th August 2007 (2)

Eventually conditions calmed down a bit and taking my wing a bit further down the hill I figured i'd be able to launch safely enough. Sensibly waiting to see a few others do this first I decided it was my time again. Again I made a perfect launch and was soon flying high above the hill and connecting with the odd thermal and drifting back.

At one point i'd probably drifted too far back as I struggled to make it back to the hill, but I guess I learnt something. The crowds had left and there were a few pilots in the sky but i had a lovely flight with plenty of space to myself to play around.



It had been a magic day and I didn't want to land, but the prospect of a 2-3 hr journey back to Milton Keynes meant that I had to cut the flight shorter than I would have liked - I also needed to eat!



I set up for another top-landing but this time didn't get it quite right and so had to correct my approach and landed nicely at the back of launch. If only it had been closer to home, I would have flown until the sunset. As I pulled away in the car the sky was still full of people enjoying the last of the day.

Long Mynd - 25th August 2007

Having kept a close eye on the weather, it all looked set for the Mynd - a site I hadn't flown before but had heard a lot about. Given that it is 2-3hrs from my house I wanted a guaranteed day (or as near as possible). Leaving a little later than planned I hit bank-holiday traffic before Shrewsbury and not seeing a whisper of wind thought i'd had a wasted journey. Eventuall I navigated my way through Church Stretton and up towards the site. On the way I was convinced there would be no wind and so was looking forward to rambling around the hills for the day as it looked so lovely. The, as I rounded a bend I could see a sky full of paragliders and my dissapointment turned to euphoria - it was flyable.

I parked and walked onto launch, took a few photos and got my gear sorted. Clipped in and the wind died. Everyone was grounded immediately. Eventually it became clear that this might last a while so I unclipped, got out of my flying suit and settled down for a lie down in the warm sun.
Someone had a remote control paraglider complete with action-man pilot which kept people amused, then all of a sudden the wind switched on and people were taking off all over the hill. I got ready and was soon in the air myself. I stayed up for 45 mins or so, catching a few thermals and getting nice and high. I headed down the ridge where it was quieter and settled into flying and taking in the beautiful landscape. Eventually I felt like I wanted a rest and so headed back to launch intending to top-land. For once this went like a dream and I made a text-book landing.

By this time conditions had picked up a bit and so I had my lunch and waited for things to calm down a bit.

Dunstable - 17th August 2007

Given the previous failure at Dunstable I was keen to fly and so leaving work early I arrived on a flyable day to find many people in the air and my friend Richard there also. I got off first go this time and enjoyed a 25 minutes or so wafting around. Eventually things died off and we bottom landed. The hill didn't seem so hard as usual and satisfied with a sucessful flight I spend a while watching others fly and chatting to Richard back on top. The weather also looked promising for the weekend so I was happy have got back in the air.

Dunstable - 6th August 2007

Given the distinctly unusual summer we'd been having, coupled with study and work commitments I hadn't managed to fly since May in Greece. So, feeling like I wanted to get some airtime before I went to the Alps I headed to Dunstable. It was a little windy to say the least and I was content to sit out the gusty conditions watching others pitching around high above the hill. Eventually conditions calmed down and I attempted to launch, but kept on braking the wing too early letting it get properly overhead. Eventually I took a break but by the time I felt ready to give it another go the wind had dropped right off and I decided to head home and have my tea. Of course as I started packing my kit into the rucksack things picked up again for a brief spell and a few people got airborne once again. Still, it was a lovely day to be out, the sky was beautiful and I enjoyed myself taking pictures other people flying.

Paragliding photos now on Flickr

I've now added all my paragliding photos to Flickr. Click here or on the image above to view them.