Advance paragliders in the West Country

Two days ago on Wednesday 5th June I flew the the furthest I’ve ever flown, 163 km, or 101 miles (the unit I now believe UK PG XC flights should be measured in 🙂 ), from Hambledon Hill in Dorset to the most westerly point in Devon.

I took off at 1247 with a bit of assistance from Ben Friedland (helping me untangle my lines) and Ian Hobbis (pushing me forward off the hill! Yes, we all need a helping hand sometime!) and landed almost six hours later in a tiny hamlet called Mead (near Welcombe) pretty much as close to the Atlantic Ocean as I could do without getting damp! I’d flown from Dorset, through Somerset, and all the way across Devon, and if I’d carried on over the wooded valley as I was originally planning to, I would have landed in Cornwall! As it was I only chose where I did because I saw signs of life around the houses and I wanted to be able to hitch a lift to the main road rather than have to walk!

It was an absolutely fabulous flight, starting with 30 mins soaring the lovely hill in the middle of the beautiful Dorset countryside, followed by a tricky first 30km flown with my good friends Ben and Graham Richards, followed by some wonderful flying in and around the edges of some clouds, followed by a succession of low saves across Devon, followed by some spectacular views of the west coast of Devon and the Atlantic… Just magical!

I’m writing this on a train back from London to Bath (a similar length journey, but not nearly so much fun!), and I’ll add to this post later, but I wanted to get something posted as soon as possible rather than ending up waiting a week for the finished article…

So until it’s ready, please have a look at my photos on Flickr here, and take a look at an unedited video clip of me with my head in the clouds below.

Finally, you can see my tracklog in detail here.