Category: Flights
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Things are looking up :-)
After 4.5 hours’ flying last Friday and Saturday I can officially say that things are looking up after what’s been a very long wet and windy winter here in the UK. Cumulus clouds are gracing our skies once again, and I’ve been up at cloudbase for the first time in five months, wahoo! I’ve even…
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In the bleak mid-winter
This time of year, unless you’re lucky enough have a holiday booked to South America, Africa or Australia, can be a pretty bleak time for UK pilots. And this winter is no exception – we’ve had a succession of windy and stormy spells, interspersed with periods of claggy grey “meh” weather, with only the very…
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2018 – Bring it on!
So, six days into 2018 and I have flown! Ok, so the flight only lasted eight minutes, but it was a fun mission! Fellow desperate optimist, Tim Bishop, picked me up in Bath at 0615 and by 0700 we were walking up Ubley in darkness only punctuated by the light of the moon (having forgotten…
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About bloody time too… :-)
So finally, on June 3rd, a whole two months into the season, I flew my first 100km+ flight of the year. (By way of comparison, by the same time last year I’d flown three 100km+ flights, although interestingly, in 2015 I didn’t fly my first 100km+ flight until 4th June). Through a combination of poorish…
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A Mountain Masterclass
Back in February my old friend Marcus King tipped a few of us in the Avon Club off about Gavin McClurg’s Mountain Masterclass in the Lake District in April, and a couple of us booked up straight away. Gavin has always been a bit of a hero of mine through his films and amazing flights…
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Bike, Hike & Fly!
I’d watched this video on Monday and having already thought about doing a hike and fly sometime this week, it inspired me to add a bike ride to my plans in a homage to these three superheroes/nutters who cycled 100 miles from Interlaken to Chamonix, hiked/climbed up Mont Blanc, flew down, then cycled the 100 miles…
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Is it finally all over?
So, after two successive 50km Sundays in October, I wonder if this season is finally over? On Sunday 2nd I had a wonderful aerial tour of the Brecon Beacons, and just a week later I had a really lovely 5okm flight from Ubley down to near Taunton. It didn’t take too long before we climbed out…
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A Tour of the Brecon Beacons
Wow, for early October yesterday (Sunday 2nd) was pretty special – light winds, 4500’+ cloudbase, and some pretty reasonable thermals! After some initial communication confusion (mentioning no names, but not one of us :-)) five of us headed over to Wales in my car (Nick Smith, Tim Crozier-Cole, RJ Macaulay and Keiron ?) and made…
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Wow, what an August!
After a very mediocre June and July we were owed some good flying weather, and I think it’s fair to say it came good! I’d had some fun flights in July, including three flights from Selsley, however with two at 83kms and one 68kms, and without a 100km+ flight since my flight from the Malverns to…
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Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
Saturday 30th July was a busy day on Selsley what with Avon hosting a round of the Advance BCC there, and lots of other pilots descending on the hill on the promise of a good NW’ly day. I arrived with Rich Osborne and Annee Brekenridge at about 1045 just as the first gliders got airborne in the…
Advance paragliders in the West Country 