Judith's blog

The forecast was for a breezy day, but people were flying the Long Mynd early on (8.30am). We packed for all occasions, and went up, only to find it gusty and completely overcast, with cloud base about 350′ ATO. We went down to Church Stretton to do some archery and within10 minutes the sun came out and it was hot and sunny. Within an hour cumulus started to form and the wind seemed to be dropping. Wendy confirmed this, so we rushed off back to the Mynd. On the drive out of Church Stretton we could see that the sunshine was very, very localised. Driving up the Mynd we were actually in cloud!

Once at the front, it was indeed flyable, but an air ambulance was on its way for a pilot who had broken his ankle, so we had to wait a while and the wind started to pick up again.

I was test flying an Aspen II, but was having the devil’s own job trying to launch it. I need to get used to Gradient gliders again. I’m sure it launches like my old Golden, but my Zoom launches so nicely that I have become very lazy. A couple of attempts and then a spectacular head-over-heels dragging and being whipped into the air later, I was airborne. Not dignified, but entertaining. Who says paragliding isn’t a spectator sport?

Cloud base was about 250 feet, it started to rain and conditions were getting stronger, so I landed after 40 minutes. We went home for a cup of tea with Helen and occasionally looked out of the window to see if it was worth going back up. At one point there was blue sky but a wave bar stuck on the ridge just like orographic cloud. Once it cleared, and people started to fly again we went back up and got to fly again. Cloud base was even lower by this point, somewhere around 200′ ATO. Lots of people were popping into and over the clouds. There were massive wave bars and the sky was spectacular. Interesting flying.

See photos of today.

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Another dismal day, although it wasn’t raining so much as spitting. In the middle of the day we went out to do some archery. There was someone keen waiting on the Mynd with a PG, but we drove past without stopping. On the way back at 5.15pm cloud base had lowered to about 30 feet above take off, so we drove home, although more people had arrived and they flew a kite on launch. We did see two of them flying at 6pm, but cloud base didn’t seem much higher and it was still drizzling in the garden.

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Geoff: Amazing day – it didn’t rain much, and wasn’t blown out all day! Very unusual.

Spent the morning working – our conference in November means gradually increasing amounts of work. Around 1.30, went off to do archery, and had a nice time. A few people there but not too many, and we shot OK, still at 50 yards, but plenty of golds.

Then drove back over the Long Mynd, wind dropping, people flying. We 3jammed it (maybe the flying had just started, and that was why no-one else 3jammed it). Flew for over an hour, whole ridge working, nice evening. Then off to the Crown in Wentnor for a few beers with Michaela, Martin and Mark the vet. Overall, a very pleasant day. No XCs, but a lot better than we have had for the past week.

See Nick Bubb’s photos of this evening.

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Rain, rain, go away.

To be fair, a couple of people did fly this morning, although it was pretty strong and they didn’t seem to stay in the air for very long. We ventured out to do some archery, but it started raining as soon as we strung the bows and we had to shelter for 10 minutes. We would do five minutes of shooting and would then have to shelter from more rain until we had enough and went home to do some work. We timed it perfectly… on the way home it really started to pour. So, two and a half hours out for 25 minutes of archery. Worth it? Not sure.

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The forecast for today was for it to begin N but go round to the W during the day. By 10am it was a good sky and we toyed with the idea of going to Llangollen, but were not sure if we would turn up there just in time for it to go off, so we decided to second guess the weather and wait for the wind to turn and then go to the Mynd. We went to do some archery, and whilst we were shooting the sky became overcast. At 12.45pm we got a 3jam from Chairman Dave to say that it was flyable at Llangollen and 10 people were in the air. Graeme reported nil wind at Sarn, and Rich reported the same from the Long Mynd, so we decided to go to the Lawley. This was for a couple of reasons; it is often windier there than the surrounding hills and if the wind turned west we would have more options.

We got to the Lawley and it was very light. Too light to soar. Eventually it picked up a little and birds started thermalling, so I launched and managed to maintain, get low, scratch back up and land back at launch. A second go had me flying out to some swallows, but I didn’t connect properly and went down.

There is only one field which is not in high crop below the Lawley at the moment, and it was wet grass. My glider and harness got soaked packing up. We called in at the Long Mynd on the way home and there were a few hopefuls around. Liz S. said she had seen a forecast which promised 7mph W in the evening, but we went home anyway. 6.30pm we could see the trees starting to move in the garden, so we got our stuff together and got a phone call from Bill S. to say it was going to be soarable. It was flyable for about 45mins and Geoff and I flew for half an hour.

See photos of today.

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The forecast today was for showers from mid-afternoon, so we didn’t expect much. Actually, it was fine, so we stopped on the Long Mynd at 10am, but there was no wind at all, so we carried on and did some archery. By 11.30am we couldn’t bear the sight of the epic sky any more, so headed off back up the hill. Despite the lack of wind, there had to be opportunities to launch into thermals… or so we thought!

Once we got ready, what there was of the wind turned SW (sometimes S), the clouds built and there was no sun in the valley. We didn’t see one bird that wasn’t flapping and the sailplanes were doing pretty rubbish too. By 2pm it was raining behind us and there was rain to the south, so we decided to can it and go home to do something useful. Typically, as we got home we could see people flying and getting above ridge height. The clouds kept growing but there was little lift and the wind was picking up. At one point I was cutting the grass and thought it must be blown out.

Once it calmed down again we went out for an evening boat about, which was pleasant, but unfulfilling, given how good the sky had been earlier on. We had a nice beer with Michaela to end off the day.

See photos of today.

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We started by writing off the day (forecast strong SW), and were going to go to do archery in Church Stretton. However, we saw three paragliders flying on the Long Mynd, so packed the PGs, and my hang glider, and went up. It was strong, but not too strong, for PGs. The clouds were very big, but the forecast was for them to decrease. I rigged my hang glider, Judith decided to wait. By the time I got rigged, the wind had picked up more, and all the PGs had landed – but the sky was getting better.

It was gusting around 30mph on launch. It was flyable for hang gliders, but I expected it to be strong and rough. Eventually, about 3.30 pm I launched (a king posted glider had launched about half an hour before that). Not surprisingly, it was strong and rough! A real workout. After about half an hour, I couldn’t be bothered to struggle with the turbulence any more, landed, and derigged. We went back to Plan A, shooting in Stretton. When we drove back over the Mynd, no-one was flying, it was still strong, and there were showers in the distance.

And the forecast for the next couple of days is even stronger winds. Judith went out partying at night. There are some photos, but she’s too embarrassed to put them up.

See photos of today.

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