I thought the day would be fantastic and I also thought it would be SW or SSW. Mick, Glyn, Martin and Geoff and I met in Newtown with a view to going to Clatter. It was supposed to be cloudy in the morning, but clearing and light winds until the afternoon. When we got there it was 8/8 cirrus, but nice cloud streets were extending in front, over and behind us. It was, however, off to the south. So we waited and the cumulus dispersed, leaving only the grey cirrus and not a patch of sun for miles. Mick had a couple of hops, but it wasn’t possible to stay up. So we waited.

We tried to follow the advice given in this month’s Skywings and work towards our parawaiting certificates, but the boys got bored, so I got out my emergency anti-boredom kit. I’ve been lugging it around Europe for 2 years and never used it, but today the mini-kite came out of the bottom of my harness. Martin flew it and Mick got to have the fun of untangling the knots after.

The sun came out and wave started to set up so we did some cloud appreciation. When we got bored of that, we played categories. The wind kept picking up and gusting through, so at 3pm we decided to can it and go to a tea room. Glyn was being the sensible one today. While the high cloud was around, he deemed the conditions ‘not very good’. When the wave set up, he thought ‘it probably wasn’t going to be very nice’. He usually thrives in these conditions, so we were a little shocked he didn’t get his wing out. So just as we had all finished packing up, the wind came more on and Glyn decided to give it a go after all. He proved his theory… it wasn’t very nice in the air. Tea room time. The cafe in Caersws makes the best cream teas ever, so we indulged ourselves in afternoon tea and cake and scones. And when we emerged some time later the sky was still full of wave.

Off out tonight to celebrate Michaela’s birthday.

See photos of today.

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