The forecast said sunshine and showers from lunch time, so we headed out at 11.30am, when the sky started to look more promising and people started to get high on the Mynd. It was overcast all day, but the showers were just one short period of a few spots and it was flyable all day. It was a struggle to get really high and I pushed out to start with and then went to both ends of the ridge, thinking I would extend any XC flight with a few turn points at the beginning of the flight. As I got higher I started to get bunged up again and it was playing havoc with my ears and balance, so my thermalling was a bit all over the place. After more than an hour in the air, I felt I needed to clear my sinuses and landed for an extended nose-blow.

Geoff, meanwhile, had got high and went over the back, landing at Craven Arms. He got a lift back with John and Lyn, who are pilots who also moved here from the Peaks, but have been too busy restoring a house to go out flying.

I spent the rest of the afternoon tandem flying with Mick. We had high hopes of going XC, but flat vario batteries (and lack of thermals) thwarted us. He managed to scratch back up to top land and change batteries, but our next attempt put us in the bottom landing and we gave up at that point. Next time…

See photos of today.

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