Geoff writes: there’s a golden rule for flying Long Mynd area sites in nil, or very light, winds. Don’t.

If it’s very light easterly, go to the Malverns. If it’s very light, or nil, westerly, go to Bradwell. We kind of lost sight of the bigger picture last night, having decided to go to listen to a band in Bishop’s Castle, so getting distracted. And, to be fair, the forecasts weren’t that stunningly accurate today. Waking up, a bit late this morning, it was clear it was going to be very, very light westerlies all day; whereas in the Peaks, it was s bit stronger, and, had we not been late up, would definitely have been my choice (though it’s always hard – drive three miles to the Long Mynd, or drive 90 miles to Bradwell). RASP was poor here, and in the Peaks, but really, being able to ridge soar in poor conditions whilst waiting for a thermal to come through is infinitely better than waiting, in poor conditions, for some bird to indicate a weak thermal, then launching into that. Which was what we spent most of the day doing at the Long Mynd.

The sky was quite good when we arrived, but rapidly clouded over, with no sun on launch for hours (though at the south end of the ridge, the training school tandems had a much better time – what a different three or four kilometres makes). Mostly, we just launched, scratched, and landed. Later on, it did get a bit better, with Martin doing the best, and getting pretty high, maybe a couple of thousand feet, around 4.30 or so. Judith also managed to get to the south end and back. But that was it. Other than Martin – and that was quite late given the sky – no chance of XC.

Whereas in the Peaks, loads of people went XC, with the best at the moment over 80km. It really is about time it started working down here – it has been an atrocious season so far for XCs in the Long Mynd area.

See photos of today.

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