Geoff writes: is this really August? Cool, windy, OK, at least it didn’t rain today.

We moved to the Mynd area three years ago, convinced it was generally a better area for flying than the Peak District. I remember many days in the Peaks, wishing we were at the Mynd, because it was less windy, better flying, better for XC…  but ever since we moved here, it has been consistently better in the Peaks! We are plagued here by westerlies with southerly components, a poor direction. And it is very rarely WNW or NW, a much better direction for here. To be honest, we’d move back to the Peak District, except for the absolute certainty it would be crap back there once we moved back, and epic down here. And Andy Wallis keeps trying to convince me we are better off here (but that’s just because he wants somewhere to stay when he comes down!).

Anyway, crap here today, but crap in the Peaks too (they flew, but no XCs), which makes me feel better. We had considered driving up there today, but decided it would be one or more of too windy, too cloudy, or a bad direction (give the airspace) so we stayed here. The only real option was Clatter, and probably had we gone early it might have been OK, but we thought it would blow out quickly. In the end, we stayed at home and worked, then went to do some archery, so it wasn’t a complete waste of a day. On the way, we drove past the Mynd launch, and saw one forlorn French hang glider pilot (in completely the wrong place) who has been in this area for nine days, and not yet flown. Still, he’s back to France on Sunday. Must be a relief for him.

And tomorrow, we’re off the the Blorenge Bash. Even if it’s not flyable, we’ll meet lots of old friends, including Nicky over from Spain, and also meet people we’ve known only online before, like Tom Payne (blog star). Should be fun, I’m looking forward to it.

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