if only i had the balls of Miskin

[gary stenhouse]

well ariving rather lat at hogden law at 3 never seen such good clouds on the way over, though the wind was off to the east a bit. on the walk up it is the first time i have seen a proper dust devil break off infront of us. things were scratchy at first and then the big one came and as climbing out i was trying to check will i mis airspace, or will i ever see civilisation again, i decided to push out to clear the airspace when if i had climbed to base i think i wold of missed it as my drift was easterly, so basicly i decided i had water no food a gps with 3 hours battery life no standard compas or map, i would of not made it out before dark.

still probably some of the best thermals that i have had though rough at times in northumberland.

next time bigger balls and be possitive that ou make the other side.

cheers gary

[milleboy]

Isn't the 'balls of miskin' a Jethro Tull album?

[ron freeman]

Nothing to do with balls Gary.. XC is all about planning, preparation & knowing the area that you are flying in a westerly drift is good as to avoid the Otterburn danger area & there are plenty of access roads over the back.

I'm well pi..ed off ! I would of been there but due to a collection of problems I missed another good day in the Cheviots.. I think a big xc was on the cards today but there is always another day..

[gary stenhouse]

your totaly right, i think if i had been there earlier and had done a bit more planing then i think there was no doubt that a northumbrian record would of been set. even when the see breeze got to us the thermals were still fast and furious and were plentiful. my airmap was fantastic and it was quickly clear that it woas only going to take a small westerley drift to mis the first airspace. after that it would of been forests and bears to worry about. however i studied things last night and it looks possible to land at stranragh and do 200k.

cheers gary

[Graeme Gilroy]

Il agree with ye there Gary about the balls ! Took off and it was up up up nearly shat myself as av not experienced that before vario going crazy and pushed out as had seen you three out there previously and just a bit to far then hit some sink and did not think I had enough height to get back to hill at sufficient height to be able to top up again (bigger balls read) so just headed out to car as i also thought it was picking up so better safe than sorry ! if ye saw anyglaring errors I made let me know
Cheers
Graeme

[brian day]

& there are plenty of access roads over the back

Even on a 1;25000 map the nearest track is 16.5km away, the nearest road 31km away, and land that looks like it could house a few dinosaurs in between. It's a ballsy one with a good cloud base, but at the time we were flying the sea air came in making the sky blue out for about 40minutes, the only cloud that formed after that I was 50ft short of before having to push foreward again and that was 1700 above take off, which was close to the bottom of the hill.
Not the day or the time to go unfortunately.
We don't get many ene with good weather, so it will be difficult to get to grips with the hill and the route out back, but certainly the best flying in the Cheviots,,,,,except for the other NE hill, which has a more obvious route to follow out back, especially if it's slightly more to the north.
I'm sure we'll be back

[ron freeman]

Brian, Kidland forest is only 3k over the back with track access from Alwinton (7k) head to the north side of Bloodybush edge (3k) towards Uswayford (6k) then on to Windy gyle (8k) after that your plain sailing with lots of good roads.

Paragliders are a lot less work that hanggliders when its comes to XC & walk outs ! the Cheviot area is blessed with plenty of good access.

Tip, have a figure worked out in your head of how much height you will need to glide to the next hill downwind or make the next track or road. Upto date paragliders these days should be able to glide down wind aprox 3 mile or 5k per 1000ft agl (all depending on your sink rate + experience)

Maybe more members flying club sites may become the norm so they get to know them much better