Just rambling

[MadDog]

Well…It was a van load of happy feet on the way back home from Clough Head on Saturday….even though a little earlier it hadn’t been so much a van, more a council rubbish collecting wagon, picking up the trash wherever it had landed down the road to Windermere, and even a little bit further…and I’m more than pleased to admit that I was more than happy to have been counted among that trash….Deep joy!
So, what more can I say about Clough Head, that I haven’t already said before?
It puts the “H” in hump, doesn’t it just….. But when it comes to good flying it ticks all the boxes and the pain of the long hump is soon forgotten, especially if you have good friends to help you carry the load…..thanks for that Brian
And you have to give credit to the Cumbrian club for the caring side that they have for their members….a lot of good people give up their valuable time for the good of others….. Running cross country courses, beginner’s courses, mountain flying courses
You name it, and you can get it…..and all for free
I’ve heard that Chris Little failed the beginner’s course!
Well done that club…..I wish I could afford the membership money…..but I’m just a poor pensioner down to my last gold ingot..
So, when we got to the take off on Clough it was a nice surprise to see this goodness in action with Dangerous Dave poring over local maps and a good group of Cumbrian pilots respectfully taking in all that local knowledge….and I suppose it makes a good change for them from driving the tractor all day….
I listened in for a while….all good stuff.
I’ve often wondered to myself how he got the name of “Dangerous Dave”….
He is such a good looking normal kind of fella….with a name like that you would expect to see some one like Rambo….Bandoliers of ammunition around his neck, AK 47s in each hand, knife clamped between his jaw..
But no….you couldn’t meet a nicer bloke…..wonder how he got that name?
He might be dangerous, but, I bet you he couldn’t beat Ron-Don at Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, especially after Ron has eaten one of Molly’s venison pies…even Desperate Dan couldn’t beat him!
And did I tell you that I had over three hours in the air on Saturday before I eventually landed?......that’s about the longest time I’ve spent impersonating a paraglider pilot since I got into this sport
The air above Clough was busy on Saturday, so I wanted to slink off to the south and the corner of Helveln just as soon as I could, but everybody that went that way seemed to come back low with their tails between their legs…
I watched somebody leave, who I had had my eye on, he seemed to be a canny pilot, always higher than me….
What else is new then?.
I followed him, him high, me low, him going up, me going down, onto the nearest part of the back ridge…..And that’s where I lost him, I was just so busy trying to stay up, that I had no time for sightseeing….some how or other I managed to make it to a gnarly crag above and behind Thirlspot, which I soon found out was the place where thermals go to die,. Just a knackers yard for dying, and already dead thermals….I think that the only thing keeping them up was me ….I upped and downed it here for a long while. Sometimes glancing at the back ridge, envying the high gliders there, the safety that they had in their altitude…I even spotted two gliders silhouetted in their insignificance within the black mass of the north face of Helveln, like two black ants crawling up the face….it was Brian and Gary I learnt later.
Why not me God?
Before long I was joined by two more gliders, one seemed to be out of the game although he was still flying, but the other seemed to have the key to my dilemma, I watched him as he headed for the bottom corner of Helveln, and in between slagging myself off for being such a loser and trying to stay above the top, I watched him struggle for a long while, and then he started to gain height….
Time to leave bonny lad….and I went….almost walking over the ground, scraping against the face, as I downwinded it, only turning when I had lift, and not at the end of the beat….and slowly and surely I started putting a few good cards in my hand…
And then it came, my one and only thermal of the day….right up that craggy face I went like a rocket out of milk bottle, right up the face where Brian and Gary had been earlier……Look no hands.
Now I ask you…..Isn’t it good when you get all that you want for Xmas?
At the top of Helveln, I stopped turning not wanting to get too far back, and not knowing the wind strength I pulled forward, and around the corner I could see the end of Thirlmere and danger and the beckoning safety of those safe landing fields stretching all the way to Grasmere
Out of the pit at last, but still too awed with all the mountains that were laid out below me, I think the transition from being so low, to being so high, so quickly had put the cork in the bottle and the big mountain just over the Grasmere/Keswick road seemed to be just too close for comfort and I wondered about the winds rolling over it and around it
But I was a happy soldier; I meandered my way back to the final ridge after Grasmere joining someone who was lower than me…..
Were the laws of the universe changing I asked myself?
Time to go, I thought….and off I went for a glide to Ambleside.
So that was it….mission accomplished….
I had listened to Dangerous Dave….and went and done the task…..a loser among winners, perhaps….some would say….and all that is left to do now is go to the doctors and see if he can give me some tablets to get this smile off me face!
So why am I boring you with this drivel?
Well, I am only passing on the knowledge that I gleaned that day….Yes its easier to go the high back way on the ridge run to Grasmere, but its not impossible to do it the low, slow front way…
But then…who am I to take advice from?
Well done Liam, who managed to fly to Thirlspot and back again….and Brian Nellist for just being so handsome
Enough said then?

[gary stenhouse]

Great ramblings as always and had us all worried after over 3 hours and your phone is ringing but but no answer? where could he be, surely not still flying he will be bored to death, then the next we here is you flying over rons and brians head. then 6k away i could see the sun shining off your smile you you showed us youngans that you still have got what it takes.

the master of the hedge trimmers and how to fly low and furious well done all and long may it continue

cheers Gary

[RonDon]

I second that. RonDon.

[Kay]

Love it John

From one of the 'Low' ones !

[Chris L]

I've never seen anyone so skillfully fly so low, for so far
A real gully hugging, scree skimming, grass cutting, leeside loving, sheep scaring XC from the mad dog
Respect dude

[AngusB]

Now, I know you don't need a patronising low-air-timer like me to say "Great one MadDog" but that sounds like an amazing flight & some very useful knowledge passed on...what I have to do now is remember it & put it to good use!
Cheers for the info John.