Last Saturday I flew for 5 hours and nearly 100km from Blease Fell This was probably my best flight so I thought I’d put pen to paper and provide an account of what happened
The forecast looked good RASP showed Red - A supposed 5 star day in areas mainly to the East of the Lakes and in the Dales
It was forecast for Southerlies turning SW and I wanted to fly the hill behind our house – Blencathra This is my favourite site in the UK not just because its ‘our back garden’ but because it really is the most spectacular flying once you are up and above the ridge and flying over the spurs
My mind was on fell running at the start of the day – I’d planned to meet some friends who were taking part in a 105 mile Ultra Race around the Lakes (I’d done this a few years ago and knew how hard it was running for 35-40 hours over two nights non-stop) I wanted to meet up with them en-route and run along with them. I missed them at the Blencathra Centre checkpoint so I drove around to the next check point at Wolf Crags car park and ran along the old coach road to meet them near Clough Head a few miles out and then back with them to the car to bid them farewell to the next 60 miles!
Then I started thinking of flying
A call to the NHPC crew in the happy bus and I arranged to meet at the car park at Blease to help carry John (mad dog) Millers wing with mine up the fell. I’m always pleased to help John as well as to return all the help he has given us repairing and retrieving broken down cars over the years! This time was challenging though since my pack weight had increased to around 23-24kg (as I’d found loading up my wing to near the top end helped improve performance) so I was carrying my pack on my back and Johns lightweight 15kg pack on my front ! When John offered to take it back off me again nearing the top I didn’t hesitate to return it
Gary was first to take off (as normal) followed in close succession by Brian Day & Ron Don I followed 5 minutes later and John about 20 minutes after that.
Gary, Brian & Ron were quickly up onto the back ridge in a thermal up the Gate Gill gulley I was struggling to connect with this and just couldn’t quite get the height on the back ridge so soared in the gulley for some time waiting for something to come through John was scratching along the ridge at Blease take off not gaining any height. 20 minutes later both me and John were in the same situation whilst the other 3 had headed off toward Souther. (I chuckled to myself just imagining John swearing as the finger of doom was once again pointing to him)
My plan today was for a triangle to Ullock Pike, Scales/Souther and somewhere out toward Tewit Tarn at St Johns in the Vale I was confident of getting this at the very least.
Once I did get a climb well above the top I realised there was a lot of Westerly drift in it so I decided to head toward Souther It was also quite strong so I decided to turn round at Scales, I’d also seen Gary and Brian scratching low down along the front of the spurs struggling to get back. I was still high at Scales but in the strong SW wind was not gaining much height and getting roughed up in the lee of the ridges in front so I pushed out to the front of the spurs and headed for Gategill Fell which always works well. Speedbar on and halfway down the front of Gategill I dived into the westerly edge and into the gulley and up I went rapidly to gain enough height to get back to Blease and again to the back ridge. At this point I joined Gary and Brian and the three of us circled in a thermal to a good height before Gary & Brian headed across toward Lonscale Fell and Skiddaw. I stuck with the thermal to get to around 3000 foot as I watched Gary and Brian sinking out on the crossing. Then back on speedbar against the freshening SW wind and straight to Jenkin flying over the two of them Gary radioed me “How did you get that height” I knew this was going to be a good day!
I headed straight for the gulley beyond Jenkin expecting to be catapulted skyward but got nothing so searching further out on the broad grassy ridge just to the right of the gulley I got a strong thermal (this often seems to work) and got up and flew to Skiddaw Little Man to join Mad Dog and Ron Don Spectacular flying behind Dodd and over Carlside and onto the grassy slopes of Little Man scratching up to the top and waving to the walkers. Fantastic fun. I then noticed clouds starting to generate out over Bassenthwaite and hoped to get the convergence setting up out front, so I thermalled out way above Dodd and pushed forward Ron and Mad Dog seemed to be making good progress and climbing out front. I just couldn’t seem to connect with anything so headed back to Ullock Pike and Skiddaw to look down over the summit and get the second turnpoint of the triangle. After enjoying the powerful thermals around Carlside and the Westerly gullies I decided to head back to Blease. I picked up a belter off Lonscale Fell that took me up to 4000 foot and nicely back to Blease. At that point I spotted Ron Don high out front and Brian Day heading back to Blease as well. When I got their I realised that pushing out front (to get the third point of the triangle) wasn’t an option (all blue no clouds and strong WSW wind) so I headed toward Scales again I got their with plenty of height so thought I’d chance attempting an out and return to Blease again. So I progressed very slowly at three quarter speedbar back along the front of the ridges to the take off at Blease and only just managing it.
I then spotted Jackie Knights heading to Clough and maintaining a good height so I thought that maybe the triangle was possible As I headed out over Threlkeld I got a nice climb but realised I wasn’t going to get the final turnpoint and back to Blease in such a strong WSW wind so my mind turned to flying XC open distance I stuck with the thermal over Threlkeld which took me from around 1600 foot back to 3500 foot and more as I drifted back to Souther This is where I spotted Mad Dog Miller flying the rising ground near Greystoke and thermalling away merrily so I set off to join him as I was loosing height. I picked up the thermal below John and gradually climbed to eventually get to Johns height. John really is great at sniffing out the thermals and we flew together for some time circling around one another toward the M6 If I hadn’t spotted John I think I may well have gone down much earlier. This was one of the highlights of the flight for me, to fly together with John but also to look back at the Lakes from the flat lands beyond Souther was a unique experience As we approached the M6 we both hit sink and I headed quickly downwind of some fields just being ploughed and it worked, John was now behind me and struggling for lift but headed in my direction I watched him sink out as I got a strong climb upto over 4000 foot. I watched John land, and realised I wasn’t going to get anymore help from here with identifying thermals, then I heard Ali Guthrie and Dave Smart on the radio talking to Mara Martin flying his sailplane. I heard Ali mutter something about being on the drink the night before and not feeling to grand, still, I didn’t expect that to affect Skygod Guthrie I radioed Ali as I couldn’t see him or any other pilots around. At that point Ali told me he was just about down and I spotted him ahead just landing. I also was sinking out now and loosing height rapidly Ali suggested I fly over him where a group of swallows were going up and once again I connected with a booming thermal This one taking me to over 5000 foot (Thanks Ali) Further advice from Mara and Ali to head East and not get downed in the sea air. I could see the grey hazy air coming in from the North of me and also the convergence clouds hanging down at the edge of the sea breeze front (SBF) and this was the key to a lot of the flight from here. Rather than heading to far inland of the sea breeze I was able to climb in the clouds at the convergence line. This was just amazing because I was able to use this to maintain height of above 5000 foot all the way to the Pennines where I could see as far South as Great Dunn Fell Golf Ball to Hartside Cafe that I was flying North of. Before flying beyond the Pennines into the sink toward Alston I made sure I topped up as much as height as possible and picked up a climb that took me to 5700 foot again on the edge of the SBF I flew over Alston and could see the road that I’ve travelled along so many times between the A69 and Penrith I was ecstatic This was just amazing to fly past this area so high and to be able to look back at Cross Fell, Alston and Whitfield as I headed towards the North East. I just thought this can’t get any better when I spotted Hexham and the smoke from the chimneys at Egger then the A69 in the distance. I knew I couldn’t fly to far inland of Hexham (due to airspace) and so I decided to fly to the West of Hexham to be on the safe side It was now getting on toward five o’clock and the SBF was gone and the clouds were dissipating There was mainly blue sky ahead I knew that it was likely I’d go down around Hexham so I went on my final glide trying to sniff out any last remaining lift to get me to the A69 I was still quite high above 4000 foot so I managed to make it past the A69 and on past Hexham toward Acomb where the sink finally got me and I landed a very happy man after 5 hours of flying.
Before I packed up I text Gary to ask if he’d had a good flight and where he’d got to, and as expected within a minute or two he called me and told me he’d landed in Hexham, “brilliant” I said we’ll get a retrieve back together, but he’d only been joking and when he realized I that wasn’t, there was a long pause and a voice of disbelief exclaimed “Bloody Hell Chris” Again another sense of overwhelming satisfaction came over me! As always though Gary was just happy I’d flown a good flight and it is great to have the support of the fellow skygods to help you along the way in this sport
Before finishing this account I must add a further description of après flight adventures which may provide further entertainment Whilst speaking to Gary an old woman walked from the farmhouse whose field I’d landed in looking very serious I cut Gary off to prepare myself for a telling off, but instead she exclaimed how do you propose to get back with that huge pack and insisted that she get her car from the farmhouse 50 yards away and drive me to the road because it would be ridiculous to carry it ! She then went on to say she’d take me wherever I wanted and that I should have tea with her, I politely declined her offer and instead said I’d walk to the pub for a pint which I’d been looking forward too. So I set off and 5 minutes down the road I got to the Queens Arms in Acomb where the locals were enjoying what appeared to be a days session of heavy drinking. I was virtually accosted when I walked in and surrounded by a group of young lads who wanted to know every detail of what I’d done and then proceeded to take turns running around the pub with my pack on their backs taking photos of one another and literally bouncing off the walls whilst singing and shouting at the top of their voices. It took me sometime to get my pack back and to sneak off to a quiet corner out the way to enjoy my pint or two or was it three ?
A must say a very big thank you to Jan for coming to my rescue after a day of work (when I could have got the bus back like Kitt did, who it turns out landed in the same village about the same time, and apologies Kitt if I’d known we could have given you a lift)
