Flight

Another great day at the Dyke.

Slightly later start due to the lighter winds and climbed out on my own. Saw Craig climbing out as well so waited a bit for him at base but he headed back to the hill.
As the sky was looking alright downwind and it was due to go SW I thought it was worth a punt going on my own.

With no-one else to help find that next elusive thermal I drifted with any lift as far as I could until I spotted a field in the sun near the A27 that was being harvested. As a bonus it was in a hollow with a ridge downwind of it and it produced one of the strongest climbs I had all day.

That got me to Lewes which was in shade but generated another good climb to base.
Then it was decision time and initially I chose the inland route towards the Gliding Club near Ringmer but it then shaded over and the better sun was to the south so I went with the wind towards fields in the sun near Hailsham.
The SBF was well defined with curtain cloud hanging out of the cumulus base around Eastbourne and looking further east it had pushed quite far inland already.

Took the same route around the Pevensey Levels as wednesday and then when I got to abeam Battle hit the SBF that had pushed inland.

It was surprisingly smooth so I had great fun playing in the clouds and enjoying the abundant lift as I transitioned over the river that runs into Rye.

Got a good climb off the fields in the sun next to Bodiam Castle marked by gulls.
Flew along the SBF until I got towards Ashford when the high cloud came over and things got a bit slow in the shade.

Drifted over Ashford expecting to land getting nothing and then spotted some gulls climbing out of a field low on the far side of town.
Jumped on the bar, groundspeed 70km/hr and down to about 400ft agl when I connected with a good climb that got be up to 3000ft.

Approaching Canterbury, back down to about 700ft and 94km from the Dyke there was no sun on the ground and I was contemplating landing just short of 100km.