| Flight details: | Two thermal flop over the back of Llangollen on Thursday 28th July 2011. Drove with the others in the British Paragliding Cup group to Llangollen (my first time there). It's an impressive steep site with excellent views over the adjacent hills and valleys.
Task was set for a 28km race to goal. After joining the thermal melee I flew to the other end of the ridge to chill out for a bit. I rejoined the melee for while, pulled big ears to escape the low cloud at 2150 feet, tracked down the ridge for a km then went to join three or four others who had reached the adjacent valley. Found another climb which was marked by feeding swallows. �Follow the swallow� I thought to myself; another thermal (or probably part of the same thermal) was marked by Graham Cummins who was thermalling a bit lower on the sunny side of the valley (not that there was much sun). Climbed back to base then went off on full bar. Didn't find any other meaningful lift and landed out. I should have stuck with the zeroes and drifted until something else materialised.
Not an epic flight but fun just the same.
The only other task set was a four turnpoint triangle at Bache Hill on the Saturday 30th July. No-one managed more than 5 or 6km in the marginal conditions. I managed 300 metres (EDIT; that's 300 metres from takeoff, not altitude) and slope landed. Oops!
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