| Flight details: | After the LCC Ed Bewbury and myself found ourselves looking at an overdeveloped sky and strong winds. We decided to check out Barton Fell instead of Clough Head where we could already see no-one flying. After a 45min hike up to the top with 6-8 other pilots the wind felt very strong (I've stopped carrying an anemometer but was probably gusting 20-22mph ) and most of us settled down to wait. However one chap got his Ozone Delta out, hiked about 40m down the hill, laid it all out and launched making it look easy! Ed and I wandered down with kit to the same spot, and watched by the others Ed also made it look easy so heart in mouth I went for it without any problem at all other than having to spend 10 minutes scratching my way back up to the ridge. After that it was straightforward with lots of strong thermic activity, and I clocked my longest (1:40) and highest (1013m/3323 ft) flight so far. Should have flopped over the back and followed Ed to Shap but settled for a pleasant swan around the edges of Ullswater before heading back to land out near the stone circle.
Nearly got rid of that red ribbon! |
