Bank holiday today for me. Boys in nursery/school. Mia's at work. Chores done. it's sunny (so far). Light winds.. might have to walk up a hill and see if I can fly my paraglider.
Spoke to Tommy about having a look at Cacra but there seemed to be too much west in it (swly maybe). Headed across to Ettrick. Very little breeze along the way but as I got to the Ettrick valley the murk cleared. Blue sky. white clouds and sunshine. Pretty warm too.
After a wee bit of discussion we headed up Craig Hill (just by Tommy's place). It felt pretty strong on top. Possibly a smidge more south in it than expected. Definitely themic.
Move to the alternate take off (slightly further north along the ridge) where it's less steep out front.
Direction seemed ok so after further chat I started to get my glider out. Tommy was just going to spectate. By the time I was layed out Tommy (who wasn;t planning on flying) had gotton his wing off the quad, unpacked it and was strapped in and ground handling.
I think it was maybe a hint that I needed to get a move on LOL.
Tommy took off. Looked ok. a quick boat about and he top landed. I then took off. Having not flown the site before I wasn't 100% sure what was it was going to be like. The flying was fine but had another interesting take off. Stupid cheap pod harness. Once I had my feet in I was sorted. There were some nice thermals coming through and I soared, thermalled up and down the hill for 20min or so.
It's a pretty nice wee hill. As is normal I was kicking myself for not getting my arse into gear sooner. things calmed down for a bit and I landed, made my way back to Tommy and the quad. Tommy had another wee flight but things were a bit stronger. A wee wait to see if things would calm down. they didn't so we packed up and headed down the hill.
I had to dash off. two wee boys needed picked up at 5.
a very nice day out. more of the same please.
Jamie
