Bodsbeck 21st April

Since my first outing in the Borders meeting a few of you splendid guys at Bridgend last year, driving past Bodsbeck left me with a sense of awe & a hunger that has been gestating ever since.

So after a good catch up with Tommy on the Monday and a look at the view from Witchie Knowe we sat and looked at the options for Tuesday. It was looking North West most of the day and reasonably light then going a touch more west in the afternoon, so after a little food for thought from the Ettrick Shepherd we decided to roll with Bodsbeck the following day.

After my usual trough of food I stepped into my sports car for the few minutes blaze up to Tommy's, it was feeling quite strong for Bodsbeck but after putting strong intention on it easing off later we decided to stick to our plan shi* or bust.

So after loading the wings into one of tommy's motors we did some sheep ploughing to the end of the valley.

During the walk I had a positive feeling on the day even though my head kept reminding me of the strong wind that was whistling through the trees. After clearing the said trees and reaching Bodsbeck at around 2.30pm we found a nice warm, not too scary breeze which seemed to be cycling consistently around 10s & 12s bang on the hill.

After my recky of the site and checking out the west side Tommy made the good shout of chilling in the sun for a while to see how consistent it really was.

As if he knew it was going to happen 5 minutes later things cranked up which sent things past top end, so some waiting ensued. Sure enough our intentions came to fruition and the thermals seemed to be coming through a little less rip roaring. so in usual Tommy style by taking the horns and stepped off into the blue.

He hit a thermal straight away and put his new wing to the test tracking back with it till he looked so high he may penetrate into airspace!

After my usual farting around and asking myself again why I disconnect my risers I built my wall to find Tommy walking with his wing towards me effortlessly like they had been friends for years.

He made his way over to say the thermals were pretty strong (8ft ps) and found some bobbly stuff at height.

Must be said, with my ar*e twitching a little from my few months off I took to the sky a little nervous but after giving myself a little talking to and loosening up a little the feeling for my wing was coming back to me.. slowly! I had around 40 minutes toiling with my wing then decided to land on the west shoulder which is a little easier to edge up.

Took a 10 minute breather then felt like another wander.

After taking off again everything seemed to click and the enjoyment came flooding through the nerves and got into finding cores, I crossed the valley onto the screes of Saddle Yoke and back into the valley finding a thermal tracking it to a good height I wandered back over to Bodsbeck and then towards Capel Fell.

There was a little more west on the hill now which i thought may be the possible sea breeze beginning to show itself & things seemed to be easing of a little so after a good few hours work out decided to head down to top land near Tommy.

So with our boots well filled we decided to pack up and had an amble back down the hill paying respects to the Brownie of Bodsbeck on the way and crossing paths with a local dear which closed the scene of the day.

So now i have to say an hour is never lost walking up Bodsbeck, such a scenic spot. But good company always adds to the day with a dry sense of humour and some fat thermals.

Chris