LLSC had called the Tinto round of the Scottish Nationals for Saturday so there was the usual round of group Emails during the week wondering who would take part and what to do. Sean said we all head for the Nationals (he had a good round a week or so ago), Dorita decided it was going to be a Broughton day so made plans to head there after curling (the game not the hair!) and would meet up with Aussie Steve with transport to the top. A rough plan was hatched for the Border's contingent to meet at Innerleithen and then head to Broughton as well - could we cadge a lift to the top?.
So - at the allotted time on Saturday morning Rob, Tommy and me met in bright sunshine and blue skies and headed to Broughton for around 10.30 and met a couple of hang glider pilots lashing their wings to the quad - Rob muttered something about the wind picking up later in the day and Tommy said he liked Broughton because it could take a west and south west - so decision made - we headed to Tinto to see what the LLSC crowd were doing!!!!
Arriving at Wiston we found Sean loitering in the car park wondering where everyone was so after the usual greetings headed to the track by Greenhill. A large number, 20 or so, of pilots were assembled waiting for a task briefing from DT so we though it impolite not to join in. The weather - high pressure due to move in by mid afternoon, 18deg C and very little met wind that would become SWesterly (at the briefing it was full cloud cover, westerly wind trapped below the inversion and blowing along the hill with the cloud just skimming the tops!). The task - a fly/walk around 4 turnpoints starting and finishing at Greenhill. I looked at Tommy, Tommy looked at Rob and we all looked at Sean....I have to admit to not having the lightest gear available, in fact it's definitely the opposite so the thought of hauling a heavy sac round the course did not fill me with joy - so excuses were made as we wished Sean well in the task then quietly sloped off to take a look at Dungavel since it takes a westerly.
Arriving at the foot of Dungavel we were greeted by a small group of pilots and a wind blowing straight onto the hill - so what did we do - thought about going to Broughton until someone came to their senses and thought why leave a hill that is flyable. Tommy and Rob took pole position and headed diagonally up the slope, I meandered behind but took the direct line. Simon Chu and another pilot also joined the throng. The breeze was reasonable so there was no need to head to the top and Tommy set up on the southern shoulder taking off before I even found a suitable place to collapse - but - it was definitely flyable and a text from Jamie said he and Chris (beard) were heading up for early afternoon.
I'm not sure if there were more deserters from the Nationals but more cars started to arrive at the base including Dorita, Quentin and Aussie Steve with various families (tandem passengers) in tow - evidently it was 20+ on Broughton so they thought Dungavel a better option even if they couldn't use the quad for access.
Soon the air was alive with all manner of coloured bags of washing with string attached. Take off low down, straight into the lift and just enjoy the day. Despite the large number of wings in the air it appeared that the vertical and horizontal separation and great piloting skills meant that there was never a feeling of being too close or intimidated in the air. Some pilots pushed out over the road, returning low and the taking the hoover upwards, others decided that wing-overs and short spirals were the order of the day.
Sean was seen slogging up the ridge path to the turnpoint on top before launching, gaining what little height was available above the top and then sliding off the end on a journey to the Clyde and next Nationals task turnpoint (he has another story to tell!). Jamie, Chris and Neil turned up and had a great afternoon with Neil showing off his new skills gained from multiple visits to France.
At the end after boating around for what seemed like hours we all landed. Jamie and Chris (with Neil as anchorman) headed back up with the tandem and got a couple of soaring flights in whilst the rest of us headed to the Crown for a natter, shandy and chips. The sun never did come out even though the high pushed through with an impressive rolling bank of cloud, the wind stayed westerly and on Dungavel all afternoon so apologies to LLSC for not joining in the task but we all had a great days autumnal flying.
