Mountbenger and Witchie - Sunday 13/8/17

I'm sure Jamie started this one with a message earlier in the week that it would be flyable on Sunday but he would be on 'family duties'.  Late night messages on Saturday saw Rob and me meeting a Mountbenger on Sunday morning.  Forecasts suggested an early start would be good since it was unstable but flying would be possible....Dungavel was just too far to travel!!. 

Quick chat at the car park then a gentle walk up the hill with Rob watching the clouds build in the blue until we reached the top of the westerly bowl. It felt OK with wind on the hill and birds soaring so we both unfurled the canopies (well Rob did, mine was still in the tube).  Then there was a shower of rain and we watched Dave walking up.  At this point Wingbeat psychology kicked in, maybe based on the size and depth of the dark cloud overhead that seemed to stretch to the Eildons to the SE..Rob mentioned something about mammaries.  The view to the west was equally impressive with Cu building and towering rapidly.  Since we are all willing to accept that we are mere mortals and not Skygods we sat and parawaited until a decision was made to pack and walk down on the premise that it is 'better to be on the ground wishing you were in the sky than in the sky wishing you were on the ground!'  Wandering down the shoulder we met up with Fred and Chris C, Fred, probably still suffering from the effects of late wine the night before, decided to walk down whilst Chris thought a walk to the top seemed OK.

A gentle walk to the cars with talk of crispy bacon rolls, coffee and Rayburns (blame Rob!) brought the decision to head to St Marys for food, chat and more parawaiting, especially when Chris arrived back at base - "still windy on top!".  So off to St Marys we went, the bacon wasn't crispy but the chat was good and Jamie turned up with talk of a tandem flight. 

By mid afternoon the sky had settled so we headed to Witchie - lazy option due to the lack of walking required but the wind was 'on' when we arrived.  A quick wander to the SW bowl saw Rob take off first into a gentle breeze with stacks of lift, at least most of the time.  Jamie turned up with 2 tandem passengers who both appeared to have a great time as Jamie soared the face and played in the thermals. 

The buzz of a drone alone the wall line suggested Logan was around although he did admit that he forgot to turn the camera on. 

http://vimeo.com/229636619

The rest on the afternoon and early evening was spent playing in the various thermals punching out in front of the bowl, top or slope landing when it became weaker and generally enjoying some pleasant air time without the concerns about being sucked up into the heavens that we had earlier in the day.

Although Tommy had decided to sleep in the chair at home after a busy week he even managed a couple of hours airtime further up the valley.

Hopefully the weather will continue to improve for the autumn.