July 

8/7/2026    Hawes Round - Hike & Fly task

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The weather changed drammatically, with light winds and blue skies replacing low clag and fresh, strong winds that had dogged for the previous two weeks.  Now ... for me at least, it was too hot. Never happy.

In line with my new flying philosphy I decide that a hike and fly task was more to my taste. I had two in mind, maybe three. I considered the new Chapel le Dale circuit but thought the wind a bit too south of west making some sections maybe less flyable and given the heat I didn't fancy the walking the tough sections I could envisage. Instead I went for the Hawes Round.  Again, the wind could be less than ideal - in fact it turned out to be absolutely spot on with with good thermals to boot. However, on the long walk up to Ten End it didn't feel  that way until I got higher. I expected the wind to be across the hill, surprisingly it was on.

The first section is 3.5k of easy walking until it starts to steepen. Then, I hit a snag. The cylinder was well off route (the track) and I couldn't escape the track due to a stone wall with a topping fence ... no gates either. So I continued on until 0.6k past the cylinder and figured I could back track along the top,  There was a possibility I could take off and fly it, but it seemed easier to walk. At this point I discovered an excellent, well used  path that led through signed gate, down the hill and where I could just tag before  wall intervened. Then it was back again ... in total an extra 1k of walking - but easy.

At this point, first one, then two gliders arrived overhead from Wether and I knew the ridge was working and there were thermals. I found an excellent take off spot and was soon away.

Dodd was very thermic, quite rough ones too, but with plenty of height I flew south and tagged the next cylinder under a building cloud. Virtually job done.   I climbed in good lift to 3,200' and set off over the back towards the TP at the south end of Wether.   There were a few glider flying, but surprisingly few given how good it was. Then it was on to the end on Drummaldrace for another TP ... the penultimate one.  Although goal was into wind and back into Widdale the thermals kept coming and the less beefy I ignored . Getting back proved very easy and in fact I arrived over goal with 2000' to spare.  For the next 20 minutes I just wandered around, thermalled a bit and generally enjoyed the views before landing back by the car. Job done.

Photo: The car/goal is at the road/track junction.

A quick pint in Hawes, a wash to cool down and I set off down Wensleydale to collect Tim and Alan followed by another pub visit. 

The beauty of the NCS hike and fly is you can pick your day/pick your challenge (the following day shows I didn't learn this lesson)  and getting it right avoids a lot of walking.   It also takes a bit more planning and thought. If you get it wrong it's usually just more walking to recovery the situation. Above all it feels more of an adventure where  even the walking side  throws as a few curve balls.

9/7/2026   The Chapel le Dale HnF task

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Kipling summed it up. Only mad dogs and |Englishmen go out in the midday sun.  My word for it would be  .... gruelling!  How they did the XPyr in 30 degrees plus is beyond me.

I had two options in mind, the Kingsdale task or the Chapel le Dale task.  In truth neither was really on .... aside from the heat, the wind was the wrong direction, the wrong strength and the thermals  virtually non existent, with not a sign of a cu cloud. Still, I set off with all my trackers running .... this still didn't prevent an early glitch where after 200m one hadn't triggered .... so I dumped the sack and doubled back to the start cylinder until it did trigger.  Then I was off.

Park soars in a WNW to NW .... and it could have  been as many times before  .... an easy intro and capture of the first two turnpoints. But it hates SW and even WSW. The strengthen wasn't bad, just across the hill. I traversed round ... higher and along which wasn't easy on the feet as it's pretty steep. Even though the 200m cylinder creeps down the hill I still had to go for the top and hope the wind may be better.  First surprise was a couple of lady wallers by my launch point ... in fact there were several teams out working on the top wall.

The wind was more on here as it turns a bit more west. I didn't gain much height and set off across the shallow col for the next steep section. I didn't think it would work (it actually may  have). But I opted to land, ball up and walk up and along a short distance.  The next try showed that it was actually working - just, and I crept slowly  towards the bowl. Then ....a glider appeared .... aaah some company. Unfortunately, too much company and I didn't feel  welcome. The AE school was laid out on the bowl - about five gliders.  A single short beat and I scooted across the bowl, got a TP ping, gained a little height and eventually top landed.  

OK ... two flights and after packing I set off for the 'awkwrd one' on Little Ingleborough.  Only now do you question why some idiot put it there almost as a deliberate act of masochistic pleasure.  Traversing rocky ground around  Ingleborough, the heat was starting to tell until I stumbled on an ice cold stream bubbling out of the ground. 

Lots of splashes, shoes and socks off and a foot bath - it was sooo icy!

At this point I had hopes. There is a stepped face that faces W to WSW between Little and Big Ingleborough - a chance to bag two turnpoints in the air.  When I arrived the wind as on, felt good, but the ridge drops away before the next TP on Little Ingleborough.  So .... it felt easier to nab the next TP on foot, I dumped the sack and walked the 500m, taggged and returned.  Now a fresh problem ... the wind had died away (two weeks before I'd been here and been blown out and walked down). Now it wasn't soarable so another walk to the next TP ... fortunately not too far.  With that tagged, feeling tired and knowing I could never get the height to cross Chapel le Dale I called it a day. Quick call to Karen for a pickup in the valley and a nil wind launch for my trouble. 

A pleasant fly down, followed by an unpleasnt, hot and fly ridden pack.  Finally, a pint in ther Station Inn.

This task is quite a  toughie.  Little Ingleborugh is a pain ... and crossing the valley onto Whernside will need some height and a few thermals. Next time I'll pick more suitable conditions. There's a point in hike and fly where at my age I want the fly part heavily in my favour with legs a backup.

15/7/2026 Park Fell

The tentative plan was to try again the Chapel le Dale hike and fly ... given it was a forecast easterly.  The problem was it was a NE and the thermal development was poor with an inversion capping at under 3000' asl. Nevertheless I set the tracking and logging running on my S5 and tracker app and set off up. It didn't get any better although the wind eased a fair bit. On the plus side I was able to launch 2/3rd's up the spur and hop the wall; on the minus side it was a short beat and slightly off the hill. 

I then had a good two hours of soaring with little height gain ... at times it became so tedious I thought of just flying down and going to the Station Inn.  Chris Kay tried to cross from Simon's but it was into wind and even with height he was forced to land several times and walk a bit. But eventually he did manage to get across and join me. 

After a short while, and things not getting any better, I was on the verge of calling it quits and headed out .... and caught a weak thermal. Chris joined me and we topped around 2800'. With sufficient height I set off for Simon's Fell, deviating to take the next cylinder. the wind now seemed a bit more like ENE.  A slight top up on Simons and on to Little Ingleborough to tag that TP.  It was quickly apparent the wind was too far off to the north to hang about and the task just wasn't on. I peeled off the end of LG and headed for home - Ingleton.

It was predictably sinky in the lee, yet over Crinar Bottom I found a decent thermal and gained height again .... I could have worked this far more but with no desire to  extend my flight I just hared off and took videos of my home village. It was all very pleasant until I eventually landed near the Marton Arms in a cut field.

Tedious went from short but sweet to make the day worthwhile.

VIDEO STILLS LINK

19/7/2026 Worlds End

There may have been better sites offering better results, but WE was a good choice ... eventually.  Alan, James, Rob and I set off up in hope. The sky had some top cover initially and no cu's to speak of. On top we met up with  another five pilots ... a few Dales (Greg and Adam) and the expected Northumbrians (Alan B, Nick P, Steve Gill).

Nothing happened until 2.15 pm ..... the gusts were strong, then it would fall very light. James tried multiple times but it really didn't want to soar. Eventually, Steve G took off and headed out ... to a weak thermal. I followed  soon after and together we climbed in a decent thermal. Looking back at take off showed everyone else piling off and climbing well.  From that point the day was working well and base was 5,500 asl.

A word about my task - which would come to be my undoing. Others had shared a task around (unbeknownst to me); a 68k into the lowering airspace near Fence.  I discarded my triangle based on the wind strength, although in retrospect it may have been OK.  I reset a goal in xctrack that would be in the worst possible place. More of that later.

We all set off downwind, never a gaggle, more just occasionally meeting up and keeping an eye on people for climbs.  It was all fairly starighforward, get high, glide; getting lower generally meant another climb arrived. Occasionally I thermalled with Adam; later with Steve near Settle.

Really the only time I had to work was from Dodd to Plover Hill until a bitty thermal evemtually came together and got me back above 5000'.  Near Settle, Steve and I found our own,  joined at the hip, thermal. From this point a good line of convergence pointed towards goal. So good was the lift that as I approached the 4500' aitrspace step-down I was more concerned about being pulled too high. So much so I was probably way too cautious and kept pulling out with a thousand feet to spare. In my mind I had an idea where goal was (from a previous flight) .... but I was very wrong! That would cost me.

Soon I regretted not taking a good climb at 10k from goal.  Ahead was simply a large sprawl of build up area with few, small green patches unsuitable for landing. Beyond that lay goal. With a degree of trepidation I set off across hoping for a little lift or a good line .... dreading sink. Finally, with goal only 600m away, I cleared the last housing estate but was very low and skimming trees and terrain .... then a small reservoir. Intent on a safe landing I forgot the screen and moved to finding and getting into a safe, tight space.  I landed OK disappointed to find I was 136m short. In retrospect a slightly better line may just have tagged it with a downwind landing (the wind was lightish). 

I really don't know how I put the goal where I did, except I did it on the hill using the xctrack mapping. It broke every rule I have for setting a goal. Fortunately no powerlines entered the equation.

Getting back was hard work ...you can't hitch in built up areas. In total I walked all the way through Nelson, Barrowford and eventually to Blacko.  

21/7/2026 Wether Fell

I set off for Murton with a view to doing the O&R to the Masts. However, the Mallerstang road was closed after three miles. Rather than going via Sebnergh I turned back to Wether. In retrospect given it was a nice WSW wind Murton could well have been the place .... better sky too.

As I set up near the roadhead Jake took off  .... there was someone else too.  I had a couple of flights, with a brief chat with Jake in between. The wind was well off to the south, but soarable and a  but gusty. After 40 minutes the Penny Garth cafe appealed more than being bounced around so I landed by the car, packed and left. 

23/7/2026  Wether Fell  

I drove to Threlkeld via Hayes GC to meet Steve E and hand over my ex harness ... then a long drive back to Wether.  Beautiful day on Clough ... blue skies and cu's; the Dales was by contrast 8/8 cloud.  However, the sight of a glider flying encouraged me.   I'd set up a new harness the day before and was eager to both try it out and do any necessary minor adjustments. 

Wether was nicely soarable and very smooth with odd weak bubbles that never went very high. As the afternoon wore on a few others turned up for company. Towards the end the wind picked up and it got quite bouncy.  At this point everyone packed and left.  Very pleased with the harness (but no deep pockets to put my Gopro - still to figure that and a radio location out).