JUNE
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4 - 7th June BPCup (Dalesbridge)
After a short, late May heatwave, 'Flaming June' began with extremely turbulent weather, strong winds and rain! That played havoc with the BPC and seems set to continue for a while yet.
Registration was delayed until the Friday morning, with hopes pinned on a short flying window after 4pm. After this time the wind was forecast to drop and some sunshine break through. It seemed optimistic, but actually worked out pretty much to plan. Being a SW wind the obvious and only taskable place became Windbank.
I drove over at 2pm, an hour in advance, to scout out and provide a sitrep. The sun appeared on the walk up, the sky looked good, but the wind was strong. On take off it was too fresh, but the hope was that by 4pm it would be just maybe OK ... it was in the lap of the wind God's. I lay around for a lonely hour, checking and sure enough the wind was dropping, then the comp appeared at 3.15pm. Another laying around and chatting session until Sean said (as last year on Barkin) ..."Do you think it's flyable?" A quick check. Wow! It is ... about spot on. Andy B acted as wind dummy and proved it to be very bouyant, even way out in the valley - very pleasant indeed. So all the gliders came out of bags and the task was set - basically a bit of a Cat's Cradle along the ridge and back ... several times. A task I was really looking forward to and I was in race mode (rare for me)
Window open: 4.40pm and I was about first in the air. It was lovely, lots of smooth lift and decent thermals to 1000' ato. I mulled around waiting for the task to open - which seemed ages as the minutes ticked down. My concern was the wind dropping even further and moving off to the south - it didn't actually happened.
Task started: 4.55pm. I triggered the exit within 3 seconds of start and at height and set off. A few gliders were higher, some ahead, but a lot lower. As the terrain changes towards Arnciffe I always find it works best to get high and stay high. Tagging the TP1 cylinder was easy and I set off back. Some of the lower gliders were struggling on the front ridge. At this point the first hint of rain came ... just very light mizzle, but I was on my way back towards take off which was still in sun and dry. Behind me some radio concern was being expressed as the rain became a bit more than mizzle. A few radio transmissions and the task was stopped with a call to land safely and asap. About six landed near Arncliffe whilst the rest flew south.
Arriving over the end of the ridge, above the landing field and preparing to land I was surprised to find a really nice, gentle thermal and with almost zero drift. Too nice to ignore I climbed back high then wafted off towards Kilnsey before flying back to land in very little wind.
The disappointment was not getting a task in ... we came close - on the positive side the flying was lovely and I enjoyed a good hour and ten minutes. The next day, Saturday was canned and with Sunday looking worse - too windy, the comp ended. But ... we got in a Friday evening BBQ and I enjoyed a great illustrated talk on flying in Thailand - which seems my kind of place.
We now move on to Parlick and hopes of better flying weather.
VIDEO STILLS ( there is a finger smudge unfortunately - it's not the shower)
14/6/2026 Semer (N)
James amd I drove over to Semer with no great expectations and limited options with it being a northerly. At Ribblehead we spotted Chris Kay soaring over Park and the wind off to the north (it turned out it would be a rather special place to be - convergence). Just ahead were a posse of J36 and we all converged on Semer about the same time.
There was very little sun, but enough wind and at this time NNW .... later it would go around to NNE. Mostly the wind strength was OK, but the lack of sun spoilt the action. I think I took off first ... proved it soarable and went off to the south end crags. No great height .... but it tempted no one else off - so I landed for a pee break. I recall looking over my shoulder during this prolonged body function (it happens with age) ... only to see three gliders climbing out Jacob, Andy and Cefn. This was the one and only thermal of the day. They set off downwind, but it seemed slow going and hardwork .... FLARM showed they had only a modest 3000' or less and a weak climb.
The rest of the day was lots of short flights of about 15 minute, multiple top landings and general frustration. Eventually as the wind moved off to the NNE it became soaring the snout and then down to a landing followed by pints at the Crown.
Andy and Cefn made Wharfedale near Starbottom. Jacob I believe someplace nearer Harrogate (?) .... after scraping grass on Great Whernside.
15/6/2026 Semer (SE)
Back to Semer - just the other side ... although it didn't start out as the plan. Initially the idea was to walk in to Widdale, although it seemed maybe too windy, but the direction was spot on ,,,, ESE. However, fate decided otherwise.
I collected Chris outside the Station Inn, but the had already collected two ladies. Could we drop them off at Snaizeholme to see the red squirels? OK - squeeze them in and off we go. However, it turned out they prefered Hawes - so we carried on. They had some sort of plan I believe. In effect we had ended up nearer to Semer and it seemed worth a drive up to prove it too windy.
Even before emerging from the car it seemed OK ....not too windy and decent direction ESE.
We launched from the lower, lower shoulder - just below the wall which I tend to prefer if enough wind - it's easier to both launch and land by. We were soon in air and joined by four other gliders and a few more would later join us. The flying was OK .... sometimes lighter spells, occasionally windier, but generally smooth. As with the previous day a lack of sunshine meant few thermals and so it became mostly ridge soaring. After 45 minutes we landed and joined others - some had eventful draggings, others easy landings - depending how the wind was. So ....lots of chattng until some took off, James and Ray arrived and went flying. We .... procrastinated until Chris said, I'll buy you a coffee in Penny Garth. I don't need much persuading ... even if it was eminently flyable.
So ... we went for a lengthy coffee and chats.
20/6/2026 Heron Pike (LCC task)
After what seemed like weeks of attrocious weather, including the first day of the LCC (XLakes competitors battled strong wind, rain and mist) we got a superb day for the final task (for the past four years the final day has always delivered). We set off up the gruelling walk to the very top of Heron Pike, sweating, but hoping it would be worth it.
There was quite a gathering on top, the A and B comps combined ... I stopped counting at 60+. The A comp was duly briefed with a goal at Hexham, via a TP out front and then at Clough Head before heading off across the flat Eden valley for the Cross fell range.. Prior to briefing it had been OK, but more on the breezy side over the top, by the time the window opened it had fallen fairly light but at least the sun had arrived. The sky looked good.
I launched in a light wind encouraged by the fact that (as usual here) gliders were climbing well in front. It was scratchy at first, but I soon found a climb and with a number of other pushed out to tag the start, That done I headed back and for a short spell it seemed we had over cooked it as several of us found ourselves scratchy in little wind very low around trees and crags. Some hope appeared as several gliders, low out over the valley, started turning ... others joined in until we had about 25 wings wheeling their way towards base. That was the salvation thermal.
Reaching base I headed north and with relative ease arrived near Dollywagon. A number of gliders were soaring whatever into wind face they could find and using odd half hearted climbs but continually moving north, passing Helvellyn. Being higher it was a lot easier and faster and I reached Clough with just a little thermalling to top up.
I had only just reached Clough when a climb came along, not a great one and not one I would usually go with - it was broken and I didn't get any great height. Downwind really looked quite poor - a big blue hole with all the best clouds off to a north. Xctrack pinged and the next turn point was indicated. Behind Clough it didn't look great for my propects, but well out front of Wolf a weak climb appeared. That proved OK and slowly I got back to over 3000' ... it was slow going considering the higher winds around Clough. That thermal proved the pattern for the ones that followed and a another over Great Mell got me slowly climbing again. Below gliders were scratching around on Great Mell.
The problem and the temptation was the good sky was out of reach to the north. I was feeding on scraps and not getting high enough to transition, I tried to drift that way, even knowing it was unlikely I would make it and with height winding down. An added problem that crossed my mind ... I was on my own and a couple more wings would have helped a lot.
Eventually I landed at Stainton - knowing the pub and the bus times back to Keswick. So ... a quick pint and off to the bus stop. At this point (and waiting around) I decided to send in my igc. Because I use xctrack on a none sim and an S5 vario, getting it to my phone was an issue. I therefore downloaded and sent in my L24 igc. Not a good idea! The logging interval feeding from my 'tracker' app is not the same as from my xctrack .... essentially L24 showed Clough cylinder missed by 2M (I was thermalling) . Xctrack at 1hz showed it OK ... hence it pinging and moving on. A flight replay on xctrack showed it doing what it should do .... but beware L24 if you barely tag a cylinder (and especially if turning).
An enjoyable day. Stills LINK (not many as I was mostly busy)
21/6/2026 Whernside
A lovely day, great sky and fairly warm. The wind was light and walking into the hill I was far from convinced as a couple of gliders launched from the top ridge and went down. I think they gave up on the idea, packed and left. Meanwhile I grovelled my way to the top pulling on grass tufts and happy to use all four. I guessed with the sky looking so good it was only a matter of time before the thermals kicked in.
I arrived on top to find no one there ... but the wind was quite fresh so things were happening. I launched in a light spell, set off for the main, bigger part of the ridge where Chris and Alan were flying. My intial flight became a hop, a five minute wait until a better breeze came through and off again. This time it was easy with lots of lift.
In total I had about 4 hrs of airtime on one long wandering flight - it was a great sky downwind, but warm retrieves are no longer my thing. I resisted. Chris wandered up towards Newby Head, I wandered down to Ingleton and back. Below Dean was doing some GH and hops with students- until he couldn't resist for the last hour. There were never very many of us, about five .... but it was a great flying day. The only downside was we struggled to make base but that may be down to not following climbs over the back.
23/6/2026 Grey Scars
Above: The WSW - SW face of Little Ingleborough. It's a lot better, steeper than it looks. A big face.
The day didn't look very appealing, warm and sultry with a light SW breeze. So ... it was only half heartedy that I went out to look at nearby Grey Scars.
I knew the wind was a bit too SW when I set off up, but maybe on the face - it wasn't, at least not enough so a plan change. I'd always fancied a look at the very broad, stepped bowl/faces running from Little IG to IG itself. I was feeling fairly fit and the breeze was cooling so after a brief look at Grey Scars I continued up the good track, passing an impressive walled sheep shelter part way. It's easy walking, mostly fairly level, a boggy section, but a fair way at 3k.
The wind seemed OK in terms of direction and strength - a tad breezy maybe. A nice track runs past a well built cairn where I broke left to a nice brassy take off. Now it was windy - up to 25 - 30mph. If I went lower maybe OK, but being alone I was a bit cautious. In many ways it reminded me of Whernside - OK down the slope, but with a strong compression. I sat and thought about it for 20 minutes then decided that the better part of valour was to walk back down to Grey Scars.
It was OK on GS, but still off to the W, so rather than carry on walking I set up, launched and flew short beats between two bits of ridge. The odd gusty bit of lift but I only managed ten minutes. A lot of effort for very little ....but the excercise and scouting were useful for future reference.
24/6/2026 Wether Fell
An ideal Wether Fell day for boating around at 3 - 4500'. Not a triangle day due to the wind - not more than 15kph, but enough to limit forward progress. The A team were setting off over the back as I arrived. It was very blue although there were clouds well off to the north and south. It didn't look easy, or at least the heat and the blue hole were enough to put me off. I could hear them dribbling away during the crossing of Wensleydale - then they were away towards the N York moors. Later Jake would follow on a more southerly track.
After an hour or so in the air Chris was spotted coming over from Whernside and for the next two hours we just mulled around over Wether. There were other gliders, but surprisingly not many, although it was a week day.
Chris landed with me and after a brief chat to Pete L and Geoff C we set off for a pint at the Station Inn.
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