I only get one or two flights in Wales a year as it's such a long way to drive, so I'll try to make up with the length of post and some video.
Video of the first part of the flight is available here:
I did create a Google Earth track log buy can't see how to upload it.
Arrived at FanG at 10:30 to find it blue apart from a cloud above the summit. When everyone had arrived we drove to the top to find the wind light and variable with the cloud gradually filling in from the North. When it came on it was from the South so we took off from the SW take off in an steadily increasing wind gusting past 15mph.
My first flight was straight into a rough thermal and it was as rough as Piedrahita last July with the wing banging about all over the place. I managed to stay with it until cloud base which was about 3000? but the sky to the north was filled in with very little sun on the ground. I tried pushing East to the front of the dark cloud I was under but only caught one other decent thermal which didn?t get me back to base. A lot of sink later saw be decked back on take off, but it was an enjoyable if lively flight.
After a wait around Steve had gone over the back to the NE and I noticed Andy going up well so gave it another go. It was smoother this time though still punchy. Got some nice broken thermals to start but not long after got low again on take off and was just considering landing again when a nice cycle came through. I followed this up over the back with Andy for a while, but stuck with it while he went back to the front. After quite a while this took me to about 800M ATO above the bottom car park (need to change my vario units), and I again considered a glide over the back which was a *little* brighter. I opted instead for a shallow V in the ground to the East of TO where I thought something might be triggering. Although the clouds were moving there was very little going on so at 400M ATO I opted for the green valley in between FanG and another reservoir hoping something might trigger off the lee side of the ridge at its head. I was in luck and this took me back to and into base with a gentle Northerly drift. I was in a quandary now as the ground in sunlight to the East didn?t show much sign of habitation and I didn?t fancy a long walk out. Seeing Brecon to the NE and Sunny Bridge closer to the N, I decided on the latter and bumbled along in and just under my dark cloud at about 50KPH. After that I found myself about 2000? above Sennybridge in very stable air. My decision for which way to go when I noticed a big wind sock in the town which was now indicating a Westerly, so I decided to follow the A40 toward Brecon to see how far I could glide and in the hope of some lift of a small wood I could see ahead. The only lift to be had which was only worth one turn, so I started looking for a landing field without sheep or crop. On the way I noticed a quaint looking maze in the grounds of a house next to the road which added to the great view on the glide. I was waved at as I overflew a camp site to land in a nice green field next to it and as I packed up a woman and her daughter came up and asked if I wanted a cup of tea. It took me 10 painful minutes to get feeling back in my hands so the brew was welcome. I checked my GPS and it was 14K back to the take off, so that was my longest XC in the UK and interesting to see where the sources of lift were in the absence of decent looking clouds. Memo to self, when person in campsite asks how I?m getting back, tell them I?m hitching so I don?t have to walk for miles before getting picked up. Doh.
