Cookie phoned to say he was going to Myned Meio, did I want to come? Do the bears sit in the woods? I said, and half an hour later over a cup of tea with me and Jen he said that Fochriw might be a better bet. I said yes, I had had a text from Paul Williams suggesting that Abertysswg, Fochriw or Merthyr might be a good choice.
We set off and Johnny Kayak was behind us, when we got to Fochriw the gate was locked, and it is a new padlock, to which we don?t have a key as yet, someone is going to start working the small mine at the end of the track so we may need to negotiate with him (sigh). We left the van and walked along the road. When we got to the bottom of the hill I was a little doubtful but Cookie said look at the birds soaring. I did point out the birds had a lot more practice than us but he insisted so we started climbing. John got to the top first and said it was okay so we started to rig. It was a bit light so I let the two of them have the honor of getting off first, and after watching for a couple of minutes I launched too. It was light but we had a little fly and then landed as it dropped off, and took off again as it picked up. I did more landing than them as I am clipping in about 5K over, but I was wearing a bit more clothing than normal. It worked cos I didn?t feel cold, although my moustache froze at one point. I noticed a couple of gliders on Merthyr but they didn?t seem to be doing any better than us.
Eventually I began to notice fog forming on Merthyr,and little whispies began to appear at the end of our ridge too. I got a phone call from Declan saying he was thinking of coming over from Bristol so I put him off, telling him it wasn?t that good, and it was getting worse. Sorry mate,it turned out pretty good!! In fact it was one of the best days I?ve had forages!!
I noticed Pete had landed at the bottom, and a couple of people were walking up. It was also getting distinctly foggy, I couldn?t see Merthyr any more, in fact I couldn?t even see Fochriw. I don?t mean the village, I mean the ridge! I was still flying but was having to stay low so that I could see the ground, I kept seeing glimpses of Johnny Kayak on hisBuzz2, but often I was seeing John before I could see the glider. He seemed tobe keeping to the North end of the ridge so I stayed by the gully for a while.The two pilots walking up turned out to be Chris White and Tim, and Chris laidhis glider out flat on the ground which gave me a datum point in the fog!
Eventually I landed to have a chat, and promptly got dragged through the grass. Frozen grass doesn?t provide much friction, so I got dragged quite a way before I got things sorted out. Chris was busy changing a line on his glider and I watched for a while. I asked how his trip had gone and he just shrugged it off as Work, but with a nice office! I went to the front of the hill and the wind had picked up a little, although John and Cookie were still to be seen occasionally, popping out of the fog and then disappearing again. I launched and found that although I couldn?t see anything in front of me I could see down below me quite well, so I soared back and forth quite happily, occasionally catching site of Cookie who was doing some ground handling, and John?s glider on the ground. I found that by flying past the end of the ridge quite a way before turning back I could stay low enough to see fairly well. At one point I was low enough to land, so I did and as luck would have it, my phone rang immediately. It was Stuart, still on Merthyr who told me that just as he had finished packing away it had cleared, so we could expect it to clear on Fochriw in ten minutes or so. He wasn?t all that surprised to hear that I had been flying in the clag. I took off again and flew to the top of the hill and told Chris and Tim that it was due to clear. Tim had dragged his Addict down the slope a little way and was about to launch, so I called down and asked if he was going to fly. Only to the bottom he said so I got out of the way. A few minutes later as I was flying along the ridge I saw his ghostly glider appear and then turn and disappear again. Taking his time getting down I thought as I flew along the ridge slightly above and to one side of him!! All of a sudden, I flew out of the fog into a clear space.
When I say clear space, I mean just that, I could seethe sky and I could see the fog all around me, but I couldn?t see much else.After a minute or so it did begin to thin out and I was surprised to see Chris White, well out in front of me. I also saw Cookie, and John, and then Tim as the fog cleared even more.
Eventually it had almost all gone from in front of the hill, although behind was a different story. There was lots of it over at Merthyr too. Suddenly, a couple of people walked up the hill from the gate, and there were people rigging at the bottom of the slope, then I saw Stuart turn upin his Volvo and before ya know it, it was crowded. I counted 15 gliders in the air, and although we were not getting a tremendous height, there were gliders everywhere. Mickey was there, and Evan, Rhys and Mogsie walked up, Glyn Storey came out of hibernation and I am certain that I saw Andy Brazier. Lots of guys who I couldn?t name too. And an Alsatian, although he didn?t fly.
Eventually I landed on the slope and was chatting to Rhys when I thought to myself, Hmm, it is dropping off, be a good time to pack away. Unfortunately, something distracted me and I didn?t pack up. Ten minutes later it started to snow with a vengeance and there were pilots landing gliders everywhere. I had to pack up in the snow and my glider is now spread out in the front room to dry. Forecast for tomorrow is pants but I don?t care, we flew today!!
Cheers Cookie!
P.S. You don?t realise just how big a glider is until you have to unwrap it in a confined space. I have just unpacked mine in the front room to collect as much of the snow as possible before it thaws out. I collected a small snowball amount before the central heating beat me!!
