Dungiven

Today there was word that a some of the club members were going to try the flying site that over looks the town of Dungiven. I arrived just before 2 PM to find four idle gliders laying on the hill and four pilots bumping gums in the car park. I was informed that I hadn't missed anything of note, with the exception that a couple of pilots had "gone over the back" (went for cross-country flights). Shortly after my arrival the wind decided it was going to start working again so got I set up.

I took off and proceeded to fly back and forth not really getting any great height, after a  few attempts I managed to push out towards the big cliff face to the north, but I decided not to stay there because it was the first time I have been up that end and I didn't want to push my luck when I was not gaining much height. I struggled back towards take off and shared the air with another low air time pilot. Suddenly we just stopped getting lift from the hill so I headed out and managed to make it to the lower landing field that I have used before. As I landed I realised that the wind had changed direction and was now coming from the north.

I thought that I might be in for a big hike back to the top but before long I was joined by three other experienced pilots, landing at the bottom because they had simply no other option.


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I was quite pleased with my 6.8 km flight, but as you can see from the above track log it was far from a straight line. While I and the other guys were packing away in the bottom field a phone call came in from the cross country guys. It seems they had flown all the way to the East coast, 40 miles away. They literally couldn't have gone any further in that direction.

Fortunately the other low airtime pilot hand managed to land near the top of the hill, so after he had put his kit away he came down just as the rain was starting and collected everyone and took them back up to the car park at the top.

The rain ended play.