Agnews is a hill with a large cliff face to the north west of the A6 Larne line (the main Larne to Belfast road). I have been by it many times on my way to other flying sites and even had a top to bottom on the adjoining hill at the south end which is called Shane's hill.
I arrived at the Agnew's Hill designated parking area to find another member of our club, Andrew changing into his flying gear. Fortunately for me he had flown Agnews before so I could ask him questions about the site.
What I didn't realise was that the route to the top is a near vertical climb, which is good because it means the the site will be soar-able in light winds, but it is a bugger to climb up. As I climbed up I realised that this was going to be the only time today that my leg muscles would allow me to do any exertion as they were still recovering from climbing Slieve Donard yesterday.
While recovering from the climb I checked the wind and it seemed very low, 6-9 mph so I wasn't very confident about staying up. I checked my kit and watched my companion test the lift by inflating his wing and standing with it overhead, after a bit of re-positioning he took off, turned right and flew out of view just about maintaining height. At this point I sat down because I thought I would have a bit of waiting to do until the conditions picked up. The next thing I know I look up to see Andrew way above me. It seems there was plenty of lift to be had above the cliffs. I Wasted no time in finishing my equipment checks and I am up and flying way above the ridge.
After about 15 minutes flying high above the cliffs I decided it was time to warm my hands up so I try a top landing. I wasn't trying too hard and when I had clearly missed the spot I was aiming for I decided that I should fly back out into the lift for another circuit. Unfortunately the wind had shifted slightly and I ended up at the bottom in the bog so I sent a text message to let Andrew know that I couldn't face the climb back up and was going home.
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