Those Cheviot Hills

[alan westmoreland]

After looking at the outcome of the vote for favourite place to fly, I had a look through my flying log book to see where I have had good flying in the Cheiviots over the last 12 years, not neccesarily long flights, but the ones that I have personally enjoyed and gone home happy. It turns out that it was the Yavering Bell site taking a north-north west to north then north-north east wind for hanggliders, its a b*****d of a carry up but the rewards and potential cross-country flying from this site. If it had a road going up, like the Model Ridge site it would in my opinion be one of the best sites with potential for a British Open record, from this site. i remember one year we had a fantastic club do, and compettion at the Powburn cafe. The wind forecast was for a Northerly which was perfect for Yavering Bell. I was so disappointed when almost all of the members of our club decided to drive all the way to the Model Ridge site rarther than suffer a carry up, when we where already there. I believe only two hanggliders and couple of paragliders flew that day however, the remarkable thing was that there was lift everywhere even with a bad hangover I still managed to penatrate into the wind and get to the gliding club and back before being sick. In the last year, Dave Humble and myself have found new interests in the Cheviots with the powered hangglider, taking of from Eshott Airfield where the owner of the airfield has made us feel very welcome and helped us anytime it has been needed. Pushing into the Cheviots on the Litespeed and Power Unit has made me change my mind as to what I thought of them years ago. I now love flying to take off, throttling back then going over the back. It would be even better if I could afford electric start then we would be talking (however family commintments come first). Don't get me wrong, I love free flying, but this gets the hours in with takeoff wind speeds of 0/20 its almost guarrenteed that you will fly. I think I am ranting on now so it bye bye one and all

[ron freeman]

Nice story Alan.. I can remember that day. The voting its a bit daft anyway if you look at where most NHPC club members fly - Lakes, Dales, Model ridge, Crossfell, so they are hardly going to vote for and area where they don't know how good our sites really are.

Hownam, best site in the north of England ! grass covered site, takes most wind directions, 4x4 to the top (1600ft asl) but.. no cafe on top so its crap !

[Dave Hume]

i remember one year we had a fantastic club do, and compettion at the Powburn cafe. The wind forecast was for a Northerly which was perfect for Yavering Bell. I was so disappointed when almost all of the members of our club decided to drive all the way to the Model Ridge site rarther than suffer a carry up, when we where already there.

Ah yes, I remember that day as well Alan, I was in two minds debating wether to try the bell since I was near there but there was no way I could have made the carry up. I did go to Model Ridge and was rewarded with my first XC over the back of that site, only 16k but I was chuffed to bits, so I was glad I hadn't made the carry. Having said that I would love to fly the Bell. When I've flown over on the Microlight it looks like there's a track goes up round the back of the hill. If we could get access to that track it would put the site in a whole different light.

Dave

[colin keightley]

Hold on no one said it was a poll for best site I thought it was favourite I'll tell you now that k voted lakes and I have only flown there a couple of times and it's simply a thing I have about the lakes and the views and the type of flying it offers

[gary stenhouse]

well i must say this year has proved to be dificult and theres nothing more pleasureable than doing an xc from the cheviots and if i am not mistaken i have wone the 50 pounds with a 26 k flight from moneylays.

hownam is a fantastic site but this year has given very little chance to fly it.
the truth is the flying is not very reliable in the cheviots and i have only seen a handfull of flights in the cheviots that are more than a flipp.

no down when it works it is good but the reality is they just dont for big flying and not just doing lots of training flights. nothing wrong with honing your skills but flying to cloudbase and going xc has proved dificult.

still i dangled the carrot expecting it would bring some flights out the woodwork yet there was still me and a couple of otheres tried

cheers gary

[ron freeman]

Gary, you can't say Hownam has given very little chance when you don't go there.. also if you fly big sites all the time getting to cloud base is easy & makes you a lazy pilot. Try flying small sites for awhile and don't give up ! you will learn how to centre small thermals & stay with them all the way to base, its not hard, just more demanding.. great feeling when you do it.

Never forget that a 10 mile flight can be just as rewarding as 100mile flight its all down to conditions.

It does not matter where you are in the country, a hill is just a starting point and if the air is unstable you go up ! simple as

[Fingers]

Scenery, Northumberland knocks the socks off the lakes for scenery and this is why I voted the Cheviot's.

Yes the lakes has very dramatic scenes and is very beautiful but for total seclusion Northumerland has got it.

Yes you might not fly 100km, might not fly 5km even, but you will go home very happy indeed.[/quote]

[John Watson]

Ha ha ha ha ha Gary are you in a bad mood ???? your picture is great he he he

[gary stenhouse]

i dont have a problem with small sites but i work on percentages and my aim is to fly and not too sit arround parawaiting, hence why i travel so far sometimes, the cheviots can be great but is badlt affected with the influence of the sea breeze as well as access you need permision to fly some of the good sites on the day. so sometimes i go elswwhere based on this.

se east hill, hownam, semmer blease
w-ssw cross fell
w-nw clough
nnw, n model moneylaws

the problem is the wind and conditions can vary masively between east and west on any given day so you have to choose carefully before heading off,

this is my principal and why my favourite site is crossfell as it gives the most reliable conditions even when the wind is strong. and also is top driveable for hg.

but as for small thermals and skills then i think now you will se that a nearly flew xc everytime i went to moneylaws

cheers gary

[colin keightley]

Gary, you can't say Hownam has given very little chance when you don't go there.. also if you fly big sites all the time getting to cloud base is easy & makes you a lazy pilot. Try flying small sites for awhile and don't give up ! you will learn how to centre small thermals & stay with them all the way to base, its not hard, just more demanding.. great feeling when you do it.

Never forget that a 10 mile flight can be just as rewarding as 100mile flight its all down to conditions.

It does not matter where you are in the country, a hill is just a starting point and if the air is unstable you go up ! simple as

Thats all well and good if your after XC some of us are not

[gary stenhouse]

here is a question and not a dig ron but when was the last time you made it to cloud base in the cheviots? as i have never seen any other than a handfull of pilots doing it in the cheviots and that was akeld moneylaws never at east hill tp and you had to go out the back to get there. but in the last 5 years i have only seen a few flopps out the back but very few high flights.

i know you have got the skill yet i have never in five years seen you at cloudbase on any site.

cheers gary

[John Wallis]

All this talk about honing your skills on little sites is a total load of bollocks, in fact it can be downright dangerous. It's a fact that most Cheviot hills are small and rounded so the lift they create is minimal, trying to learn to thermal when it's hard to get sufficient height is a risky business and can end up with a close brush with the hill. We used to fly Titlington Pike in a South Westerly because we didn't know any better, when we got permission to fly Crossfell it was a revelation. Our first pilot took off High Cap flew to Wild Boar and 10 min's later was at 2500 ATO he then cruised around the ridge system for hours something we had never done. I personally think you can hone your flying skills much better on a larger site with more ridge lift which is also a much safer environment, you don't have to be on a small hill to get little thermals to practice with, amazingly you can also get a small thermals on a big hill and you will be in a much better position to learn and map out the thermal. In my opinion flying is about safety first and you can generally get that from bigger hills with lots of space for other pilots and not shitty little things where you have to wait in a que to get the ridge lift before you go down and waste your day.

[ron freeman]

No wonder you prefer to fly big hills then John, thoses small thermals on big sites like Crossfell are actually massive

Iv'e never said 'trying to learn to thermal on small sites' as we all know you learn to use thermals with as much height as possible (big site) then go to smaller sites when you feel ready that you can find a good core and stay in the centre without losing it. Its another skill John and to say its dangerouse is ridiculous.

I can remember the time when you had the base bar nearly ripped out of your hands when flying xc over the Cheviots in very strong lift !

Gary, you don't see me at cloud base because you are not there

[gary stenhouse]

funny as it seems but i have had the scariest bulet thermals in the lakes blease fell jenking hill run so big hills and scarry thermals.

any flying is good flying but if i was flying a high performance hg only then i would only fly big sites, as being to close to the hill on a hg in thermic conditions is just too damm scarry.

the beauty about 2 dimantional gps is you can always back up with any claims so you dont need a witness to prove you were at cloudbase or flew cross country.

it has made the frea flying world a better place as it is wonderfull to see what others have achieved and where they went

cheers gary

[ron freeman]

Gary, high performance hangglider.. this is what happens if you upgrade to a more performance wing when they are not ready. There is nothing wrong with flying close in with strong thermals as long as you know what you are doing. High bank 360's on any hangglider are not a problem as long as you are ready to anticipate sudden changes in direction ! (pitch & roll) and this takes lots of practise which can take some time to learn.

Generally though when flying big sites your not scratcing much.
Sadly these days people don't want to spend the time needed they expect to do it all tomorrow.

I get quite a few students these days who want to soar like a bird on thier first days training !!!

[colin keightley]

Strange as I have been taught by many an experienced pilot that when it gets thermic it's just asking for trouble staying close to the hill

[ron freeman]

Colin, flying hanggliders is a whole different ball game & they don't collapse in strong thermals !

[colin keightley]

But you need to make that clear as its not just Hangglider pilots reading this there are plenty of fresh green paraglider pilots who dont know what you mean

[John Wallis]

Colin, flying hanggliders is a whole different ball game & they don't collapse in strong thermals !

No they don't collapse but they can get tipped into the face by a punchy thermal under one wing.

[ron freeman]

I thought I had made it very clear Colin.. my reply to Gary was about flying a high performance hangglider 'Gary, high perfromace hangglider..' surely thats clear enough

Hanggliders - if you are not into the core of a thermal then you don't get close to anything.. getting close to anyone when flying is at your own discretion ! it pays to know who you are flying with otherwise give them a wide berth..

[Stuart Bertram]

Handbags out!!!!

[brian day]

I've flown some sites in the Cheviots, literally hundreds of times and never been to cloud base. I've flown one site three times and been to cloud base every time.
WHY is it not a club site?
I've no doubt there are more such sites in the Cheviots, but we are just relying on the crappy little ones we have permission to fly and all the bigger ones are stuck in the middle in air that is turbulent and moving downwards.
Time to get the finger out and get some new better sites, then more people would bother to make the trip to the Cheviots.

[ron freeman]

Brian.. you should look at flying small sites a challenge and not crappy ! yes there are bigger hills in the Cheviot area but access and fast developing shooting grounds are a problem.. as a club we don't fly the west side of the cheviots very much and there is lots of potential there, out & returns, triangles.

Tip for getting to cloudbase, better when the air is unstable

[colin keightley]

For some of us we don't have time for challenging flying, I get 1 day a week to go flying and how often do you think that 1 day is flyable, I just want to have fun so I'll go where it's best guaranteed, I don't want to spend 40 mins falling in and out of small thermals

[gary stenhouse]

Small sites is not the problem as some of the southern sites are much smaller but produce amazing conditions. The trouble is the sea it is too close on either side so the sea breeze is the enemy and this is why the cheviots do not produce what you expect on a good forecast. I am all for challenging conditions and have always managed to stay up when others have not especially on the peak, but there was many times when I was the only one able to fly in these conditions.

Tomorrow for instance it looks most likely that the whole of the east will be blown out yet with a bit of luck the lakes or tint could be very good. So you have choices and it has to be made on the percentage of flying and quality.

With a bit of luck with minus temps through the night we may end up even getting a cross country ine the the way I am feeling a lemsip may be more favourable

Cheers gary

[ron freeman]

Colin, you don't want challenging flying and you have just finished an SIV course... and many of your post are about Acro flying and would love to do it ! pull the other leg..

Every time you take off ! is a challenge no matter where you fly and unfortunatly every pilots flying career will be flying in and out of thermals

[colin keightley]

thats the whole point ron i dont want xc i want height to develop acro/freestyle and dont want to spend all day getting up there, the lakes for instance even if the thermals are crap youve still go height to do stuff safely.

[ron freeman]

You don't want to spend a lot of time getting up there even if the thermals are crap and you can only go flying one day a week..

Sounds like you won't be doing much acro in the UK then.

[colin keightley]

Probably not Ron hence I plan to go to somewhere like olu at least once a year I don't expect to be good at it as I can't devote the hours but just practicing is a thrill in itself