Retrieve Driver changes sex

[MadDog]

You never think, do you?....
That as you pull on your boots , of a Saturday morning, what life has in store for you that day?….
If my boots only just knew how high they were going to be before the day was ended….and how far they would eventually be from East Hill, lucky them, and the leather heaven they had coming their way, and lucky old me too, cos as surely as God made little apples, I was going to be five foot nine and a half inches higher than they were, give or take a Miller-metre or two….
And aren’t people funny?......finding delight in the most mundane of things….
There we where, Brian, Gary, and myself standing in the boonies, three quite insignificant dots of sub-humanity surrounded by the vast beauty of the Freeman Hills and the Cheviot national park, standing on the last known track into the great unknown, cockerhoop with boyish, unbridled glee, shaking hands, and slapping backs….you would think that we were the first persons to land on the Moon…..and all the time, sitting there in the near distance….the hill we had just left, East hill, Why…. You could still see people flying the front face of it……
We should have been hiding ourselves in shame….Cross country pilots?.....I think not!
But excitement is infectious, and I suppose the leaving of East hill, ranks up there somewhere between, Hiroshima, and the sinking of the Titanic…and so what?....
If it’s not a million miles in any normal persons book…I don’t care!
To us it was pure magic, multiplied a million times for every one of the minutes that we spent in the air….Battling it out with your good friends Circling around each others eyeballs, wishing them Down the sooner, and yourself Up even sooner….You don’t need me to tell you about the traits of a loving human nature…..
But everything comes to an end, and a five kilometre flight from East hill won’t stretch to many pages on this board…..but you know how few and far between good flying days are…..so have a little smile on me…..
Thank you Chris for giving up your days flying and coming to seek us….Isn’t it wonderful being the retrieve driver?.....and well done Lloyd, you never quite made it to Telly-Tubby land this time around…..but never mind, East Hill will still be standing there next week…and everybody and his dog will be trying to beat your best distance, and the name of South Middleton is now indelibly engraved on every bounty hunters gun…..East Hill will now become the Mecca for every Taliban with a DHV 2 on his back…..You mark my words, you have opened the Pandora’s box to World war three…..
And here's a photo of my good friend John, and myself...when times were better, and life was sweeter because Julie was there!

[gary stenhouse]

after 3 siteson 3 days and 3 xc all on northumberland sites, i am now starting to think that it has not been the hills but the approach.

the differance was in each case we all said we were going xc, the first tp was the coast as goal

the next was moneylaws and powburn and even left a car there and we nearly got there

then east hill just to get out the back and over the river.

the differance to flying these small hills was commiting to the thermal and following it straight out the back even though still low in relation to the hill.

and why you can do this is the hills are not high with big spine backs and if you loose the thermal the worst your going to get is to be left with a walk.

so the next time your in the cheviots and you are in a thermal and going up then just go with it, and you may be quite surprised in what you get.

cheers gary

[John Wallis]

so the next time your in the cheviots and you are in a thermal and going up then just go with it, and you may be quite surprised in what you get.

Usually 6k

[brian day]

It's like surfing up here, short but sweet,,,,very,,,,very,,,,sweet. If you can do it,,,,,It's like a barrel at Chops, a bomby at Mavricks, a freight train at DBay, a 100k from Blease!!! It's what you get on the day,,,,,,be happy,,,be stoked,,,chill,,, with a smile on your face and move on to the next time!!!!!
We were there,,, we did it,,,,we're proud,,,,we're happy,,,we made the best of the day, and no one, no, there's no one, can take it from us.
The brotherhood,,,The three musketeers,,,,,,well two musketeers and a dog,,,,a very mad and excitable dog, with a smile on his face!!!!

[chrisfozz]

I like the write-up John but I'm not too sure about the title, what are you on about???

[ron freeman]

Nice write up John.... its a shame you didn't fly into Scotland and beyond...