Freesteel Blog » Wrynose Pass Delight

Wrynose Pass Delight

Tuesday, February 16th, 2016 at 6:30 pm Written by:

Following a very grumpy Friday and an off-the-cuff comment by someone on Facebook to the Wrynose Pass as a potential easterly site, I headed off from Bull Pot Farm into the Lake District where I have never been before.

I was not in the most ideal mood for this sort of thing, being alone with a hang-glider on an unfamiliar craggy hill at 3degreesC and 27mph wind. Fortunately I stopped myself from doing anything really stupid, and sat in the car stewing and programming until suddenly and unexpectedly the wind dropped to something between too light and perfect.

I didn’t hang around, having already scouted for my hillock of a take-off point.

snaptakeoff

Obviously the top landing spots in the site guide were a joke for a hang-glider.

snap1
Windermere lake is just in the very top right of this picture behind a hill.

snap2
The road through Wrynose Pass descends from the top right.

I got 45 minutes of airtime in the bowl, not really understanding how the lift was shaped. Then I tried to explore the next ridge over to the south and quickly went down. (Take-off is in the groove on the far left on the horizon.) Maybe I could have got something on the back side of the immediately south ridge.

snaplanding

I landed on my feet, for a change.
snapfield

The local kid from Fell Foot Farm seemed to be curious, so I showed him how the glider was able to fly when you push it along, and got him and his younger brother to help me derig it.

Then I walked back up the road and fetched my car.

Any concerns I had about my invasion of this farm field were dispelled when a convoy of six bright orange and green 4×4 vehicles full of punters on a Kankku safari puttered through.

Sunday involved a long bike ride around the Trough of Bowland out and return to Lancaster with a cafe stop in Chipping.

An analysis of the data collected to follow later. I won’t be taking it on a bike ride again as it’s too bumpy and caused the nuts to fall out. I also need to dispose of this 16Gb of high definition video I don’t know what to do with.

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