This is a follow-up post to Part One. Read that first!
So, how did it go at Denbigh? See our proper expedition report for a more general write-up, but here’s what I learned and how it compared to my expectations.
My wife tells me I’m a fairly impatient person who likes to cram too much into my life. I can’t abide periods of waiting around where I could be getting on with climbing, gliding, hanging out with the kids, mountain biking, work, etc.
It turns out that if you go gliding in North Wales in January, you do a fair bit of waiting around for gaps in the weather. Who’d have thought? Yet despite this being my weak spot, I overall had a very nice time.
In terms of the gliding,
- The ridge was just like it said in the simulator. But better because it’s real.
- Landmarks and navigation turns out to be fairly easy if there are stonking great big snowy mountains everywhere.
- The launch procedures and landing procedures did take some getting used to. I’ve never launched and landed on reciprocal runways, which we sometimes did for convenience; on one occasion I was asked to switch to the opposite runway when I was already in the circuit.
- I nailed every one of my landings on the tiny thin runway and followed the local procedures to roll to the other end. This was the thing I was most nervous about, so I’m pleased.
Overall, I showed sufficient confidence to be cleared to fly solo at Denbigh in Cambridge Gliding Club’s Pegase and Discus aircraft (this is me in the Pegase, ably assisted by Charlie Brooker, photo thanks to George Landen):
Did we get lucky with the weather? So-so. We did get to go flying most days, but it wasn’t really windy enough. I got one day when the ridge was working, and zero days when there was wave lift. On the face of it, then quite disappointing. But because it was unusually still, we got a chance to fly all round Yr Wyddfa (a.k.a. Snowdon) in formation in motor gliders. That was pretty cool. The summit of the mountain railway looked like something Disney’s Elsa would accidentally emit.
(Photo credit: George Landen)
I now feel hugely more confident about airfield operations at a place very different from Gransden Lodge, and also much more sure about the precision of my landings — this will help a lot on future cross-country flights where we might possibly need to land in fields.
I think… it’s made me appreciate the Fun of the Chase of finding thermals in Cambridgeshire. Having a great big ridge to send you aloft feels a bit cheaty. Hunting down pesky elusive thermals is anything but easy.
What else did I learn, outside the flying?
- Gliding club expeditions are surprisingly fun! I had a really great time hanging out with the other club members all week. You’re all delightful.
- Every day it seems like we packed and unpacked gliders from trailers, so I’m now much better at this. (This is a genuinely useful skill as it’s necessary on cross country flights if you land out in a field).
- My 1973 MGB convertible turns out to be really good fun on exceptionally icy roads, despite being an entirely inappropriate vehicle for an icy Welsh January.
- It hurts if you go for a run on icy roads and fall over.
Thanks very much to the folks who organized the expedition, Chris at Denbigh for hosting us, and to everyone who came along, it was a blast!
