CGC Expedition to Lleweni Parc, 4–12 January 2025
Lleweni Parc (Welsh for “Lion Park”) is an airfield in North Wales, the home of Denbigh Gliding, and among the most spectacular soaring sites in the UK.
Positioned very near the Clwydian Range of hills and ridges, not far from the mountains and cliffs of Snowdonia, Lleweni Parc offers a much broader range of year-round soaring opportunities than is typical for our home airfield of Gransden Lodge. The local area frequently produces thermal, ridge, and wave lift, sometimes all on the same day, and it is one of the best places in the UK to experience high-altitude wave soaring.
Benefiting from multiple aircraft hangars, a paved runway, and paved taxiways and staging areas, Lleweni Parc reliably operates whenever the day’s weather is suitable, no matter how wet recent weather has been. Launches are usually by aerotow, quickly delivering gliders to where the best lift is.
Primarily for these reasons, a number of members of our club have routinely made informal excursions to Lleweni Parc, individually or in small groups, for several years, usually bringing our own gliders. This was the first formal expedition in recent times, offered to all members of our club, with aircraft and instruction provided by our club.
9 of us visited over a 9 day period, bringing 3 club gliders and 3 private gliders.
What we logged
- 16 flights in our club’s gliders: HTV, FVV, and DM
- 8 soaring flights along the local ridge
- 4 formation flights with 2 motorgliders, to the summit of Mount Snowdon and back
What we learned
- Lleweni Parc is well-equipped and works hard to offer a broad and creative range of aviation opportunities, even when soaring isn’t possible.
- Rain, sleet, snow, and icing generally only impeded us when it was actually occurring. As soon as it paused for a bit, we were usually able to fly during that window.
- Paved runways, taxiways, and staging areas are worth their weight in gold.
What we wished for
- Wave! Despite several high aerotows spent hunting for wave lift, we weren’t able to find any strong enough to climb in during the periods we were able to fly.
- Weather! We lost 3 of our 9 days to rain, sleet, snow, and icing, and the wind was too slack during the milder days later in the week.
- Water! The clubhouse’s plumbing froze more than once, which disrupted the tea kettle, the showers, and other essential facilities.
Epilogue
The day we left the site, an instructor and several members of the Cambridge University Gliding Club (CUGC) arrived to take command of HTV. The very next day, they flew HTV three times, with different crews, logging great soaring flights in westerly wave lift, achieving altitudes as high as 10,000 feet above sea level. We didn’t know whether we should feel pleased, jealous, or just plain unlucky!
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” –Seneca, the Roman philosopher
