Sunday morning looked hot and stable in the Borders and even by lunchtime there was hardly any movement in the trees. I went along to Wingbeat site at Witchieknowe about 2 and was pleasantly surprised to find a reasonable breeze coming up – enough to start just off the road and soar up the craggy bit of Rough Knowe. Thermals were frequent but small and weak, so it was great fun going out as far as I dared to search, then seeing how low I could come back and still scratch back up. (it’s a great exercise to practice as the weaker the climbs, the further out you have to go to have a good chance of climbing out with it )
I had an hour and a half and about 20 attempts at that and only got to 1700. I decided to head off and to push it as far as I could, and land if I didn’t get anything. With no chance of getting back I spotted a buzzard in a climb about 200m away. I only got about 2 turns below him (by which point he was about 200 ft above ), when he headed off towards the valley. Remembering the old fable “Mr Buzzard always knows best”, I followed – and into the best climb of the day (still only 2 up at best ). That got us to about 2300 by the time it had faded behind the hill - which gave a possible glide into Yarrow, but I didn’t bother. After such a sparse summer, it seemed like a nice day afternoon out so I headed back and landed at the col.
I hope everyone has managed out for some flying - Looks like this spell will be short lived !
