I first began my flying obsession in the Lake District nearly 20 years ago and have been lucky to fly with some of the sports luminaries as well as many of what I consider to be 'top draw xc hounds' who have visited the area. During this time, while other areas in the U.K began clocking distances over the Magical 100km; the Lakes area continued to hold off giving up its main prize; till last Saturday.
Nigel Page was first to come close in the early 90's, clocking an impressive 90 km flight from Jenkin fell, this record stood for over 10years as the area's longest Pg distance; Untill Ali Guthrie made his strong wind flight from Great Mell Fell which lies on the edge 0f the main mountains of the Lakes in 2005. Only to be caught out by Newcastle airspace.
80km on above Moffat.
Photo Credit~ M Cavanagh
For me this flight of Ali's seemed to provide a bit of a key for achieving such a distance from this area; As lovely as it isto be flying amongst the hills and dales of this area, progress through this terrain can be painfully slow, as you need to often battle with either the prevailing wind; terrain orientatition; as well as, the often technical influences of sea breeze which surround the county on three sides. The key for me, seemed to be, to take off near the edge of the hilly area similar to what Ali had done, and so began my obsession with sites like Brigsteer and Barkin, as both these provided easy access to the flat land terrain, taking away some of the added complication which appeared to make achieving better distances from this area just that bit more tricky.
In 2007 I was lucky enough to lay claim to the longest straight line distance from the lakes (flying from Brigsteer) with 3 flights each a little over 95km (completed on consecutive days.) and although one of these, through the turnpoint xc rule, took past the magical and invisible 100km line The xc score, in reality was still short of my 100km straight line holy grail.
The following year I was again fortunate to extend the longest flight distance claim by another km and achieve the Uk's earliest 100km xc score in a season (19th March) but again this was achieved through the now standard turnpoint flight claims. More annoyingly this could well have been the 100km straight line distance holy grail, if I had been better prepared with regard to knowing the actual restrictions of the Leeds Bradford airspace. I had chosen to turn north in an attempt to circumnavigate the approaching airspace. However, If I had simply chosen to fly straight, stepping down my height as I past over Skipton and accepting this as my final glide I could have achieved my ambition. But in reality, flying for me it is really about continuing the great experience of free flight than simply laying claim to a first.
Later that season, flying initially in the company of my good friend Mike Cavanagh, I made another attempt at my Holy Grail; this time from Barkin, but again with no avail. Landing a frustratingly few 100metres short of the Scottish border and again only a couple short of that elusive 100. Ah-well, the search will continue next season.
On the 11th July the day after a great but painfully slow late afternoon/ early evening xc. We headed North once more to collect our vehicles where I chose to get my vehicle to a garage for some much need TLC, as on the journey to site the day before my car started to not fire on all its cylinders. While Mike and Ben Keayes where able to in the enviable position to be free of any such burden they simply had to decide which site they should fly from - finally selecting Blease Fell.
Blease is an interesting site as it is a very much a mountain site though in a position which is on the edge of the main fells and adjacent to Jenkin – the site of the areas first big pg distance claim. It appears that Mike managed to do what Nigel had previously done, by slipping off the side of the range with not that much height he carefullu made good progress over Calbeck then Carlisle, crossing the Solway and the Scottish Border and more importantly into a much improving sky. Following the M74 Mike made a steady track northwards passing the old Victorian Spa town (Moffat) at the 80km mark, knowing now he was in a good position for the 100km distance. This is what Mike had to say.
(Full report here scroll down to 6th post).
“As I was over Moffat I knew it was about as far as people had got on previous flights and although my clouds were petering out, they looked like they would get me the 100km! Tinto was also beckoning and the motorway was on the track! Decision made and off I glided into the roughest of thermals, a bit of a wake up after the nice climbs I had got used to. There was an 8mps lurking around in there which gave me quite a tussle, but ultimately it got me back high. Meanwhile those clouds had petered out faster than I hoped and my next glide turned into my final one as the last decaying cloud failed me. I thought about heading for a hill to wait, but looked at the distance on my gps saying 98km; hopefully just carrying on with the glide and landing by the road would get me 100km in a straight line. It was bit closer than I expected as I touched down by the pub at Crawford – 101.75km. I had a big grin on my face and hoped the machine was telling me the truth”.
Although this Holy Grail may have alluded me, I will continue my quest to fly 100km (straight line) from the lakes. I must say a Big Congratulations to Mike. Who unknowingly to me had this this also as a goal for his XC flying as well.
“It was a bit of a holy grail for me to, I am amazed it had not fallen earlier. I was starting to think the lakes were too difficult to get that far. So maybe the fact that from there you can escape the mountains very quickly is key (I've always had that in the back of my mind), although you often have more sea air to contend with”.
Mike has continued to be a great xc sparing partner since the early days and he's a great sportsman who has helped me to greatly improve my own flying as a by-product of our friendship. - What should our next ‘Holy Grail’ be Mike; the 100mile distance?
