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I was extremely pleased that it had warmed up a little from when I got up by the time I was ready to leave for Shalbourne – it had heated up to -9.3C as I left home. Hmmmm!!!

With the ground temperatures that low and a forecast of snow arriving sometime between 12 and 3 it seemed to me (effete southern jesse that I am) inappropriate to try to get flying so we looked at some navigation and map reading, and how to use SeeYou to analyse flight traces.

With the electric heaters on and quite a few mad people turning up, it was quite festive in the Roundout. But we declared a close on the day in time for everyone to be home before the promised snow arrived – and of course then it arrived later than forecast. But in this instance, better safe than sorry…

So the forecast mutated overnight from plausible if cold flying into a rather nasty creature. Driving up from home and closely following on the heels of the CFI, it was turn-and-slip on somewhere north of Andover as we went into fog. This made it difficult to see when we actually went into cloud, but the airfield was most certainly well above cloudbase. One of those days when you point the car uphill and hope to stop before you hit the clubhouse wall…

Many hardy types arrived with hopes of flying; much tea was imbibed.

At midday you could still barely make out the eastern hedge from the clubhouse, and we scrubbed – although by then cloudbase had in fact risen to around 5 fathoms and so it was rather easier than expected to find your way off the airfield.

Oh, and it was colder than it was yesterday. Still, that’s January mostly done with – it’s getting better all the way from here…

It started with a kiss…
…of the cloud on the top of the hill, unfortunately! But it gradually lifted little by little so that by the time we were ready to launch it was ok to do cable breaks, and even to do abbreviated circuits. So lots of useful annual checkery was done, but I don’t think my ‘we’re going spinning’ briefings fooled anyone…

Eventually the orographic gloop (technical term!) cleared through and it became possible to ride the launch all the way to the top – which was the best part of 2000′ for the K8 I’m told. And it was soarable on the ridge if you were careful/skilful/lucky, in a mixture of thermally ridgy stuff.

But it cannot be denied that it was a little chilly. If you’re coming tomorrow (forecast= more of the same) then DO wrap up warm and bring flasks of soup.

Liz